Q8200 vs.E8400?

[ShockwaveVT]

I'm considering an upgrade from my E6300 (at 3.00 GHz {7x429} with a Xigmatek 1283) to either an Q8200 or E8400 since they are both on sale at Microcenter for $150.

Primary use of the computer is gaming, with constant multitasking on 2nd monitor. Warhammer, TF2, Fallout3 plus IRC, Firefox, Ventrilo, AIM, winamp, etc. If I wasn't going to OC i'd go straight to the E8400, and I'm still leaning that way but since I am overclocking the picture is a bit more cloudy. Throw in the fact I run all kinds of crap in the background ,and I'd like some opinions from AT before I placed an order.

My target OC is about 425-430 FSB for either CPU, as my DDR2 800 RAM has already demonstrated that it can handle being overclocked to 858 MHz. The question is whether or not the Q8200 closes the gap, if at all. Is it even realistic to expect a Q8200 to overclock to 3 GHz?

Gaming benchmarks tend to show the Q8200 bringing up the rear of the quad pack, (which all usually trail the E84/85/8600) probably due to its slightly lower stock clock and smaller L2 cache. The small cache size is something of a concern, with only 1MB per core, vs 3MB per core on the E8400.


Thoughts?

Q8200 - Core 2 Quad 45nm w/ 2x2MB L2
stock: 2.33 GHz (7x 333)
target: 3.01 GHz (7x 429)

vs

E8400 - Core 2 Duo 45nm w/ 1x6MB L2
stock: 3.00 GHz (9x333)
target: 3.86 GHz (9x429)

vs

Current
E6300 - Core 2 Duo 65nm w/ 1x2MB L2
stock: 1.86 GHz (7x266)
stable: 3.00 GHz (7x429)



Note -
I'm also considering the Q6700 or Q9400 for the higher mulitpliers & L2 sizes but the higher prices (I've seen $199 and $180 repsectively) turn me off because I'm trying to fit a VelociRaptor or SSD into the budget for this upgrade as well.. really like to keep the CPU cost down while getting a signifigant upgrade.

 

[Denithor]

You're not going to notice much difference between your current e6300 @ 3GHz vs a 3.8GHz e8400 (I went from e6400 @ 3GHz to e8400 @ 3.6GHz and the only difference I really notice is lower temps).

Step up to a quad or just wait. Q9400 @ $180 is a great deal on a nice chip. I'd jump on one of those if they were available in my area.

 

[ShockwaveVT]

Hmm, after looking at a few reviews and benchmarks, that Q9400 is looking better and better.

The 8x multiplier and extra cache for $30 seems like a great deal, and the Q9400 starts getting into the range of competitive with the E8x00 series in terms of gaming.

This review compares Q9400 vs E8600 at stock & high OC in a wide range of benchmarks.
http://xtreview.com/review233.htm

 

[M1A]

Most E8400's will do 4.0GHZ with good hardware and you will see some difference from the e6300 at 3.0GHZ and less cach, more power. For me the quad was not my pick. You will need 1066 memory though.....

 

[geokilla]

I say stick with your E6300 unless you need that extra 700 or so Mhz. The two extra cores won't benefit you much unless you do lots of encoding or run lots of multi-threaded programs.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I think your choices should either be to a) get a quad core or b) hold off until prices drop more.

 

[katank]

No real point getting Q8200. Q9400 is a much better deal.

As for the E8400 thing, you'll probly be thankful down the line for going quad. It'll probably feel a bit faster than your E6300 but not enough to justify $150.

IMHO, Q9400 or wait for future price drops/i5.

 

[n7]

Quad, Q9300 or Q9400 or better...

 

[ShockwaveVT]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I think I'm going to jump on that Q9400 deal.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Once i saw what little difference cache makes on Core2 processors, i picked up a Q8200. The 9400 looks better if you have the money though. I have my OC down to where its at 24/7. I got it stable up to 2.93 on a Gigabyte EP45-DS3L. I'm a bit of a noob in overclocking Intel processors, so you could have got much higher.

 

[ShockwaveVT]

Just an update on the Q9400...

had a little time to overclock... got my Q9400 running at 3.0 Ghz (8x375) @ 1.080 vCore
compared to my E6300 which needed 1.315 vCore for 3.0 Ghz (7x429) temps are way way down.

3DMark06 comparison:
E6300 @ 3 Ghz
3DMarks 12,430 | SM 2.0 5,831 | SM 3.0 5,947 | CPU Score 2,641

Q9400 @ 3 Ghz
3DMarks 14,268 | SM 2.0 5,903 | SM 3.0 5,887 | CPU Score 4,835


higher overclock to come.. shooting for 3.4+ Ghz
will probably run 3Dmark06 with the CPU at 7x429 too - just to get an equal-FSB comparison to the E6300.

 

[zsdersw]

Forget processor upgrades, for now, and go for hard drive upgrades... not size (unless you need it), but performance. It's clearly the primary bottleneck in most personal computers.

Benchmarks are fine and all, but what matters most is the performance of the apps you use... not benchmark scores that are incrementally different.

 

[Stump1000]

Originally posted by: ShockwaveVT
Just an update on the Q9400...

had a little time to overclock... got my Q9400 running at 3.0 Ghz (8x375) @ 1.080 vCore
compared to my E6300 which needed 1.315 vCore for 3.0 Ghz (7x429) temps are way way down.

3DMark06 comparison:
E6300 @ 3 Ghz
3DMarks 12,430 | SM 2.0 5,831 | SM 3.0 5,947 | CPU Score 2,641

Q9400 @ 3 Ghz
3DMarks 14,268 | SM 2.0 5,903 | SM 3.0 5,887 | CPU Score 4,835


higher overclock to come.. shooting for 3.4+ Ghz
will probably run 3Dmark06 with the CPU at 7x429 too - just to get an equal-FSB comparison to the E6300.

What video card are you using?

I'm interested in seeing what you get that chip to run stable at.

Subscribing.

 

[Wineohe]

I also picked up a Q9400 from Microcenter. Great deal!

I'm clocking mine very modestly. I'm using old 800Mhz memory that so far has clocked to 820mhz without problems. I'm getting 3.28Mhz without much effort.

I've considered getting some 1066Mhz memory but it seems like a waste of money for the stuff I do. I may build an HTPC and fill it with the 800Mhz stuff and then buy the 1066Mhz for my work box.

Q9400 @ 3.28Mhz 410Mhz*8 set to 1.175V and reading actual at 1.14V. Tried running at an even lower voltage but it crashes. This is about as low as I can get at this clock.
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 with Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Temps at idle are 38~39C
Under light to moderate load in the 44~48C range
I've noticed a big drop in temps after only one day as the Arctic Silver has had a chance to spread out.

 

[Jules]

Wow, I didn't know Microcenter had it for 179.99. Think it will work and OC well in the rig i have in my sig?

 

[Jules]

ended up picking it up lol!

 

[Denithor]

G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2-1066 $48 shipped

Don't let your DDR2-800 hold you back if that's the only bottleneck.