TTX2: To upgrade CPU or Not?

[Dreygor]

So I went ahead and pulled the trigger on some upgrades that should max out my TTX2. Some like the RAM, GPU, SSD and PSU are obvious upgrades. However the CPU one is still a point of contention.

So the CPU in the TTX2 I have is a Intel Pentium 4 651 while the alternate CPU I bought is an Intel Core2 Extreme x6800 going by this site..

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-4-651-vs-Intel-Core2-X6800#differences

and

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/950/Intel_Core_2_Extreme_X6800_vs_Intel_Pentium_4_651.html

both give compelling arguments for both CPUs. The second site actually has a performance comparison and shows the x6800 edging out the P4 651 even thought the core clock speed is higher on the P4 the bus speed on the x6800 is much faster. It's already been said that the X2 does not really take advantage of the extra CPU core that would be available from the x6800.

So the question is..

Which is CPU is better to use in a TTX2 and why?

 

[PascalP]

From what I understand the games do not take advantage of multiple cores and single core clock speed is what counts on TTX2.

That is for X2 games then, if you are messing with MAME or other stuff, dunno if those use multiple cores?

 

[Dreygor]

No, they don't seem to either.

if you look at the second web site I listed it shows a bunch of performance ratings. In almost every one the x6800 beats out he P4 even in single core stuff. I am not sure if it's the bus speed that makes up the difference. I thought the core clock speed would make the single core P4 faster but it does not in quite a few of the tests. That's why I posted here asking.

 

[PascalP]

Will be interesting to hear real life tests from people that used it themselves on TTX2 then.
I think it was mentioned multiple times in the Multidrive thread to stick with the stock, so that’s what I did
Biggest gain was upgrading to SSD for me

Does the TTX2 mobo utilize the higher bus speed or is it fixed at 800 maybe?

 

[atrfate]

No, they don't seem to either.

if you look at the second web site I listed it shows a bunch of performance ratings. In almost every one the x6800 beats out he P4 even in single core stuff. I am not sure if it's the bus speed that makes up the difference. I thought the core clock speed would make the single core P4 faster but it does not in quite a few of the tests. That's why I posted here asking.

IPC or instructions per clock, increase as time progresses so newer cpus are faster with lower clock speeds ect , and the Core 2 Series of chips is roughly 1.25% to 1.35% faster in the older P4 models, in all applications including games.

This means the Top end, X6800 that the X2 supports will fall in line roughly with about a 3.9 ghz, P4 if they where matched evenly in single threaded workloads
.
The cheaper 2.7 ghz core 2 is roughly Equal to the p4 In terms of single threaded applications

And the very common core 2 quad falls slightly behind. but it still on par with what some x2 models ship with.

End of the day, will this aid any games? Yes infact But very few edge cases

The Emulated games, of 3rd strike, For NxL Struggle to run at full speed on a stock x2 system, and this a purely a cpu bottleneck , so the extra speed should make these games play a bit better ( for those wondering they drop frames on a stock x2 between 59-60 )

As for all pc applications its a no brainer, the dual cores are better choices.