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Legacy Dual cores & Quad cores w/modern GPU & games

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Pretty interesting and surprising. Glad I ditched my E8500 over a year ago when I did or I'd really be hurting in the game department, but it does well for my HTPC needs now. So much for the "higher clocked dual cores are better for gaming vs slower quad core" that was very prevalent in many tech forums just a few years ago, the PC gaming hardware scene has really change.

I would have like to have seen a 680 or even a dual SLI setup thrown in for comparison along with the very popular E8400-8600 C2D CPUs that a lot of people ran and still continue to run.


http://hothardware.com/Reviews/GPU-Redux-Can-Old-DualCores-Drive-A-Modern-Graphics-Card/?page=1






 
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It has more to do thatn dual core vs quad core. The amount of L3 cache is much higher since the E8500 days and it depends if the app is single or multi-threaded.
 
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It has more to do thatn dual core vs quad core. The amount of L3 cache is much higher since the E8500 days and it depends if the app is single or multi-threaded.


Hey, I didn't do the test, I just linked the article. Don't shoot the messenger.
 
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I remember running my single core Athlon 64 3500+ with 8800GT...
That was fun. :)

8800GT did help a LOT, but obviously, even overclocked, that CPU couldn't keep up
 
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I used to have a Q6600 clocked at 3.7Ghz, would be interesting to see how that would fare nowadays (probably better than my FX 4100 lol )
 
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I remember running my single core Athlon 64 3500+ with 8800GT...
That was fun. :)

8800GT did help a LOT, but obviously, even overclocked, that CPU couldn't keep up

I ran a Athlon 64 3700+ back in late 2005 for my new rig when it was "the king" at the time being the first 64bit cpu out in the consumer market. Even with my 7800GT, my 3700+ started to get real slow looking when Intel finally kicked into gear its Core Duo lineup. After that, it was the end of my AMD days for me. I retired it to my first HTPC build with Windows 2005 Media center years ago but it still ran like a freaking old dog with arthritis, couldn't even run streamed 720p feeds worth a damn....
 
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Benchmark Scores They're pretty good, nothing crazy.
just goes to show how much slower CPUs age than gfx cards ever since conroe.
 
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just goes to show how much slower CPUs age than gfx cards ever since conroe.

Be entertaining to see a Presc"hot" cpu thrown into the mix. I remember AMD making some kinda hot plate hand holders and handing them out to attendee's for one of their big public meetings just to really give Intel a hard time because the CPU was so terrible back in the day. :D

Oh wait, here it is, the "Prescott Survival Kit" rofl!!

 
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So all I need to do is Oc my Q6600 some :)

Would be fun to see W1zz do a review with a GTX 680 and a Q6600, E8400, and some others and see how the FPS is.

And I agree CPU's last much longer than GPU's Performance wise.
 
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I have a friend who was rocking a single core AMD Athlon (Barton or Thoroughbred) until 2008 in his dedcated gaming machine. That machine saw a lot of hard use, and is still working as his daily driver websurfer as a Linux machine.

CPUs last so long because most games are still console ports. The next console refresh will finally push people to upgrade, but then will stagnate for another decade or so.
 
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i guess its all from the software itself
until now dual cores is more effective than 3 or 4 or 10 cores
more cores more power but in real life you just can max just 1 or 2 core
 
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Three cores is currently ideal, hence why quads beat duals in modern games.
The reason for three cores, is because of the stupid xbox360, if a game is going to be on that, it won't be coded for anymore than three cores be it ported to or from pc.
There are a very very few number of games that make use of four threads properly.

Thankfully new consoles are like, going to be eight core + so finally the consoles wont be holding back video game progress.
 
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The Xbox 360 can use 6 threads.
 
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I tried to run my GTX680 with my old C2D E8400... it wasn't pretty :( . Looking for a Modern GPU that could support the E8400.
 
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I just recently put this one together...Q9550 in a Evga 790i Ultra SLI mb. I would be quite satisfied to use it as my daily and gamer if needed. Runs all games very well be it the GTX 295's or GTX 460's. :)







(Sniper Elite w/GTX 295's installed)
 
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This seems bias towards processor intensive games. I would have liked to have seen a wider selection.
 
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im looking to upgrade from my old Q8400 now, tried the FX4100 but it was actually slower in gaming(on my friends BD system) so i sent it back so those old phenom II and Core 2 Quads are not bad still, they were worth the money.
 
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im looking to upgrade from my old Q8400 now, tried the FX4100 but it was actually slower in gaming(on my friends BD system) so i sent it back so those old phenom II and Core 2 Quads are not bad still, they were worth the money.

Yep they are slow, I can vouch for that :D Everything is playing smooth though, how high did you manage to clock the FX 4100?
 

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Man I'm still playing with a single core. I must be a really ancestral gamer then. :p
 
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4.4Ghz, could not get any more with all cores.
 
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Wow this has gone offtrack XD
I shall add to it.
On the same platform, my 1055T@ 3.6 was slower than a stock FX 8350 in BL2. The desktop itself just felt more smooth too.
I had the 2 BD patches installed, Win7.
 

qubit

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Looking at that article, I'd say scrap any dual core system and replace it with a quad core. Those graphics cards were really held back by the dual core CPU.

Use the thing as a file server or something, like I did with my E8500 system. Nice and fast.
 
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Games need quads nowadays.
An overclocked 2500k is the paradigm for gaming with a modern gpu.
 
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dang it, i was hoping this would go into more detail

i need to know how much my q9550 3.6ghz would cripple a 7970 & i know it will (i'm looking for 60fps at least, not 120)

i can sort of estimate what this OC is similar to (with cinebench, x264 bench, etc), a certain phenom ii x4 so i could technically find 7970 tests on that cpu

also i think it's alright to focus on cpu limited games... it's more important to know if you'll be dipping in your 40s than 90s
 
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