what does bigger L2 cache give you???

[nolifer112]

so...like the title says...if q9400 has 6mb L2 and q9550 has 12mb L2... i can oc q9400 to 3.0GHz will it be slower than q9550???

 

[slyfox2151]

Yes but not by much, its just an extra step before your ram that has much higher bandwidth and lower latency, but in genral you wont notice a difference.

its usualy not worth the extra $$$ going from 6 - 12 as it could cost as much as $100 , however i dont know about the current price diffrence so i cant really help you there.

 

[Silverel]

cache is a very high-speed localized type of memory. When your processor is working it's constantly feeding data from your HDD, to your CPU. Large amounts get stored in your RAM, and the working amounts are fed between your L1/2/3 cache. A larger cache means more work can be done at a time without having to wait to pull from RAM or HDD.

Take a 2MB piece of work for example. On a CPU with a smaller cache (2MB for example), it can get this amount of work done just as fast as a CPU with 12MB of cache. However, when you move to something like a 6MB piece of work, the first CPU has to make 3 trips to RAM to finish the operation. This adds latency on a millisecond level, but it adds up. The 12MB cache would get it done in one burst, no issues. Now take a 12MB piece of work, the 2MB cache needs 6 trips to do the same amount of work as 1 trip on the 12MB cache.

Upping your clock speed can negate the time these trips take, but clock for clock with large work blocks, the larger cache will win.

 

[nolifer112]

Yes but not by much, its just an extra step before your ram that has much higher bandwidth and lower latency, but in genral you wont notice a difference.

its usualy not worth the extra $$$ going from 6 - 12 as it could cost as much as $100 , however i dont know about the current price diffrence so i cant really help you there.

thanks...just the thing i wanted to know...don't have the extra $$ to spend...i'll just go with the q9400, it's still better than q8xxx

 

[Darren]

I dont mean to be rude, but but couldn't you of asked this in your still active "Quad vs Dual" thread"?


Edit:

so...like the title says...if q9400 has 6mb L2 and q9550 has 12mb L2... i can oc q9400 to 3.0GHz will it be slower than q9550???

But to answer your question

The difference between the Q9400 and Q9950 is small, cache makes very little difference to overall performance, if the Q9400 was overclocked to 3 GHz it would be faster than the Q9550.

BTW. Sometimes cache can reduce performance, lots of cache can cause latencies to increase.



Edit 2:

could you suggest me what cpu cooler to buy...something budgetwise

3 GHz is a tiny overclock, you can probably do that on the stock cooler

 

[nolifer112]

I dont mean to be rude, but but couldn't you of asked this in your still active "Quad vs Dual" thread"?

i think i did ask sth. like that, but no one answered and i decided to make a new thread. because people whatch new threads more...

 

[nolifer112]

could you suggest me what cpu cooler to buy...something budgetwise

 

[hat]

cache is a bit of memory on the processor. the more cache you have, the more instructions you can stuff in the processor's memory before it actually gets to it. cache is very vast, very low latency, but it produces heat on the processor and is expensive to produce. that's why we have memory, because we can't afford to be making processors with 4GB of cache.

 

[Wingo101]

could you suggest me what cpu cooler to buy...something budgetwise

Maybe this:

Arctic Freezer Pro 7 @ $36.99 free shipping

 

[JC316]

I can honestly tell you that going from 4-8MB did NOTHING to me performance wise. Going from 8MB to 512K did. Everything was sluggish, less crisp. The Freezer pro is a good cooler, but you can find Xigmatek coolers that are better for cheaper.

 

[Black Panther]

so...like the title says...if q9400 has 6mb L2 and q9550 has 12mb L2... i can oc q9400 to 3.0GHz will it be slower than q9550???

Get a Q9450 for the following reasons:
1) it's cheaper than the Q9550,
2) you can still oc it, and;
3) you will have your 12MB L2 cache...

Talk about getting the cake and eating it!

 

[suraswami]

could you suggest me what cpu cooler to buy...something budgetwise

This is the best cooler out there.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835207004

Check this cooler in the top 5 cooler list

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

 

[3870x2]

Get a Q9450 for the following reasons:
1) it's cheaper than the Q9550,
2) you can still oc it, and;
3) you will have your 12MB L2 cache...

Talk about getting the cake and eating it!

exactly right.