Q8300 or E8400 - For Gaming

My friend uses his computer almost entirely for gaming. He has an e4600 (which I have OC to 3.0 Ghz) currently and is looking for a performance boost. He currently has a ATI Radeon 5770 that he will be pairing with the new processor. I plan on OC'ing some (I don't like to go too far since I am the one who has to deal with the problems he has).

Anyways, his only requirement is as cheap as possible. The Q8300 has less L2 cache (4 mb) and cost a little less $149.99 and is stock lower 2.66 Ghz. The E8400 is stock at 3.0 Ghz and is a fiend for OCing. It comes in at $169.99. It has more L2 cache (6 mb).

Which would be the better option for him?

Here's the deal-

An E8400 is still strong, but there are a few games that will put the hurt on it, even if overclocked to 3.6ghz+. There aren't any games that I'm aware of that a 2.5ghz Core 2 Quad can't run well, due to it's decent clock speed AND having 4 cores. Plus you can overclock it to over 3ghz pretty easily.

Bottom line- In single or dual-threaded games, a stock E8400 will be faster than a Q8300.. but the Q8300 will be more than fast enough, so it doesn't matter. In games that use 4 cores (which are increasing daily), a Q8300 will win out.

I just want to clarify- The Q8300 is clocked at 2.5ghz, not 2.66. The Q8400 is the 2.66ghz chip.

the q8300 would probably be more future-proof as games are starting to use the 4 cores more. But if he ccan find a q6600 it would be better, they perform on par or better and overclock great as well.ferret-gamer

the q8300 would probably be more future-proof as games are starting to use the 4 cores more. But if he ccan find a q6600 it would be better, they perform on par or better and overclock great as well.ferret-gamer

Sorry but you must be thinking of the wrong CPU because the Intel Q9300 goes for $146-$150

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=intel+q9300&hl=en&biw=1600&bih=707&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=17084263927649591960&ei=-joBTdjmDoGClAeVnIW_Cg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CFAQ8wIwAQ#

You can thank me later.

My friend uses his computer almost entirely for gaming. He has an e4600 (which I have OC to 3.0 Ghz) currently and is looking for a performance boost. He currently has a ATI Radeon 5770 that he will be pairing with the new processor. I plan on OC'ing some (I don't like to go too far since I am the one who has to deal with the problems he has).

Anyways, his only requirement is as cheap as possible. The Q8300 has less L2 cache (4 mb) and cost a little less $149.99 and is stock lower 2.66 Ghz. The E8400 is stock at 3.0 Ghz and is a fiend for OCing. It comes in at $169.99. It has more L2 cache (6 mb).

Which would be the better option for him?

seabiscuit8686

Sorry but you must be thinking of the wrong CPU because the Intel Q9300 goes for $146-$150final_kaoss

Sorry but you must be thinking of the wrong CPU because the Intel Q9300 goes for $146-$150

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=intel+q9300&hl=en&biw=1600&bih=707&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=17084263927649591960&ei=-joBTdjmDoGClAeVnIW_Cg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CFAQ8wIwAQ#

You can thank me later.

[QUOTE="seabiscuit8686"]

My friend uses his computer almost entirely for gaming. He has an e4600 (which I have OC to 3.0 Ghz) currently and is looking for a performance boost. He currently has a ATI Radeon 5770 that he will be pairing with the new processor. I plan on OC'ing some (I don't like to go too far since I am the one who has to deal with the problems he has).

Anyways, his only requirement is as cheap as possible. The Q8300 has less L2 cache (4 mb) and cost a little less $149.99 and is stock lower 2.66 Ghz. The E8400 is stock at 3.0 Ghz and is a fiend for OCing. It comes in at $169.99. It has more L2 cache (6 mb).

Which would be the better option for him?

final_kaoss

I cant see the scenario where the dual makes a better buy, the Q8300 should have no trouble hitting atleast 3Ghz beating the dual in every single app and in those witch offer quad support it kills the E8x00 with no mercy, even @ stock it's quite fast and manage most things quite well, if theres a VERY small diffrence in price between the Q93 and the Q83 the Q93 is ever so sligthly better (~5%) the cache diffrence is very small even if that is what diffrence they actually have, apart from that they are identical.

As someone already stated the Q8300 IS faster than the Q6600 in average even the Q8200 is faster sometimes, many saying the Q66 still performs good should all agree that the Q8300 performs good.

The 1333Mhz FSB migth make a beating on very old Motherboards as older have a hard time hitting over 400Mhz/1600 that OC is just 3Ghz on a Q8300, today with P35/P45/Q38/Q48 motherboards they have no trouble hitting past 500FSB/2000Mhz this is awsome 3,7Ghz for a Q8300 (multipel is @ 7.5*FSB) that would crush just about any new top end CPU (but the i7 X980) "if" the chip is possible to go that far. (unlikely but some rare are up in those clocks).

Get a quad core, thank me in 2011. Games are becoming multithreaded, and getting a dual core is not advisable, unless ones budget doesn't permit.muscleserge

This is the key. Frankly, the E8400 is pretty useless to buy new at this point. You can buy a 3ghz Athlon II X4 AND an AM2+ motherboard for less than an E8400.

