Faster processor = faster gaming?

[vnf4ultra]

Front Side Bus is very important and has a large impact in performance, a far greater impact than CPU speed does. It doesn't matter if your cpu is running at 10 billion GHZ, if you are using a slow FSB, your entire system is going to suffer from it.

Bus speed makes a huge difference for CPUs of the same type and speed. It is better to take a lower speed processor with a much higher FSB than a faster CPU with a slower FSB. You need to study up a bit more on how the CPU communicates ram and the motherboard.

I know bus speed affects system speed, but I'm saying, the cpu itself won't perform much differently(or is that wrong?). I know, and said "The difference would be the speeds that they support ram at, and also some models have Hyperthreading, so they perform somewhat better." , that you'll use faster ram(pc3200) with a 800fsb cpu, it'll make the system faster to have a faster fsb, but will the processor itself actually be faster(ie in cpu benches?).

Tom's cpu charts seem to support my statement.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/index.html? modelx=33&model1=28&model2=18&chart=4
all the 3ghz models(regardless of fsb) score similarly.

"It is better to take a lower speed processor with a much higher FSB than a faster CPU with a slower FSB"
Not always.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/index.html?modelx=33&model1=21&model2=28&chart=27
The p4 2.4ghz 800fsb is beaten by a few 533fsb models, it isn't all about fsb, it's the combination of fsb and cpu.

I'd rather have a 10billion ghz cpu and a 400fsb than a 3.8ghz 800fsb anyday, at least you'd have braggin' rights

 

[Justin]

Only in a few areas would a lower FSB with a higher clockspeed have any advantage. You are sacrificing your entire systems overall performance by doing that. Higher FSB is preferrable.

 

[vnf4ultra]

Yeah, it's better to have a high fsb for the entire system. Does having a high fsb affect much besides the ram's speed though?

 

[MrGaribaldi]

Depends on the setup... If you're overclocking the FSB you can actually be stopped/even harm IDE harddrives and cdroms as they too are connected to the FSB along with your (agp) graphics card and other PCI components...

But if you're running stock/standard speeds, then no...

 

[Didou]

Tom's cpu charts seem to support my statement.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/index.html? modelx=33&model1=28&model2=18&chart=4
all the 3ghz models(regardless of fsb) score similarly.

They perform the same in that test alone because some tests rely entirely on clock speed & little else.

"It is better to take a lower speed processor with a much higher FSB than a faster CPU with a slower FSB"
Not always.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/index.html?modelx=33&model1=21&model2=28&chart=27
The p4 2.4ghz 800fsb is beaten by a few 533fsb models, it isn't all about fsb, it's the combination of fsb and cpu.

If you take the 2.4Ghz Northwood P4 (200mhz FSB), there's only the 2.8Ghz & the 3.06Ghz P4s (133mhz FSB) that are faster & only marginaly. So they need at least 400mhz to have better performance & they can't even reach the 2.6Ghz Northwood (which also runs on a 200mhz FSB). Says a lot about the importance of the FSB speed.

 

[schnewb]

Having a fast cpu definatly helps for gaming. Ive just upgraded to a amd xp mobile 2600+ and i can tell the difference it has made in gaming. Although ive got a fairly aged geforce4 ti 4200, the cpu speed has made up for the lost performace, i can play doom 3 and far cry in high settings without a problem.

 

[vnf4ultra]

Depends on the setup... If you're overclocking the FSB you can actually be stopped/even harm IDE harddrives and cdroms as they too are connected to the FSB along with your (agp) graphics card and other PCI components...

But if you're running stock/standard speeds, then no...

But my board has a pci/agp lock, so even when oc'ing, it doesn't really matter right?

 

[MrGaribaldi]

If you have a proper pci/agp lock, then no it shouldn't matter... Sorry, should've specified that a bit better in my prev post...

And even if you didn't have a pci/agp lock, it wouldn't be a problem unless you either had very sensitive equipment, or increased the FSB very much...