Comparison of Core2 CPUs - 5200 and 8400

[latercomer2]

I'm not even expecting 4.0Ghz from a E8400 - just wondering whetehr there is any real benefit from additional cache on the E8400 v E5200 running at the same rate?

Any additional overclock would be a bonus.

 

[PiKe]

I'm not even expecting 4.0Ghz from a E8400 - just wondering whetehr there is any real benefit from additional cache on the E8400 v E5200 running at the same rate?

Any additional overclock would be a bonus.

Cache won't help if you're CPU bound as it's clock cycles you need!

 

[Justintime]

Well it'll be a little faster.. but cache dosen't make THAT much difference tbh, only in specific software etc.. which i doubt your games will be.

 

[latercomer2]

Cache won't help if you're CPU bound as it's clock cycles you need!

But by having more cache you can reduce the amout of main memory accesses and hence it doesn't need as many clock cycles

 

[PiKe]

You sound like you're trying to convince yourself it's worthwhile.

It's really not.

 

[latercomer2]

I like to understand the reasons why - I was never convinced in the past when it would have cost £60+ for the replacement cpu

Downside of the Abit board is that the bios doesn't support the high end Quads hence any change is only a short term solution until I can be bothered to build a new system.

 

[PiKe]

Because in reality the amount of clock cycles it takes to pull instructions out of RAM is minimal, the cache when gaming will constantly be full so it's going to be paging the system RAM no matter what.

 

[latercomer2]

Sounds reasonable to me

thanks for all the replies

 

[latercomer2]

Actually one final question - if its truely all about clock cycles and a single threaded application - then presumably even a SB I2500 running at say 4.4GHz isn't going to make that much difference over a dual core running 3.7GHz which is a 20% increase in raw clock rates.

Somethign doesn't quite add up there but I know nothing about the new CPUs so feel free to educate me

 

[PiKe]

But the Sandys 'do more' per cycle than the core2's.

Same with Sandy->Ivy bridge.

Mhz isn't an indication of computational power, but when comparing the same architecture, it's a good measure of performance.

 

[latercomer2]

Thanks again - really should brush up on modern CPUs

 

[pastymuncher]

Back in 2008 i did a side by side performance comparison of several Intel dual core cpu's which included a E5200 and a E8500 among others. Test's were done at vaious speeds from stock to max overclock per cpu. You can have a read here and make your mind up as to whether it's worth it or not. If you can get the E8400 for £30 or less you should be able to sell your E5200 for £15-20 so it would only cost you around a tenner.

 

[latercomer2]

I used that thread when deciding on the E5200 in the first place

Not going to be a huge improvement going on that unless the E8400 clocks very well. And as it happens the one I was looking at in the MM has sold whch makes the decision easier for now

Need to think about a full system upgrade but cant face doing it at the moment as I've got little/no free time due to having a young child. And i really hate re-installing all the software.

 

[PiKe]

Back in 2008 i did a side by side performance comparison of several Intel dual core cpu's which included a E5200 and a E8500 among others. Test's were done at vaious speeds from stock to max overclock per cpu. You can have a read here and make your mind up as to whether it's worth it or not. If you can get the E8400 for £30 or less you should be able to sell your E5200 for £15-20 so it would only cost you around a tenner.

That's a really great thread, it's given me an idea of what to expect from the e4300 I have lying around!