[QUOTE="muscleserge"]Get a quad core, thank me in 2011. Games are becoming multithreaded, and getting a dual core is not advisable, unless ones budget doesn't permit.hartsickdiscipl

This is the key. Frankly, the E8400 is pretty useless to buy new at this point. You can buy a 3ghz Athlon II X4 AND an AM2+ motherboard for less than an E8400.

[QUOTE="hartsickdiscipl"]

[QUOTE="muscleserge"]Get a quad core, thank me in 2011. Games are becoming multithreaded, and getting a dual core is not advisable, unless ones budget doesn't permit.swehunt

This is the key. Frankly, the E8400 is pretty useless to buy new at this point. You can buy a 3ghz Athlon II X4 AND an AM2+ motherboard for less than an E8400.

[QUOTE="swehunt"][QUOTE="hartsickdiscipl"]

This is the key. Frankly, the E8400 is pretty useless to buy new at this point. You can buy a 3ghz Athlon II X4 AND an AM2+ motherboard for less than an E8400.

seabiscuit8686

Wait for Sandy Bridge.

Wait for Sandy Bridge.

Mr_BillGates

A e8400 can easily hit 4+ghz air cooled without alot of effort. For a majority of games, it will outperform the Q8000 and even 9000 quad cores (lga 775's).. Now when newer games start to thread of to 4 cores, the quads will do better. Its all gonna depend on games you have, games coming that might support the use of more cores and threads and how things will go. If you are building new, definitely go for a good quad core. It will give you much better performance years down the line. jedikevin2

DIRT 2

Bad Company 2

Just Cause 2

F1 2010

GTA 4

There was a phenomenal difference in all those games and I still have a massive backlog of games so I am sure there are more to come that push my CPU beyond what a dual core can handle. The quad core era is already here...

[QUOTE="jedikevin2"]A e8400 can easily hit 4+ghz air cooled without alot of effort. For a majority of games, it will outperform the Q8000 and even 9000 quad cores (lga 775's).. Now when newer games start to thread of to 4 cores, the quads will do better. Its all gonna depend on games you have, games coming that might support the use of more cores and threads and how things will go. If you are building new, definitely go for a good quad core. It will give you much better performance years down the line. Gambler_3

DIRT 2

Bad Company 2

Just Cause 2

F1 2010

GTA 4

There was a phenomenal difference in all those games and I still have a massive backlog of games so I am sure there are more to come that push my CPU beyond what a dual core can handle. The quad core era is already here...

[QUOTE="jedikevin2"]A e8400 can easily hit 4+ghz air cooled without alot of effort. For a majority of games, it will outperform the Q8000 and even 9000 quad cores (lga 775's).. Now when newer games start to thread of to 4 cores, the quads will do better. Its all gonna depend on games you have, games coming that might support the use of more cores and threads and how things will go. If you are building new, definitely go for a good quad core. It will give you much better performance years down the line. Gambler_3

DIRT 2

Bad Company 2

Just Cause 2

F1 2010

GTA 4

There was a phenomenal difference in all those games and I still have a massive backlog of games so I am sure there are more to come that push my CPU beyond what a dual core can handle. The quad core era is already here...

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"]

[QUOTE="jedikevin2"]A e8400 can easily hit 4+ghz air cooled without alot of effort. For a majority of games, it will outperform the Q8000 and even 9000 quad cores (lga 775's).. Now when newer games start to thread of to 4 cores, the quads will do better. Its all gonna depend on games you have, games coming that might support the use of more cores and threads and how things will go. If you are building new, definitely go for a good quad core. It will give you much better performance years down the line. hofuldig

DIRT 2

Bad Company 2

Just Cause 2

F1 2010

GTA 4

There was a phenomenal difference in all those games and I still have a massive backlog of games so I am sure there are more to come that push my CPU beyond what a dual core can handle. The quad core era is already here...

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"]

[QUOTE="jedikevin2"]A e8400 can easily hit 4+ghz air cooled without alot of effort. For a majority of games, it will outperform the Q8000 and even 9000 quad cores (lga 775's).. Now when newer games start to thread of to 4 cores, the quads will do better. Its all gonna depend on games you have, games coming that might support the use of more cores and threads and how things will go. If you are building new, definitely go for a good quad core. It will give you much better performance years down the line. hofuldig

DIRT 2

Bad Company 2

Just Cause 2

F1 2010

GTA 4

There was a phenomenal difference in all those games and I still have a massive backlog of games so I am sure there are more to come that push my CPU beyond what a dual core can handle. The quad core era is already here...

I cant see E8400 not doing 100% at stock but I guess overclocked it can still slug it out. But see since a quad is doing fine even at stock there is alot more headroom for when games get more CPU intensive. My mobo is not very good but I think I might be able to do 3Ghz when the time comes so that should be good for a long time.

[QUOTE="hofuldig"] i doubt it. i have an E8400 paired with a 4870 and my CPU never gets maxed out on any game that is multi threaded. my GPU is the bottle neck. Imho if he wants future proof go quad. but don't down dual cores unless you know for sure they would be a bad buy. also Crysis (lol yeah) dose not. even max out my Cpu. it does about 80% on each core. yes again my GPU is the bottleneck.Makari