Which Is Better for Gaming?

[SiameseD]

When it comes to gaming, which is better to have, more Ghz or more MB cache on a CPU?

[Droidbot]

Neither.

It all comes down to IPC (Instructions Per Clock) and the cores that you have available. 

For example, a Q6600 from 2005 with 4cores 4threads at 3.2Ghz is significantly slower than a i5 4670k from 2013 with 4cores 4threads at 3.2Ghz. 

Why? Because the Q6600 can only do 10 instructions per clock, whereas the i5 can do 32. 

 

For 1080p60 and 1440p60 I'd say i5, whereas for 1080p144 and 1440p144 I'd say i7

[stconquest]

3 minutes ago, FuckinBuckin said:

When it comes to gaming, which is better to have, more Ghz or more MB cache on a CPU?

Why not more GHz and a bigger cache?

 

Honestly, there is more to it than that:  Number of cores; CPU architecture; RAM; and software/game all play a major role in CPU performance when gaming.

[SiameseD]

Ok, i have a low end pc with an LGA 775 socket, i currently have an E8400 Dual core clocked in at 3.0 Ghz, im looking to upgrade to either a Core 2 Quad Q8400 or a Xeon X3220, which one would serve me better? and if around the same used price point is there a better option than both?

 

[Droidbot]

Which motherboard? You can probably use a E5450 with a 775 to 771 sticker. 

[SiameseD]

My board is a HP 3647h

[Gamerguy207]

u could get the one with more cache then overclock it

[SiameseD]

Super new when it comes to overclocking, what would the process be?

 

[Droidbot]

You can't use 771 CPUs, just go for which one is cheapest - they perform nearly identically. 

[SiameseD]

Ok, sounds good. Thank you.

 

[Simon771]

Higher IPC ... that's what you should be looking for gaming.