CPU's question

[JarokFL]

Hey guys,

Which one of the following CPU's perform best for intensive online gaming (Age of Conan) and some other single player memory hugging games?

The q6600 (QUAD - 2.24 GHZ - 4mb cache - 65nm)

or

the Xeon E3110 (3GHZ - 6mb cache - AND the newest 45nm tech)

Now my question may sound stupid as this seems like a no brainer...

But after reading some threads it seems that alot of people are dead set on the q6600, which (as weird as it may be...) is a tiny (like 10 bucks) bit more expensive than the Xeon.

So what's the final story? I just want to confirm with you guys that the Xeon is a good investment for the future or Is it hiding something I should know?

 

[stalin90]

the xeon is a dual core cpu and the q6600 is a quad core. also the q6600 is 2.4 ghz per core not 2.24. that xeon if i remember right is pretty much the same thing as an e8400. the reason ppl buy quads more ofton here is to be more future ready because soon in game and other apps, they will be optomized to take full advantage of all 4 cores. right now most games and apps are only optomized for dual core cpu's. meaning right now the e8400 / e3110 will preform better because of there higher clock but down the road they wont.

both cpu's are good overclockers and ya the 65nm is old and getting dated but im sure plenty of ppl are gonna still buy them w/ the intel price drop soon.

oh and most ppl here with q6600's overclock them to well over 3ghz

edit and both cpu's should be well suited for that game


and welcome to tech forums

 

[Dakaggo]

So in the end I think the real question is

A) Will you have the cash to upgrade in a couple of years?

or

B) Will you mind having a somewhat outdated CPU in a couple of years?

I mean if you don't mind buying a better CPU in a year or two then get the one that works best now. Or also if its more important to you to get the best performance now then to have good performance later.

From what I can tell it seems like the quad core will have "good" performance for quite a while. Meanwhile the dual core will have "excellent" performance now and it will degrade much quicker into "average" or "poor" performance. Not sure if that helped any but either way you probably won't regret it.

 

[Akubane]

There's nothing wrong with the q6600's performance it all ^^ it's a champ. I'll be running age of conan on mine. unless i find that upgrading to the q9550+ will be worth it in the future.

besides even if a game isnt quad optimized, the pc should just use the extra cores to run all the background processes, lightening the load on the cores running the game. or so i believe/have noticed anyway.

i don't know if aoc will be quad optimized or not. they're both good cpus. i don't really believe much in going for dual cores these days. seem to me like a step backwards, but it's all preference i guess. a lot of people like duals more because it'll give them a bit more performance in older non quad games. for that extra push over 200fps that they 'need' lol.

but especially in the case of MMO's i do a lot of stuff behind the game while playing. runnign other programs, surfing the net. killin time while looking for group, or waiting for something to be organized, or looking for info, listening to music. So all that crap runs on the spare cores. keeps thing's running in prime shape.

 

[JarokFL]

So in the end I think the real question is

A) Will you have the cash to upgrade in a couple of years?

or

B) Will you mind having a somewhat outdated CPU in a couple of years?

Thanks for the reply you guys, and for the welcome stalin90

Well Dakaggo, for question A my answer is niet, I'm in the process of building a rig that will last me 5-6 years without touching it.
My current PC is 5 years old
So I'm trying to get the best performance/price ratio for a rig that will still be considered med/high-end in a couple years, after that I won't care what happens even if my rig drops to the very low Med-end range.

So you guys are saying that is better to invest in the QUAD cpu than this 45 nm tech and 2 more Mb of L2 cache?
It seems to me that, that's their major difference. Right?

So basically the ideal CPU would be QUAD proc with 6 mb(or more) cache and 45nm tech.... know any CPU under $250 that have all that?

 

[Akubane]

i think the only decent 45nm quad is over 500$ (q9550), as the 350$ one(q9450) has a junk(low) multiplier. they're both new, as i don't think the 9550 is even out yet. so any decen't 45nm quads wont be that cheap for a while.

heck the q6600 just hit that in canada, and only at some stores. XD

 

[JarokFL]

i think the only decent 45nm quad is over 500$ (q9550), as the 350$ one(q9450) has a junk(low) multiplier. they're both new, as i don't think the 9550 is even out yet. so any decen't 45nm quads wont be that cheap for a while.

Yeah that's what I thought... Guess I'm back to my initial dilemna

Man it's always the same with you techies guys LOL everytime I spend hours comparing hardwares and finally come up with a choice, you guys destroy everything I worked for hahaha

Here I was thinking, man this Xeon is perfect!! more cache, the newest tech and even better core GHZ!! At a LOWER price even!!! not to mention this cool name :laughing: ... and so I come here to confirm my "eureka" moment.. and someone, with ONE word (quad) annihilated all of my theories :laughing:

So final verdict? q6600 then and forget this Xeon stuff?

 

[stalin90]

q6600 is a better if you dont wanna upgrade for a while. and the only good 45nm quads cost a ton. but also the question is do you think you will overclock because if not it really doesnt matter what multi and stock fsb... and all that stuff.

so i guess what im asking is if you are going to overclock?

 

[JarokFL]

but also the question is do you think you will overclock because if not it really doesnt matter what multi and stock fsb... and all that stuff.

so i guess what im asking is if you are going to overclock?

When I'm done picking up the parts (mostly done.. the only thing I haven't decided yet is this CPU thing and if I either go SLI mobo with 2x 9600GT gfx cards or go with a cheaper mobo with a top of the line gfx) I'll will ask the guy who's gonna assemble my rig to OC if it's applicable, yup.

Can you elaborate on what OC'ing would matter as far as the choosing a CPU is concerned?

 

[Redmo0n]

You can push 3 ghz + with the q6600 so it is a great now and future chip.

I recommend that because it will last you quit a while and you can pick it up for around the $200 mark.