4400+ X2 vs Q6600/E8400 etc

Hey guys hows it going.

I'v got a 360 sitting here collection dust, so i was thinking of selling it.

With the money i was going to buy a new motherboard/CPU.
But will the upgrade performance be worth it?

I'm thinking of swaping for ASUS motherboard and 4400 X2
For something from intel, most likely a Q6600 or E8400.

Is it worth it for the price?

Oh and i will most likely be OCing. (rest of pc, in sig)

I'm amazed at the level of ignorance in this thread. I'm not calling the original poster ignorant, but the replies.

Are you guys kidding? I had a lower-end Core 2 Duo, the which is faster than the 4400+. I had it paired with a regular 8800GT (running at 720core 1000mem). In games like Unreal Tournament 3 and even Crysis (which runs off the older Half-Life 2 technology), my performance more than tripled when I got my E8400 paired with an $89 mobo (P35-DS3L GIGABYTE).

Please don't give advice when you have no idea what your talking about. One guy said the increase would "be huge, not in games so much." Please, for the love of God don't reply and try to "help" people when you don't have the slightest idea what your talking about. Kodex, just because you don't want to get a faster Quad or Core 2 Duo that would blow your x2 4600+ out of the water doesn't mean you should give the advice to someone else who maybe looking to actually upgrade to much superior hardware.

Oh and anyone who will even think about debating me, here's Tom's CPU charts if you dont want to believe that I upgraded from a similar build.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html

It's somewhat hard to take a chart that has lower-clocked processors of the same model line as performing better than higher-clocked units seriously.

And nforce-, it's hard to take you seriously when you think that Crysis runs off a Source engine. Especially when you tell others that they don't know what they're talking about.

Hey itsme185, I'm commenting on your post as I posed virtually the same question to myself just a few days ago. There's no question that the Intel chips you're considering are fast performers, but an x2 4400+ is no slouch. I actually have an x2 4200+ clocked at 2.2 ghz with an 8600gt and 2 gigs of ram and am running resource hogging Vista and am pleased with the performance I get in every game I play. I can't play with settings maxed at high res. on the newest games, but they still look great at med. quality at a res. that would be considered hi-def on a console with very playable frame rates.

Your system is actually much faster than mine, however and I am perplexed that you would give up so easily on your 360. I gave my 360 a chance. I have an elite with several games and two wireless black controllers so I knew I could fetch a decent bit by selling it, but as it's my only console (oh wait, maybe you have a PS3 and Wii?) I was hesitant. At any rate, I played some Halo 3 and immediately got past a part I was stuck on months before (I hadn't used my 360 for anything other than DVD playback for about 2 months) and became reunited with a long lost friend -> gaming. The 360 is a very fun system, so long as it doesn't red ring and turn into a paper weight, lol.

If you're seriously considering selling your 360 and looking at what you've already got in your current rig, I'd find something else to spend the money on -> like more games, for example. Your current rig is fine and then some.

don't bother with the q6600 but the e8400 is a hugh upgrade and it will unleash your 8800gt, I'm not saying the q6600 is bad just games don't support 4 cores yet but it is quite a bit faster than the 4400x2.

Keep your current system, you've got a perfectly fine rig until we see the next big thing from AMD/Intel. Maybe consider one of the B3 stepping tri/quad core Phenoms when they come out, but upgrading to a Core 2 chip off your current setup just isn't worth it. Keep in mind how long the Core 2 chips have been on top, and how much is announced soon. If you buy now, you'll kick yourself later.RayvinAzn

well 4200x2- e8200 = 2x the frame rate in crysis, so its not a waste by any means

I'm amazed at the level of ignorance in this thread. I'm not calling the original poster ignorant, but the replies.

Are you guys kidding? I had a lower-end Core 2 Duo, the which is faster than the 4400+. I had it paired with a regular 8800GT (running at 720core 1000mem). In games like Unreal Tournament 3 and even Crysis (which runs off the older Half-Life 2 technology), my performance more than tripled when I got my E8400 paired with an $89 mobo (P35-DS3L GIGABYTE).

Please don't give advice when you have no idea what your talking about. One guy said the increase would "be huge, not in games so much." Please, for the love of God don't reply and try to "help" people when you don't have the slightest idea what your talking about. Kodex, just because you don't want to get a faster Quad or Core 2 Duo that would blow your x2 4600+ out of the water doesn't mean you should give the advice to someone else who maybe looking to actually upgrade to much superior hardware.

Oh and anyone who will even think about debating me, here's Tom's CPU charts if you dont want to believe that I upgraded from a similar build.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html

nforce-

And I'm amazed at the level of ignorance you have.

Crysis running of the Source engine?! This is easily quote of the day material.

Performance MORE THAN TRIPLED when you use an E8400 and DS3L, again best crap I've heard all morning. Bravo.

Let me point this back at you, PLEASE don't bash people when YOU YOURSELF have no idea what you are talking about. Finally, I'm seriously trying not to LMAO for you posting Tom's CPU chart.

well 4200x2- e8200 = 2x the frame rate in crysis, so its not a waste by any means

imprezawrx500

Changing your motherboard, processor, and possibly operating system to (maybe) double the frame-rates in one game sounds like a good deal to you? I'm sorry.

