D vs C2D

[NiceNice]

I'm somewhat ignorant when it comes to dual core processors and am building a friend of mine a gaming pc. He is trying to decide between a D 950 and a e6400... because of the high clock speeds and oc potential it would seem to me that the D likely would run games smoother. But when I look online at benchmarks, the much slower clockspeed on the core 2 always outperforms the D. Is netburst that much better? Which processor should we go with. (would even the e6300 be better than any D?) Thanks.

 

[ajfink]

I'm somewhat ignorant when it comes to dual core processors and am building a friend of mine a gaming pc. He is trying to decide between a D 950 and a e6400... because of the high clock speeds and oc potential it would seem to me that the D likely would run games smoother. But when I look online at benchmarks, the much slower clockspeed on the core 2 always outperforms the D. Is netburst that much better? Which processor should we go with. (would even the e6300 be better than any D?) Thanks.

Go with the E6400, hands down. While it is a lower clock speed, it does much more work per clock cycle (Mhz) than the old Pentium Ds. It also overclocks extremely well. The Pentium D 950 doesn't even belong in the same room as an E6400 once overclocking is introduced into the equation.

Take note, however, that the C2D need newer motherboards than the Pentium Ds. It comes down to the chipsets, an Intel 965/975, nVidia 680i, or AMD/ATI RD600/RS600 are required (and all work well, except the nvidia chipset is pretty rough with energy consumption).

 

[NiceNice]

Thanks, Thats what I was thinking, to go with the e6400. I was looking at an asus sli nforce main that should be fine with the e6400 although may not allow the same oc capabilities.

 

[ajfink]

Thanks, Thats what I was thinking, to go with the e6400. I was looking at an asus sli nforce main that should be fine with the e6400 although may not allow the same oc capabilities.

What model? Give us a link,

Asus boards tend to OC rather well.

 

[shinigamiX]

Whoa, buddy. Core 2 Duos are based on the Core Microarchitecture, it's Pentium D that's based on NetBurst. An important distinction in this forum.

 

[NiceNice]

Either one of these, depending on what my friend ends up wanting to drop:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131032

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131142

Just in case the links don't work the model numbers are:

P5NSLI and P5N-E SLI

 

[ajfink]

What is his budget? SLI and Crossfire are generally just hyped-up terms to get people to buy two video cards instead of one. The benefits of SLI and Crossfire are questionable. One good card > two decent cards.

Either of those boards would work fine, though. The P5N-E SLI is the better of the two, though.

 

[Gegitech]

I agree the p5n-e uses the 650i chipset over the 570. Though do you really need an sli mobo? I personally like the nvidia chipset so i have a tendency to purchase sli motherboards but thats just me.

 

[NiceNice]

He's probably only looking to spend around $700 and is going to use my old x1600 gpu for a while until the dx10 chipsets drop price a little. I may be able to convince him to spend a little more and go for the e6600, but that may be tough. Otherwise he's pretty set on all the other componets of the system.

 

[gOJDO]

The benchmarks you've saw are true. The Core2 Duo E6400 outperforms all Pentium D's.
Core2 Duo are much more better CPUs than Pentium D's, looking from all important aspects:
- performance
- performance/$
- performance/MHz
- performance/Watt
- heat dissipation
- overclocking ability
- technologies

 

[ajfink]

He's probably only looking to spend around $700 and is going to use my old x1600 gpu for a while until the dx10 chipsets drop price a little. I may be able to convince him to spend a little more and go for the e6600, but that may be tough. Otherwise he's pretty set on all the other componets of the system.

Might I suggest one of the Intel 965-based P5B boards, then? They're popular and proven boards for enthusiasts and mainstream users alike.

The 650i board is a good one, though. Just be wary of installing nVidia drivers besides the chipset and NIC drivers (IDE and Hardware Firewall software should -never- be installed).

 

[battleghost]

But when I look online at benchmarks, the much slower clockspeed on the core 2 always outperforms the D. Is netburst that much better?

you got it backwards, c2d runs on the core architecture, it's the D's that uses netburst.

Also, may i suggest a e4300? those CPUs can be easily clocked to 3Ghz without any long term damage. So you practically get a X6800 for the 1/5th of the price.