Building a new PC, part 4
Apr. 6th, 2008 07:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
philmophlegmProcessor
Most PC builds start with the choosing the processor first. However, because mine is being built as a high end gaming machine, the graphics cards become the most important component, and everything else follows on from them.
For months, I have been thinking that my next CPU would be an Intel Core II Quad. These are quad core processors - that is, sort of four processors in one. Applications written to take advantage of multi-core processors really benefit from quad core. Unfortunately, games tend not to benefit quite so much. Even so, until recently, the Core II Quad Q6600 was still the best bangs-per-buck processor you could buy. Sure, there were faster 'extreme edition' processors, but these are about four times as much.
Also, it has been the case for the last few years that performance in games has mostly been determined by the graphics hardware, not the processor. But some intensive research this weekend has shown that processor choice does matter at the high end with these multiple-GPU setups. In particular, processor clock speed matters and it matters more than the number of cores.
And this means that the best processor choice to go with my two 9800GX2s is one of the E8000 series of higher clock speed Core II Duos - the 'Wolfdale' processors. All sorts of review sites have raved about these, as have end users. They run cool, they overclock easily and they're very fast, while still being reasonably priced.
Of course, because everyone else wants a Core II Duo E8200, E8400 or E8500, they are very hard to get hold of. Ideally, I wanted an E8500 (the fastest model), but I couldn't find one anywhere. Luckily, my favourite supplier, Overclockers (www.overclockers.co.uk) had one E8400 left in stock, and I've bought it.
Most PC builds start with the choosing the processor first. However, because mine is being built as a high end gaming machine, the graphics cards become the most important component, and everything else follows on from them.
For months, I have been thinking that my next CPU would be an Intel Core II Quad. These are quad core processors - that is, sort of four processors in one. Applications written to take advantage of multi-core processors really benefit from quad core. Unfortunately, games tend not to benefit quite so much. Even so, until recently, the Core II Quad Q6600 was still the best bangs-per-buck processor you could buy. Sure, there were faster 'extreme edition' processors, but these are about four times as much.
Also, it has been the case for the last few years that performance in games has mostly been determined by the graphics hardware, not the processor. But some intensive research this weekend has shown that processor choice does matter at the high end with these multiple-GPU setups. In particular, processor clock speed matters and it matters more than the number of cores.
And this means that the best processor choice to go with my two 9800GX2s is one of the E8000 series of higher clock speed Core II Duos - the 'Wolfdale' processors. All sorts of review sites have raved about these, as have end users. They run cool, they overclock easily and they're very fast, while still being reasonably priced.
Of course, because everyone else wants a Core II Duo E8200, E8400 or E8500, they are very hard to get hold of. Ideally, I wanted an E8500 (the fastest model), but I couldn't find one anywhere. Luckily, my favourite supplier, Overclockers (www.overclockers.co.uk) had one E8400 left in stock, and I've bought it.