[QUOTE="imprezawrx500"]

well 4200x2- e8200 = 2x the frame rate in crysis, so its not a waste by any means

RayvinAzn

Changing your motherboard, processor, and possibly operating system to (maybe) double the frame-rates in one game sounds like a good deal to you? I'm sorry.

Obviously he would get much higher framerates in everygame... Point case is, e8400 rapes the AMD X2 4400+, and the X2 4*** series are actually become obsolete for high end gaming. It's fine for midrange, but you can't really play reasonably on high end games with those anymore. I had an x2 4200+ (at 2.6Ghz) and when I got my e8400, my framerates almost doubled.

[QUOTE="nforce-"]

I'm amazed at the level of ignorance in this thread. I'm not calling the original poster ignorant, but the replies.

Are you guys kidding? I had a lower-end Core 2 Duo, the which is faster than the 4400+. I had it paired with a regular 8800GT (running at 720core 1000mem). In games like Unreal Tournament 3 and even Crysis (which runs off the older Half-Life 2 technology), my performance more than tripled when I got my E8400 paired with an $89 mobo (P35-DS3L GIGABYTE).

Please don't give advice when you have no idea what your talking about. One guy said the increase would "be huge, not in games so much." Please, for the love of God don't reply and try to "help" people when you don't have the slightest idea what your talking about. Kodex, just because you don't want to get a faster Quad or Core 2 Duo that would blow your x2 4600+ out of the water doesn't mean you should give the advice to someone else who maybe looking to actually upgrade to much superior hardware.

Oh and anyone who will even think about debating me, here's Tom's CPU charts if you dont want to believe that I upgraded from a similar build.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html

SSJBen

And I'm amazed at the level of ignorance you have.

Crysis running of the Source engine?! This is easily quote of the day material.

Performance MORE THAN TRIPLED when you use an E8400 and DS3L, again best crap I've heard all morning. Bravo.

Let me point this back at you, PLEASE don't bash people when YOU YOURSELF have no idea what you are talking about. Finally, I'm seriously trying not to LMAO for you posting Tom's CPU chart.

Obviously he would get much higher framerates in everygame... Point case is, e8400 rapes the AMD X2 4400+, and the X2 4*** series are actually become obsolete for high end gaming. It's fine for midrange, but you can't really play reasonably on high end games with those anymore. I had an x2 4200+ (at 2.6Ghz) and when I got my e8400, my framerates almost doubled.

Baselerd

Much higher? Depends on the resolution - but realistically speaking, there's not going to be too many games he's not going to max at most lower resolutions and maintain good frame-rates. I still say wait - I'm sure it's tempting, but the processor still has a lot of life in it yet.

[QUOTE="Baselerd"]

Obviously he would get much higher framerates in everygame... Point case is, e8400 rapes the AMD X2 4400+, and the X2 4*** series are actually become obsolete for high end gaming. It's fine for midrange, but you can't really play reasonably on high end games with those anymore. I had an x2 4200+ (at 2.6Ghz) and when I got my e8400, my framerates almost doubled.

RayvinAzn

Much higher? Depends on the resolution - but realistically speaking, there's not going to be too many games he's not going to max at most lower resolutions and maintain good frame-rates. I still say wait - I'm sure it's tempting, but the processor still has a lot of life in it yet.

I've got to agree with you Ray. People who reference how poor the x2 4k series performs are truely spoiled with killer fast Intel chips. I can't tell you how many friends I have that wished they had an x2 4k series processor, let alone a fast core 2 duo or quad processor from Intel. I'm not blaming anybody for stating the truth that the new Intel chips definitely do rock, but it seems like technology in the computer field advances daily and all that new technology is almost immediately pushed to market. I don't think that's terrible if you're rich, but I'm going to stop dropping paychecks on upgrades until they really become mandatory. That's just my 2 cents.

[QUOTE="Baselerd"]

Obviously he would get much higher framerates in everygame... Point case is, e8400 rapes the AMD X2 4400+, and the X2 4*** series are actually become obsolete for high end gaming. It's fine for midrange, but you can't really play reasonably on high end games with those anymore. I had an x2 4200+ (at 2.6Ghz) and when I got my e8400, my framerates almost doubled.

RayvinAzn

Much higher? Depends on the resolution - but realistically speaking, there's not going to be too many games he's not going to max at most lower resolutions and maintain good frame-rates. I still say wait - I'm sure it's tempting, but the processor still has a lot of life in it yet.

Notice how I specified high end gaming. If you have this cpu's paired up with gf 8600's or hd3600's, it's fine. But if you have it paired with an 8800 or better, you are really cpu bound. And yes, I am getting MUCH higher framerates now. my framerates in UT3 flat out doubled, crysis I went from 20fps to 40fps. Of course, I don't play at super high resolutions, just 1280x1024.

