Intel E8400 And AMD Phenom II X4 940 BE Gaming Performance

[Ritwik7]

Hi guys.

I had definitely decided on getting myself a Phenom II X4 940 BE the coming week. However today I noticed some gaming benchmarks in which the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 came out on top over the Phenom II 940.

By getting the Phenom will I be compromising on gaming performance? I'm buying the new processor as I don't get very playable frame rates in Crysis / Assassin's Creed with my XFX 9800 GT as I'm still using a Pentium 4 2.93 GHz.

Thanks.

 

[mica3speedy]

Either chip will do fine in gaming. The big question is what type of motherboard do you currently have? If it is one that supports the e8400, I would just go that route and save money. Otherwise you would have to buy a new motherboard to go with the phenom. The e8400 is also very overclockable, I have mine at 3.8ghz for 24/7 use, and my mb is what is holding it back. If you need to buy a new motherboard regardless, you can't go wrong either way. Most games today won't fully utilize more than 2 cores, but future games may use more cores. I would even suggest even looking at a q8400/q9400 if your motherboard supports them.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

They are both good processors, and they will both do well. They trade performance wins.
Do whichever is cheaper I say. I like the Phenom II X3 720 though.

 

[Ritwik7]

My motherboard currently will not support any of the above mentioned Intel processors. So in any case I would have to buy both. I read a few reviews on Dual Core Vs Quad Core Gaming and found that a quad would not make much of an impact. My main objective is gaming so I'm trying to figure out which processor would be best suited.

Also a friend happened to mention that some of the older games might have issues with a quad core CPU. Is that true?

Will be waiting for more inputs. I intend to make my purchase on the 3rd of August.

Thanks.

 

[red1776]

Hi Ritwik,
the reason your seeing that is most games do not make use of more than 2 cores. there are exceptions like crysis which seem to prefer 3 cores. as the next gen of games are released they will more and more make use of 2+ cores, and the extra cores of the 940 will make a difference in gaming. having the extra cores right now will benefit you in multi tasking, rendering , video, etc. consider this benchmark review, it among others puts the 940 up against the E8400, and you will see what i mean. also notice my processor, the X3 720, it runs a dead heat with, and actually a few frames faster than the I7 920 in all of the game benches, obviously the I7 is a much more powerful cpu, but games at this point use only 2 cores ***with a few exceptions*** you will also see that in all of the non game benches, the x4 940 vastly out preforms the E8400, as it should obviously. hope this info helps

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-phenom-ii-x4-810-and-x3-720be-review-am3/1

****oh and HK, you were right about the x3 720, im running one in this thing right now, and its fantastic

 

[LinkedKube]

Red you amd fan kid lol joking.

IMO either processor would do you fine, even the intel cpu will last you for a while. I'm definately using my 4 cores doing production work in my spare time. I'd put the amd chip ahead if the 8400 is your only other choice. I'm sure you'll do fine with either.

 

[Ritwik7]

Thanks everyone.

@Red: Any reason that I might want to pick the X3 720 over the X4 940? Do tell me. I know I've been asking around a lot. But come Monday I'll be buying.

 

[LinkedKube]

For the purpose of saving money oppose. In most people's eyes I think it comes down to how much you pay divided by how much of the product will actually get used to determine if its worth it or not. I do a lot of video encoding in my spare time, and on a blue ray burning rage atm. If you're just gaming the 720 will do you fine, it has a good price point for what it can do.

 

[Ritwik7]

Yeah. I'll not be doing any content creation. My main objective would be gaming on this rig. I had considered the the 940 BE within my budget. But depending on what you all say I might consider the X3 720.

Thanks.

 

[red1776]

By supermashbrada:

Red you amd fan kid lol joking.

LOL ..i am not! as the bumper sticker says...." my other computer is an Intel quad extreme" :haha: