AMD X4 vs IC2D

[lazyboy947]

What would be better for gaming purposes cpu wise, forget the gpu and not meaning that im not using a gpu lol. But a Phenom X4 9650 or Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 both at stock speeds and using 4gb ddr2 @800 MHz. I know that ones a dual core and ones a quad but the first gen phenoms wernt great and well the core2 series is what brought intel to the top over amd in gaming desktop cpus. so would the dual core intel beat a quad core phenom?

 

[Regor245]

In Gaming and light threaded apps.. yeah.

 

[sarinaide]

I would rather go with a E8600 of the two, Phenoms underperformed and were replaced really quickly by Phenom II.

 

[lazyboy947]

ok just wondering because my bro in law has a 9650 x4 and the 4gb, and a 9800gt, and my brother got that core 2 duo and same amount speed ram from his work. Since my brother has no use for the C2D, would it be better to use the e8600 with the 9800gt over the x4 in lets say low setting bf3, wow, mw3,black ops 2 when release?

Since bf3 is cpu intense would the more core lower clock speed of the x4 be more useful? as it is the recommeneded cpu for the game.

 

[MU_Engineer]

What would be better for gaming purposes cpu wise, forget the gpu and not meaning that im not using a gpu lol. But a Phenom X4 9650 or Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 both at stock speeds and using 4gb ddr2 @800 MHz. I know that ones a dual core and ones a quad but the first gen phenoms wernt great and well the core2 series is what brought intel to the top over amd in gaming desktop cpus. so would the dual core intel beat a quad core phenom?

It depends a little bit. Games today have about two "heavy" threads and a few lighter ones. They run best on chips with 4+ cores, a very high clock speed, and a bunch of low-latency cache. Run the heavy threads at too low of a clock speed and it doesn't matter how many cores you have, the game won't run any faster. (My previous machine had 16 2.0 GHz Phenom II cores and game performance was pretty moderate because of the low clock speed.) Have only one or two screaming fast cores and the OS will schedule several threads on one core and slow things down as well.

- If you are going to run both chips at stock, the E8600 will make a better gaming CPU as two very high-clocked 3.33 GHz cores with a large 6 MB low-latency L2 running at 3.33 GHz will outperform four relatively low-clocked cores running at 2.30 GHz backed up by 2 MB of higher-latency L3 cache running at 1.80 GHz.

- If you are willing to overclock and have a good board, I would probably give a SLIGHT edge to the Phenom. A Phenom X4 will go to around 3.0 GHz core /low 2 GHz range on the L3 on a good board and really wake up. The E8600 will get to the low 4 GHz range but still have only two cores.

- If you can upgrade, it really depends. Just about every board that can take an E8600 can take Core 2 Quad Q9x50 parts (Q9450/9550/9650) which are much better at gaming than the E8600 due to more cores. However quite a few AM2+ Phenom boards can take Socket AM3 Phenom II X4s. A fast Phenom II X4 like the Phenom II X4 975 is a very potent chip and more powerful (and much cheaper!) than a Core 2 Quad Q9x50.

 

[amuffin]

I'd say the E8600.

 

[lazyboy947]

- If you can upgrade, it really depends. Just about every board that can take an E8600 can take Core 2 Quad Q9x50 parts (Q9450/9550/9650) which are much better at gaming than the E8600 due to more cores. However quite a few AM2+ Phenom boards can take Socket AM3 Phenom II X4s. A fast Phenom II X4 like the Phenom II X4 975 is a very potent chip and more powerful (and much cheaper!) than a Core 2 Quad Q9x50.

The rest was helpful, wats in the quote i alrdy knew, and was wondering now that as my bro in law plays on a i7 2600k, the x4 is his old pc and a buddy is looking for a low end pc that can play most games where settings doesnt matter for quality, the x4 is on a asus m2n mx se plus with a ultra x wind cpu cooler. I got the x4 up to 2.5ghz no prob but just not sure what safe temps are for an first gen x4. So lets say the x4 oc'd to 2.8ish vs stock e8600 as its cooling and prob locked ocing abilities

The E8600 is in a Lenovo slimline case with stock cooler etc prebuilt pc stuff lol

 

[MU_Engineer]

The rest was helpful, wats in the quote i alrdy knew, and was wondering now that as my bro in law plays on a i7 2600k, the x4 is his old pc and a buddy is looking for a low end pc that can play most games where settings doesnt matter for quality, the x4 is on a asus m2n mx se plus with a ultra x wind cpu cooler. I got the x4 up to 2.5ghz no prob but just not sure what safe temps are for an first gen x4. So lets say the x4 oc'd to 2.8ish vs stock e8600 as its cooling and prob locked ocing abilities

The E8600 is in a Lenovo slimline case with stock cooler etc prebuilt pc stuff lol

I would go for the Phenom X4 simply because it isn't in a slimline case and if you actually wanted to stuff a decent GPU in it to play games, you could. If it is an IGP unit it will be something like an AMD 690 or 780G which will be much better than the Intel IGP of the period. Intel IGPs in the Core 2 days and before were absolutely awful. The ones now that are on the CPU are merely mediocre. You can't do much about a crappy IGP on an OEM PC as OEM PCs are notoriously horrible for being JUST enough cooling, space, and PSU for what originally shipped in them, and no more- especially small form factor/slimline units.

 

[lazyboy947]

Alright thanks, and if i remember the best low profile i could fit in the slimline would be a 6670/7750, but for heat, space, and power it wouldnt b worth it except to take just the motherboard, cpu, ram into a new case with a new psu etc but id have to agree with u that the x4 is sufficient since i didnt really think of the problems the components in the lenovo might cause.

Now down to cost of buying a whole older pc like the x4 9650 w 9800gt or something newer? I heard that the new apus igp can play most games decently, not bf3/crysis, etc but something similar to a 9800gt at prob only a slight more than the x4 pc.

 

[sarinaide]

I will be brutally honest if going so old and you are on a budget then a A10-5800K seems to be a more viable option than either of the mentions above.