Help needed to decide E8400 or Q9400

K

Kdes

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2007
Messages
158
Reaction score
3
Help needed to decide E8400 or Q9400

I need to decide between these two cpus for gaming in mind. I will be doing a mild over clock on the one I buy.

The main question is, 2 core or 4 core which is better for gaming?

The Q9400 is I little slower than the E8400 and more expensive but I get more cores.

The E8400 I believe I will be able to over clock more than the Q9400
so I will get maybe more speed with the E8400 but with 2 cores and not 4 cores.

2 core more speed
4 core less speed

both 6mb cach and 1333fsb

Any advice???

Ill be trying the gigabyte board GA-EP45T-UD3R with 4gb of ddr3 ram at 1333.
Windows xp fully updated

Thanks
 
Last edited:
For gaming you cannot e8400 for all round system performance the q9400, although in saying that games are starting to use more than 2 cores like gta4 and i am sure more will follow so if you intend on keeping the cpu for a lengthy period of time i would go for the q9400.
 
O i just noticed that you do not have the mobo yet, why not look at i7 intel if your going to buying ddr 3 you may as well look into it.
 
Q9400 + mild OC definitely.

Sjoe... Why DDR3?

I'd go for the Asus P5Q at around R600 cheaper than that Gigabyte, and DDR2 RAM. You can get the P5Q + 4GB DDR2 for the price of that Gigabyte board!
 
Quad all the way, its more future proof... GTA4 showed us some signs ^_^'
 
If you getting that board and DDR3 ram you may as well go I7.
 
If you don't have a board yet why not get a phenom 2 920? They are R2800 at take2. Those things overclock just as well intels.
 
In choosing which cpu to use
1)Consider your budget, if it's tight then definitely go with the e8400. Saving +- R500
2)Bear in mind, that many of the games are build on 2 core technology and not 4. Should you go quad core, (depending on the games that you will be playing), many of the additional cores will be unoccupied.
3)Also, when it comes to gaming, bear in mind that the GPU is more important than the CPU.
6)I would therefore take the e8400 with ATI HD4870 or E8400 with GTX280
7) Take the e8400, and wait for the prices for the i7 core to come down and later upgrade to it.

BTW do you still get the E8400 - I'm not to sure - I will have to follow up with our suppliers.
 
Last edited:
Quad all the way, the general smoothness is hard to beat even in the little things. You quickly become used to it, and even dual core seems sluggish.

I notice you are planning to get 4GB Ram and want to run XP. I highly suggest you rather run a Vista 64 bit edition of some sort, it will make far better use of your system than XP does. With XP, up to a gig possibly will sit there idle and being wasted.
 
This is starting to sound like the same single core vs dual core debate we had years ago :)

My advice is to go for quad core ... you are future proofed as more games will begin to use more than 2 cores.

I agree with Asha'man ... it just feels more smoother with quad core - for all applications.
 
ok, let me settle this once and for all.

Gaming:
Dual core will beat the quad core in most games, BUT only by a few fps.

Desktop:
The Quad will kill the dual here, not only beat it by a little bit....

In some games though, a quad is better suited (especially for high-end GFX cards)

If you intend keeping your CPU for a year atleast, get the quad, as games have already started to use more cores. After Alan Wake is released, you'll be glad you got a quad.

so while the dual does beat the quad in games, mostly - it's just not worth it to still buy a dual core to be able to play most 2009 games with a few extra fps, and suck at games for the rest of it's life from 2010 onwards - the quad might be a few fps slower today, but the fps should still be high enough to not even tell a difference.
 
Thanks to all that replied.

After reading some of the responses it seems maybe to go for the quad core to try be more future proof. With a bit of over clocking then i should make up the speed?

i7
It will be best maybe to go for the i7, but it is past my budget.
I am trying to go for a top graphic card. If i can go for the i7 i will then have to go with a slower Gcard.
When do you think the I7 will get cheaper? Within a month?
I would like to get the machine next week. But if the I7 will get cheaper within a month then maybe i should wait. If will take a few months i dont see waiting that long.

DDR2 vs DDR3
Is it not best to go for DD3 just that bit faster than ddr2??

Im thinking of getting a GTX 280 will ii have a bottle neck with the Q9400?? I know it might be a silly question but i need to make sure i dont waste any power from the 280 using a to slow cpu.
 
Last edited:
There are already multi-threaded games which make advantage of quad core. Crysis and GTA 4 being the most popular.

Go quad, go with 90% of the advisers. ;)
 
Kdes, there is no such thing as future-proofing. Just know that. The Quad or the Dual, either one will be perfect for gaming. Personally I will go for the Dual and get a better graphics card (which is what matters with most games), but seeing how you want the GTX 280 and DDR3 i assume your budget is NOT tight :D

Do not get i7. Just dont. For the price it isnt worth it. As far as I know, Intel is preparing a new CPU range, all that will require a different motherboard. As soon as thats released you will regret buying i7 for that ammount of money.

Just my .02 cents: Get the E8400 and wait for Intel's new range of CPU's. They will be released late this year, or early next year, as far I've heard. By then all games MIGHT actually use all 4 cores. Then you can upgrade to the new motherboard/CPU and you won't have wasted your money on the i7/Quad.

Get DDR2 if you don't plan on getting the i7. DDR3 is actually WORSE for games, because the frequency and the high latency actually botlenecks the GPU (believe it or not). DDR3 also costs 4 times as much! I also recommend an ASUS motherboard, they have the best value for money.

And if you DO decide to get the Quad and the GTX 280, it will not be botlenecked. the DDR3 just might.

The GTX 280 is incredibly powerful, so if you can afford it go for it. Just beware: ATI are going to release a new range of cards soon, to counteract the GTX 295. It will be cheap and powerful! You might wanna wait ... Again: this is just my .02 cents. This is just my personal opinion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X