Difference between L2 3MB cache and L2 6MB cache?

[dave182]

pretty much in the title, not sure what the difference is and if its worth spending £25 more to get E8400 over the E7500?

thanks

 

[StephenLawUK]

Cache is a little memory storage place on your CPU for data that is being used frequently. it is faster for the CPU to call from cache than it is to call from RAM or on your hard drive.

 

[thepeganator]

About 5-10%, maybe more depending on app.

If you have the money, go for the e8400

 

[Amnesia]

3mb

 

[Cob]

The difference is usually about 10%, but it can be much bigger with software that hammers the cache (video editing, Folding@Home).

 

[reflux]

Worth it if you're going to be gaming heavily or running the above apps. Not if you're building an office box for example.

 

[Loque]

for gaming, its definitly worth the extra £25 L2 cache is probably the most important feature when looking for a CPU for gaming

 

[snakeater]

Yeah it's totally worth it, even if you might not see a massive difference with your current usage habits, it's worth having it there. Go for the extra cache.

 

[dave182]

Ah great, decided to give OC a ring and change the CPU to the E8400!

Thank you all for the responses

 

[Stonedofmoo]

The cache is worth it, but another reason to choose the E8xxx chip is it also has the Intel-VT extension which allows you to run Virtual machines with far higher performance than chips that do not have it, i.e. the E7xxx series.

This may not be important to you, but it's a useful feature nonetheless.

 

[mame]

I'm all for saving cash (I used an E2180 for over a year untill recentlty) but if you're going to spend £124 on the E7500, you might as well throw a few more ££ at it and get the E8400.

If you were to say E5200 for £57 or E8400 for £149 now that would be more difficult to answer

 

[Stonedofmoo]

I wouldn't get the E7500 myself, get E7400 or lower, save the money and overclock it. It will go to the same levels as the E7500.