Your frame-rates in UT3 doubled from what to what? 20 to 40FPS, then that's a good deal. 80 to 100FPS is really a "who cares" situation, since the games is extremely fluid either way.RayvinAzn

My lowly ignorant opinion...

UT3 and Crysis will be the only 2 games on the market that will give you a true FEELING that its a performance boost on the FPS side. Even CoD4 will run extremly well on your current system.

Now if your talking about mmorpgs such as EQ2 then its all about the clock and the higher the better. MMORPGs are just naturally cpu hogs and will eat just about as much as you can give it.

If you got 350 and can manage to get ahold of a e8400 and a good gigabyte p35 for around 240usd+80usd, cpu and mobo respectively, then do it. Make sure your current ram will run in the new machine and make sure you got 2 gigs of fast stable ram.

But let me warn you. Maybe soon more games will come out that will test your system, but aside from crysis there really isnt one right now. You should do this if your expectations are not being met.

Let me rephrase..

A E8400 for example is a gaming improvement over your X2 4400+. There is absolutely no way to say otherwise. However only games such as UT3 and Crysis will honestly show a improvement your eye can notice. Going from 100fps max to 200fps is nice on the pride complex, but it is utterly worthless everywhere else. This is because by the time something comes along that drops you under 60fps, technology would have leaped up again and your still behind the frontrunners.

So if you feel you want more horsepower in your rig then go for the overhaul. It IS better. You WILL notice it on games coming out this year. You just need to be really clear of your expectations and genre of games.

This is coming from someone who played CoD4 on a AMD AM2 3800+ 2.4Ghz Single core and a 8800GT for a week to testing it while the my e8400 was flown from california and the gigabyte x38-DS4 was coming from NJ. Also tested EQ2 to a great amount and detail. Both, played really well on the single core and I was getting excellent framerates on both with high settings. No they didnt have AA, and everything wasnt maxed. However they looked beautiful as is.

The e8400 shot both games to fully max and solid framrates. Eq2 went from a 35fps custom Balanced to a 50fps Extreme Quality while fighting in Skyfire. CoD4 went to everything as high as it can go, filtering as much as it would allow me, and 4xaa with higher FPS that held up during the city street fighting.

To be honest however, i only real notice other than smoother lines on CoD4 was EQ2's armor difference on extreme quality, which really isnt different than just High Quality.

Just telling you what I noticed, and I had a much "worse" processor than yourself.

I had X2 4600 skt 939, 2GB DDR1 RAM and intially Geforce 7900GTX.

3DMark 2001 score: 25000

3DMark 2006 score: 5700

Aquamark score: 75000

In an attempt to improve performance I upgraded my Gfx to an ATI 4850.

Whilst this did improve my scores, the results were disappointing.

3DMark 2001 score: 29000

3DMark 2006 score: 8500

Aquamark score: 85000

I knew then that to improve performance significantly would require an architecturel change. The X2 4600 was bottlenecking the whole system. So, I got an E8400, 2GB DDR2 and a Gigabyte P45 DS3 board.

The scores went up far beyond my expectations

3DMark 2001 score: 58000

3DMark 2006 score: 12500

Aquamark score: 175000

I reduced the E8400 clock speed from 3GHz to 2GHz to see what impact this would have and also to see if it was only clock speed that was the only factor for the slow Athlon performance.

3DMark 2001 score: 40000

3DMark 2006 score: 10500

Aquamark score: 122000

Whilst clock speed does have a significant influence, it appears other factors such as processor and motherboard architecture also have some bearing. My conclusion is that going from an Athlon X2 to an E8400, especially if its socket 939, will show amazing improvements in performance.

You know, the funny thing is that guy called me out for not wanting a C2D over my K8, but I had an E2180 sitting on my desk for months before I got my X38 motherboard.

EDIT: Way to necropost.

I had X2 4600 skt 939, 2GB DDR1 RAM and intially Geforce 7900GTX.

3DMark 2001 score: 25000

3DMark 2006 score: 5700

Aquamark score: 75000

In an attempt to improve performance I upgraded my Gfx to an ATI 4850.

Whilst this did improve my scores, the results were disappointing.

3DMark 2001 score: 29000

3DMark 2006 score: 8500

Aquamark score: 85000

I knew then that to improve performance significantly would require an architecturel change. The X2 4600 was bottlenecking the whole system. So, I got an E8400, 2GB DDR2 and a Gigabyte P45 DS3 board.

The scores went up far beyond my expectations

3DMark 2001 score: 58000

3DMark 2006 score: 12500

Aquamark score: 175000

I reduced the E8400 clock speed from 3GHz to 2GHz to see what impact this would have and also to see if it was only clock speed that was the only factor for the slow Athlon performance.

3DMark 2001 score: 40000

3DMark 2006 score: 10500

Aquamark score: 122000

Whilst clock speed does have a significant influence, it appears other factors such as processor and motherboard architecture also have some bearing. My conclusion is that going from an Athlon X2 to an E8400, especially if its socket 939, will show amazing improvements in performance.

Neme2010

3D Mark 06 is extremly CPU bound. It shouldn't be used for GPU testing anymore IMO.