My motherboards a Gigabyte Ga-73pvms2h ram is 2gb ddr2 Graphics card is a ati radeon x300 or a nvidia 7100 Processor is a pentium 4 2.93ghz Clearly the processor and graphics need upgrading Question is which processor do I go for? Option 1 - http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Intel+Core+2+Quad+-+Q6600++-+95W+-+OEM+?productId=28805 option 2 - http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...uo+E8400+3.0GHz+(Retail+775)+?productId=30243 Prices are similar, differences mainly being cache per core, fsb, and clockspeed per core. any recommendations?
Difficult choice, with those graphics cards obviously you won't be playing games, so what will you be doing? Video encoding? Essentially, unless you have an application you use regularly that uses four cores, the Q6600 is pointless.
Mainly i just watch HD videos, with my current spec i can play 720p fine. cant do 1080p. other things which i do is video encoding(abit), and mainly my computers just abit slow. and id like to get a new cpu lol which one would handle better against cpu intensive programs?
Unless you have a quad-core supported video encoding app, get the E8400. The Q6600 will beat it hands down if you do though. Dual core performance: Q6600 100%, E8400 135-140% Quad core app performance: E8400 135-140%, Q6600 200%
notably, i do plan to upgrade the graphics card. and also im looking for a cpu which will last a while. as in terms of being able to keep up with more intensive programs to be released in future if i was to say later upgrade my mobo to a gigabyte s4 model, which one would be better overclocker?
The E8400 will overclock to a higher clock speed, but is set higher to start with. The Q6600 will get to 3.2Ghz or so, the E8400 to around 3.8-3.9Ghz.
so most likely its looking like the e8400 would be a better choice for me? btw, how does fsb and cache per core affect the processor. and running of a computer
FSB not so much, but will affect overclocking ability on slower RAM. Cache isn't specific to a core, it's all accessible by any particular core, you want as much cache as you can lay your hands on. In a single threaded application (one core only), at the same clock speed, a Q6600 with 8M runs about 12-13% faster in games than an E4300 with 2M.
ah rite, i think ill try get the q6600 main q is: will my mobo support it? also ive heard earlier versions of this cpu were better for overclocking
Yes it will, as long as you have the F2 or newer BIOS installed. Older Q6600s were better at overclocking, butt he new ones can still make 3.2Ghz if you have a good cooler (you won't get far without one)
the 8400 chip is 45 nm the Q6600 is 65 nm they will not both work in the same motherboard also if you are thinking of upgrading graphics the new cards are 45 nm also
Processor Number E8400 Architecture 45 nm technology Processor Number Q6600 Architecture 65 nm technology admittedly info is from novatech we did an upgrade a few weeks ago the 8400 won't work in the 6600 board and he specifically wanted the 8400 so we had to use a new gigabyte board and we had a problem with a newer 8800gtx in an older pci-e board but better would be you tell me which is wrong I come here to read and learn like most people we get the same old same old and it's nice to see different problems
All boards that support the E8400 will support the Q6600, as 65nm chip support was not removed from the newer revision chipsets and BIOSes. All boards that support the Q6600 however may not necessarily support the E8400 as the latter is a newer chip. I looked up the CPU compatibility chart for alienator to make sure, and would recommend you do that in future, it's an easy way to check.
good point thanks I'll bear that in mind however I was thinking about his board and assuming he had had it a while and was upgrading a chip goes to show you can do this all day and still assume things erroneously hows your course going ?
Yup, but it doesn't matter anyway, the 73PVMS2H supports 45nm chips in later BIOS revisions seemingly. As for my course, heh, long story. Suffice to say I'm starting a new one this week instead...
