Performance difference between

[Zallek]

My 2.4 'C' and a similarly priced 3.0 'E'? From what I understand, the E chips have a 1mb cache, correct? How much of a performance gain would that give me over my 2.4 overclocked to 3-3.2ghz? I read somewhere here that the northwood chips are better than prescott until the prescotts hit a certain ghz.. Is the E chip a prescott?

Basically what I want to know, is would it be worth replacing my 2.4 'C' with the 3.0 'E'?

 

[Atrye]

The "E" means Prescott. And yes, they have a 1MB cache. However, benchmarks have shown this cache to have a minimal effect on performance.

Northwoods are better to have than Prescotts at lower clock speeds, if for no reason other than they are much cooler. However, as you said, Prescotts start to jump ahead when they hit higher speeds.

At the speeds you are looking at, I think you should stay with the 2.4 Northwood and OC it. However, if you want to invest more money and go for a powerful cooling solution, you could probably OC the 3.0E to speeds that would show definite improvement over your 2.4C.

 

[Zallek]

Thats exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks. Right now I just use air.. Im to lazy and/or to much of a pussy to wanna fiddle with watercooling right now, and from what I've seen, my temps are better than some watercooling setups.. I idle at 19C or so, but the load jumps up to 45ish. Although its not silent, but it doesnt bother me.