Worth The CPU Upgrade?

[gmattey]

hi there,

i have a intel e6850 but noticed the new series of CPU, the wolfdale. i was wondering if it would be worth upgrading to the e8400 with 6mb cache? it's cheaper than the e6850. there is the e8500 but that CPU is NOT worth it unless your loaded, hardly any difference to the e8400 but costs tons more.

also whens vista sp1 released, anybody got any ideas?

Asus P5K Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz
4GB DDR2 667 MHz
320GB Sata Hard Drive
Nvidia 8500GT Super 512MB

 

[cdogg]

Aside from having better overclocking potential and more L2 cache, there's not a whole lot of difference between the two. The Wolfdale runs cooler as well, but the extra L2 cache may only help on occasion and may not even be noticeable.

Is it worth it? Not really. But on the bright side you could get away with it for practically nothing after you sell off the E6850 (assuming you can find a buyer for around $200).

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[PRPhx]

FYI, Vista SP1 is available now. I checked over the weekend for updates and SP1 was there. Warns you that it may take up to an hour to update. Mine tok approx. 45 minutes, with no problems encountered.

 

[wahnula]

Hello gmattey,

If upgrading, why not look to the Quad-core Q6600? It's cheap and going forward more & more apps & games will take advantage of multiple cores. Check that your machine can support it first!

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[gmattey]

i went onto windows update before, it came up with this update kb940510 and whilst installing it said my vista was counterfit even though it isnt, no other updates came up on my update

Asus P5K Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz
4GB DDR2 667 MHz
320GB Sata Hard Drive
Nvidia 8500GT Super 512MB

 

[wahnula]

gmattey,

Have a look at this:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1374

Is this what happened to you?

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[gmattey]

i looked at the quad cores before i got the e6850 but not many programs take advantage of all the 4 cores so wasnt really worth it.

by the time programs support quad core more than likely a new quad core will be out.

and thats exactly what happened regarding the update too.

thanks

Asus P5K Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz
4GB DDR2 667 MHz
320GB Sata Hard Drive
Nvidia 8500GT Super 512MB

 

[gmattey]

my mobo's a p5k, p35 chipset i think.

what about the new Intel® Xeon® Processor's, are these quad cores any better than the old ones? expensive?

Asus P5K Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz
4GB DDR2 667 MHz
320GB Sata Hard Drive
Nvidia 8500GT Super 512MB

 

[gmattey]

i've finally installed sp1 completely, everythings done but feel what a waste of time, nothings different, all ive noticed is a share feedback desktop icon lol.

it seems to of slowed my performance down to, things seem to be dragging along.

Asus P5K Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz
4GB DDR2 667 MHz
320GB Sata Hard Drive
Nvidia 8500GT Super 512MB

 

[ceh4702]

I think the cost of the E8400 is a bit inflated because Intel can not make them fast enough. They may be using a lot of the .45 process silicone to make Xeons for servers. They may also be ramping up to realease the new Quads with the 1333 FSB.

My son used a Q6600 core 2 quad and it seems to work very well for him. We still used XP for now, because it just runs faster for games.

The price on the Q6600 quads might drop if Intel comes out with the new quads with the .45 die process. They are running about $255.00 right now. A little less if you get an OEM processor and use an after-market Cooler.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[gmattey]

i thought the price of the e8400 was cheap rather than inflated, fair few quid less than e6850 and it has 45 proc ad 2mb extra cache, newer technology.

i don't think id bother with a quad for now to be honest, i'm sure their ok but rather stick with a trust worthy dual core as not many applications take full advantage of the quad cores so bit pointless, easy way of making money for intel though i guess.

Asus P5K Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz
4GB DDR2 667 MHz
320GB Sata Hard Drive
Nvidia 8500GT Super 512MB

 

[LawnBoy]

If a program doesn't take advantage of a quad-core, then it's not taking advantage of a dual-core either...

The difference is whether the app is single- or multi-threaded. Single-threaded will only run on one cpu. Multi-threaded will use as many cpus as it can.



"We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[cdogg]

Lawnboy,
Yes that's true to a certain extent. However, consider this. When you first boot into Windows, multiple applications that are single-threaded are divvied up between both processors. It may not be an even distribution, but there's always the possibility that two busy apps are running on different CPUs. So in a lot of situations, you can see a boost in performance when you upgrade from single- to dual-processing even when single-threaded apps are the only programs running.

However, going from dual-core to quad-core starts to show diminishing returns. The same idea is there, but the chance of having more than two single-threaded apps demanding 100% CPU simultaneously is rare. That's why it usually takes a multithreaded app to show off the benefits of quad-core.

I'm sure you realize all this, but I wanted to throw it into perspective for others...



~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[LawnBoy]

I was discussing a single app, in response to

but rather stick with a trust worthy dual core as not many applications take full advantage of the quad cores

My point was merely that if an application can use a dual core, it can use a quad core at least as effectively.


"We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[cdogg]

Yeah, I think it depends on how you read into it.

To me it sounds like he's just saying a dual-core is good enough, and that a quad-core isn't much of a step up considering most apps are single-threaded. I would agree with that.


Just some evening chatter! Coffee anyone?

 

[gmattey]

thanks for all your help, yes i was stating what cdogg said above, a dual core is perfectly capable.

Asus P5K Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz
4GB DDR2 667 MHz
320GB Sata Hard Drive
Nvidia 8500GT Super 512MB