E7200 worth $40 more than E2200?

[bassballboy]

Hey all, I've been flip flopping more than John Kerry lately.

I was planning on a Q6600/Q9450, but all these Nahelem stories make it sound like it will beat the ever living crap out of the current gen.

Therefore, I'm thinking about snagging a E2200 for $80, or the E7200, OC either to 3.2-3.6 and make it last for 1-2 years then upgrade once the MB/DDR3 prices stabilize.

This is assuming Fry’s doesn’t run some sale on the Q6600 for 150 or so, then I’d obviously have to go with that.

If it helps, I don’t plan on gaming much, maybe SC2 or D3 when they come out. The main function I want that would tax the system would be to play Blu-ray stutter free. I also plan on getting a 4850 to assist that.

Any thoughts, would the E7200 be worth the extra cash?

 

[needmorecarnitine]

If you have a Microcenter close to you, the E7200 is $100

either one will play bluray stutter-free w the 4850.

The 2180 also sells for $60 I think at Microcenter

 

[-=Antimatter=-]

Go for the 45nm, you won't regret it.

I doubt you'll get more than 3.2GHz out of an E2200.

 

[bassballboy]

I'm lucky to have a Fry's here, not lucky enough to have a Microcenter too though

Unless they opened one in Indy and I didn't know...

so, is the performance of the e7200 noticeably better than the e2200? I'd guess it'd be a little easier to OC

edit: Sounds like the e7200 should hit 3.6 without a problem, what about the e2200? I know OC's vary a lot, but what's the norm that's easily acheivable?

 

[Jakalwarrior]

3x as much L2 and higher clocking. Yes its probably worth the extra dough. If you are just building a temp rig though, build the bare minimum to do what you need (since you dont have to think of the future) and save the change for the next build!

If the hardest thing you are going to do is play blueray then go with the absolute cheapest system you can put together and put video card in it that can take that load (Cheapest vid card that can if you arent going to game!). 4850 will probably be enough if you are still going to be on this system when D3 and SC2 come out.

Article you should read if blueray is your goal
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=2161&cid=11&pg=3

Honestly if you arent gaming, doing photoshop, or encoding stuff, then 2gb of ram and any cpu / gpu is about enough these days.

 

[bassballboy]

I'll prolly use clonedvd some... that's about it.

Sounds like the E7200/4850 would destroy a Blu ray.

I'll probably go with it as it's obviously the better chip, unless I find a Q6600 steal

 

[mellojoe]

I have an E7200 and I can run at 3.3GHz rock solid on stock Intel heatsink. I just put up my Prime95 run of 10hours to prove it. No hiccups. Nothing. And the only thing thats stopping me from going furhter is the stock Intel heatsink. I have better cooling on the way.

The E7200 is a great chip. If you can find it for $100 its the best bargain on the planet. I paid $130 for mine, and I have no complaints.

 

[Mackowitz]

E7200 for $130 with an ECS board from Frys. Sell the board to net $15 to $20 gets your price down to $110. I got one for a 3rd rig I'm building in a SFF case, runs at 333x9.5 = 3.16 with stock everything. Haven't tested with OCCT or Othros yet, but it will boot and run windows at 400x9.5 = 3.8ghz with about a 0.1v bump for the CPU and NB, which is encouraging on an mATX board. 45nm is nice!

I had an E2180 for while that I paid around $60 for, and it would crap out at 3.0ghz no matter what settings I tried.

 

[bassballboy]

Thanks for all the help guys.

I ended up getting the Q6600+P5Q pro for 250 since it was only $40ish more....

Now I just have to do a lot of reading to see how to properly overclock it