Is it worth it?

Matt · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:09 pm

I'm thinking of upgrading my system in around 3/4 weeks. I know I'm getting another hard drive (to RAID 0 my current one). What I'm wondering though is it worth it to upgrade from an e6400 chip that I have now to an e8400/e3110 chip? I'm not going to be overclocking as I don't have the time/care to do so anymore.

I've also thought of going with a q6600 but don't think it would make much sense since windows doesn't know how to handle 4 cores well.

sswilson · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2008 7:56 pm

What do you do with your system, and what motherboard are you running?

Matt · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:30 pm

sswilson wrote:

What do you do with your system, and what motherboard are you running?

I don't do a whole lot. I play a few games from time to time and my wife does some basic photoshop work.

The board I'm currently running is the MSI P6N SLI-FI.

sswilson · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:47 pm

You would see a little bit of a benefit to the extra cache in # crunching apps, and a newer proc would help out on some games depending on your GPU.

Depends on if your board actually supports the new chips, and if you think you need the extra processing power. (If it's doing what you need it to, I'd say no...

).

A quad under XP still does a better job of multi-tasking even if it doesn't manage the 4 cores to their full potential.

Matt · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:07 pm

Well to give more insight to my setup, I have the following:

e6400 @ stock
MSI P6N SLI-FI
4 x 1gig OCZ Platinum DDR2-800
1 x 250gig Seagate drive (I'm going to be buying a second for RAID 0)
1 x 250gig WD drive used for nightly backups/downloads only
XFX 8800GT Extreme Edition (sweetness)
Soundblaster Live! 24bit Edition (may replace this too)
20" LCD @ 1680 x 1050

That is the most important parts I guess. I run ALL games and apps at that resolution. So far I haven't had any real problems, some minor skipping in some games but nothing I'm worried about.

sswilson · **Posted:** Sat Mar 29, 2008 8:15 am

You'd see a benefit to popping in an E8400, but I stress that you've got to ensure that your motherboard will support it with a bios update.

I had a look at the bios updates on the MSI site and couldn't determine which bios to use as they don't list it exactly as you described it. Make sure you get the right one!!!! The wrong one could turn your motherboard into a paper weight.

Matt · **Posted:** Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:15 am

sswilson wrote:

You'd see a benefit to popping in an E8400, but I stress that you've got to ensure that your motherboard will support it with a bios update.

I had a look at the bios updates on the MSI site and couldn't determine which bios to use as they don't list it exactly as you described it. Make sure you get the right one!!!! The wrong one could turn your motherboard into a paper weight.

Been there. I had the Abit NF7-S Rev 2 board, and for some reason, Abit decided to create another called the NF7-S2. Not a good result lol.

So I have been leaning towards the e8400 but does it really justify the extra ~$280? Maybe I should just get a little better board for overclocking (and I hate asus so gigabyte it would be) and push the chip a bit. I may need a watercooling kit though

Yeah, let's see if my wife buys into the "need" lol

sbeeze316 · **Joined:** Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:10 pm **Posts:** 562

you can get the Xeon E3110 for about $219 from a certain canadian online store. it basically a higher binned E8400. It runs cooler and requires less voltages therefore reaches higher overclocks then the E8400. i love mine.

Dr_BenD_over · **Posted:** Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:18 pm

Matt wrote:

So far I haven't had any real problems, some minor skipping in some games but nothing I'm worried about.

Are you certain these are CPU related, and not Nvidia driver related.

Google "8800 Stuttering"

Key reason I now have an HD3870...

sbeeze316 · **Joined:** Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:10 pm **Posts:** 562

i have never had a single issue with my 8800gt, i wouldn't buy a slower card based on that cause it certainly doesn't effect all people.

and if your talking driver issues i think ati will always wear that crown, atleast till amd drags them down in thier chapter 11.

Dr_BenD_over · **Posted:** Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:33 pm

sbeeze316 wrote:

i have never had a single issue with my 8800gt, i wouldn't buy a slower card based on that cause it certainly doesn't effect all people.

and if your talking driver issues i think ati will always wear that crown, atleast till amd drags them down in thier chapter 11.

I'm just suggesting to the OP that the issue may not be solved by a faster CPU. I certainly had the stuttering issue, I patiently waited 8 months for it to be fixed, many have waited longer.

sbeeze316 · **Joined:** Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:10 pm **Posts:** 562

what card was it? i haven't heard anything like that from the people i know using the new GT or GTS.

Dr_BenD_over · **Posted:** Sat Mar 29, 2008 3:02 pm

8800GTS 320, But if you google G92 and stuttering, you see the some of the same issues with the same games.

sbeeze316 · **Joined:** Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:10 pm **Posts:** 562

i'll have to look, maybe its games i just don't play.

Matt · **Posted:** Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:25 pm

Dr_BenD_over wrote:

Matt wrote:

So far I haven't had any real problems, some minor skipping in some games but nothing I'm worried about.

Are you certain these are CPU related, and not Nvidia driver related.

Google "8800 Stuttering"

Key reason I now have an HD3870...

It could absolutely be driver related. I am running plain old nvidia drivers at the moment. Normally I use those from ngohq but I don't know if that would help the situation.

My biggest problem with my system currently is how long it takes a lot of programs to load, but I think simply going back to a RAID 0 setup will solve a lot of that.

I think that for the cost I will simply keep what I have and buy some other parts to put together an HTPC to hook up to the new 1080p LCD tv I'm getting in a couple of weeks.

Is it worth it?

Who is online