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Difference between 2 processors for new system

Difference between 2 processors for new system

Difference between 2 processors for new system

(OP)
I'm looking at purchasing a new workstation from @Xi.  Would anyone have any knowledge about what is the difference between these two processors.

Intel® Core®2 Duo E8400 3.00GHz 45nm 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Dual-Core VT EM64T

Intel® Core®2 Quad Q9650 3.00GHz-1333FSB 12288KB L2 Cache Quad-Core VT EM64T

Thanks.

RE: Difference between 2 processors for new system

Beyond the obvious of 1 being a dual core vs quad core, 6m cache vs 12mb cache I you would need to look things up on Intel's sight.  Most of the info there will be geared to the system designer though.  I would stick with the dual core unless you plan on doing rendoring or simulations.  Modling parts and creating drawings does not take advanatage of 2 processes because it is a series process not a parrallel process.

 

RE: Difference between 2 processors for new system

(OP)
I do have the info off the intel site.... was just wondering if any of the people here have any direct experience with either of these two processors they could share.

Thanks



 

RE: Difference between 2 processors for new system

I've got the E8400 and it rocks.  Plus, it can be overclocked up to 4.0GHz in the future if you do things correctly.

If your primary software is SolidWorks, this dual-core chip is great.  It works well for rendering, too, but the more cores the better with rendering.  For all else (all basic modeling) more than two cores is redundant and you won't see much value in them.  In fact, the quad cores can actually be slower most of the time because their clock speeds are often slower than the dual-cores--so for the single-threaded crunching of normal modeling, they'd tend to be slower.

Plus, the E8400 chips are CHEAP.

If I remember correctly, my system scored something like 79 seconds in Anna's punch-holder benchmark.  Not bad.

 

Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
A people who value security over freedom will soon find they have neither.

RE: Difference between 2 processors for new system

(OP)
Jeff,

thanks for the insights... I know you're a user of @Xi products and I appreciate hearing how you like your system.   After some further investigation I'm leaning toward the E8600, 3.33 Ghz dual core... with an Nvidia FX 1700 card and 3 gigs of ram.

John

RE: Difference between 2 processors for new system

John, this system is the first I've built (departing from Xi to try it out), although I had some good advice in what to purchase for the build.

The faster chip you mentioned is probably great, if the E8400 lends any credence to it.  Sounds like a go.  You might want to check on the FX-1700 around this forum (and others) as a quick double-check for bang/buck.  I think this is the one often pointed to as a great card, but there are some that are quite expensive relative to others with only marginal gains in performance.

Let me know if you'd like any system details (or you could probably find that I've posted them somewhere here since February when I built the system).

 

Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
A people who value security over freedom will soon find they have neither.

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