IEMC

I currently have a Pentium 4 Prescott 3.2 GHz, and this guy I know is offering a E6420 for $80 (I can probably get it a little cheaper).

I'm not sure how much duals cores change performance, even if the cores are a whole 1.1 GHz slower than what I have as single core.

Can I get some advice as to if I'd notice a performance change or if it's even just worth it?

Just some more info:
- He used it for less than a year
- Didn't overclock
- He's selling it because he bought an E8500
- It has it's warranty and stock heatsink still

Please don't suggest to buy something else, as I don't have the money to be buying new processors or anything really more expensive than this.

Thanks.

__________________

cozumel

If he's a friend why don't you get him to bring it over. Or take your rig round to their place (or shop if applicable). Throw her in your rig and see the difference yourself. Then make a decision as to whether the cpu is good value.

__________________

kris23

its always better to see if something actually works before you buy

__________________

cozumel

And if it doesn't work you might get a discount. Say $30-40 sound good?

But seriously, you said you know this guy. Tell him you've got the cash but you want to try it out first to make sure the difference is noticeable to the eye and aski him to bring it round so you can check. Fire it up, maybe take prime95 for quick run and then test it on your relevant software. If you like it, tell him so. But also tell him you don't like the price lol and what will he accept for cash on the nose today. In his pocket.

__________________

Judas

MAKE SURE your motherboard will work with it first.... And if all it needs is a bios update, make sure you update your bios before hand...

as i've seen people plug in thier core 2 dou to replace thier prescott or older cpu only to find the system won't boot at all.... unsupported CPU.

__________________

IEMC

I would test it out but it would be pretty impractical considering he lives in Canada and I'm in the US.

You're right about needing to test it first, though. I think I'll pass.

__________________

Tipstaff

Core 2 Duo for the win.

Here's how it breaks down:

- Don't quote me on the exact nature of this, but think about the design of the Core 2 like this: the Core 2 Duo E6420 has 1/2 the pipelines that the Prescott has. That means data gets to where it needs to be in 1/2 the time at a lower clock rate. To use a euphemism: 2 runners start a race at the same time with 1 runner being slower than the other, however, the slower runner finishes first cuz he used a shortcut.

- The E6420 would also generate about roughly 1/3 to 1/2 the heat that the Prescott does, because it not only runs at a lower clock rate, but it uses less power and is smaller too. Average temperatures for the E6420 would be less than 30C. An added bonus is that less heat equals lower fan speeds equals less noise.

- The Core 2 Duo has 4mb of cache. You didn't mention which Prescott you have, but if it's the 540 you have 1mb of cache, and the 640 has 2mb.

- The Prescott you have runs on a 800mhz bus. The E6420: 1066mhz.

To get a rough to good idea of how each processor stacks up against each other take a look at THIS link. It's a perma link to a Toms Hardware roundup of each processor, and I've changed it to include just the processors you have. You can pick whatever benchmark you want to look at, game or other software, and it will readjust the list to keep those processors visible.

__________________

Matth

Biostar Tforce 945P - Biostar USA

Must be version 2.0 to support Core 2

__________________
Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead
Now Mary takes her lamb to school,
Between two crusts of bread

IEMC

I have the 640, so it's 2 mb of cache.

Nice write up, Tipstaff.

That's still really tempting. Considering that I can't test it, I wonder if I can get it for ~20 dollars. I'll have to talk to him about that.

__________________

PangingJr

i think, Intel Pentium 4 3.2E GHz Prescott - Bus Speed: 800 MHz
and Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 - Bus Speed: 1066 MHz

Tipstaff

Doh! My bad, and corrected.

Can't believe I did that.

IMEC, Matt brought up a good point. Before going ahead with this you should double check to make sure your board supports the processor. You could find that you get the processor, and it doesn't work, leaving you with having to buy a new board too.

__________________

IEMC

The box of my board says it supports Core 2 Duos, does that count? :P

__________________

Liqourice

BIOS
I94PA124.BST - 01/24/2007 - 1.Support Intel E4300 CPU

As far as I can tell the newest supported CPU is the E4300 so I'm pretty sure the one you're talking about won't work.

IEMC

It probably doesn't even matter now, as someone else is gonna buy it.

__________________

kris23

sucks.....

__________________

kris23

quack

Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E2220 Allendale 2.4GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

__________________

IEMC

Lol, no thanks.

__________________