Should I care about Ghz vs number of core when looking for a CPU upgrade?

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I want to upgrade the CPU of an old computer I have(CPU in it being an Intel Core2 Duo E8400 3.0Ghz). I’ve looked in the motherboard manual to see wich CPU are compatible with it. Since there’s is a few options I’ve looked the benchmark of some of them on the passmark website. The current CPU installed in the computer is a 3.0 Ghz dual core and has an average CPU mark of 2154.

I’ve looked 2 options for the upgrade:

  • Intel Core2 Quad Q9300 2.5Ghz quad core with an average benchmark of 3163 (CPU released in Q4 2008)

  • Intel Core2 Quad Q8400 2.66Ghz quad core with an average benchmark of 3176 (CPU released in Q4 2009)

Of course the second option seems better than the first one, but I’m still worrying about the Ghz, since the current CPU installed in the computer is 3.0Ghz and these 2 options have lower Ghz than the current installed one,but more core.

I want to have higher computer performance, so should worry about the lower Ghz, or it doesnt matter since they both have more cores?

William Weifenbach

Posted 2018-07-14T23:36:24.403

Reputation: 233

Question was closed 2018-07-16T20:07:54.013

First, sadly this question should be closed because the choices are too broad and too opinion based. That said, without knowing what you want to do or what your motherboard can handle, CPU speed is silly at best. Tons of other factors affect speed on modern systems and it is utterly all dependent on purpose of the system and what you expect it to do. My recommendation is get the best upgrade you can afford. Don’t penny pinch if you care about the system. But again, who knows if your current CPU is fine for your purposes and something else—like storage—should be upgraded. – JakeGould – 2018-07-14T23:56:20.087

This is a 10 year old system so you can look at the benchmarks and get a very good idea of the relative capabilities. You will not notice any difference between those two upgrades but either will be significantly better than what you have. I don't see how this is being seen as an opinion by some. The fact that going from HDD to SDD will be a bigger system speed improvement is only a distraction because it isn't what is being asked. – krowe – 2018-07-15T00:02:36.030

You might get better answers if you provide more information - like CPU model numbers and system purpose. – davidgo – 2018-07-15T00:04:24.847

@JakeGould ive checked in the motherboard manual to check only cpus who are compatible according to the manual. The hard drive of that computer has been replaced about 1 year ago for a standard SATA III 5400rpm one so I dont think the hard drive is really causing problems here. I updated my post with CPUs brands and models if that can help – William Weifenbach – 2018-07-15T00:35:56.473

@davidgo updated the post with CPUs models and brands name – William Weifenbach – 2018-07-15T00:38:46.280

@krowe ive updated my questions with cpus models and brands names if that can help – William Weifenbach – 2018-07-15T00:43:03.583

@WilliamWeifenbach Unfortunately, this is all still very opinion based. Besides, while you replaced the hard disk, I believe an SSD would improve things. Two understand my perspective, I work daily on a mac Mini (2012) and a MacBook Air (2013) and the MacBook Air has worse CPU specs than the mini but it’s noticeably faster. And my mac Mini turned into a faster machine when I upgraded the hard disk to an SSD. It really all depends on personal use. – JakeGould – 2018-07-15T00:46:19.743

Answers

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According to what you wrote, both new CPUs have the same number of cores, and the performance is nearly the same - based on the information provided the performance will be pretty much the same. You will likely find the newer of the 2 CPUs will use slightly less power.

For a typical computer workload you will find the newer CPUs will outperform the old one, but there will be some jobs - where the older computer will do better (those jobs where the system is performing a single workload which can't be split up)

davidgo

Posted 2018-07-14T23:36:24.403

Reputation: 49 152

https://ark.intel.com/compare/42112,42112,33922,33910 will compare your 3 CPUs. There is virtually no difference between them, but the Q9300 has a couple of slight advantages - It has Intel trusted Execution technology which could be useful if running VMs , combined with a 6 mb cache - however it comes at a 30 watt power premium. If you factor in the cost of power consumption of these CPUs and very limited performance of these CPUs, you would probably (over time) be better off getting a newer CPU+Motherboard combo. – davidgo – 2018-07-15T00:52:31.613

Thank you for your reply. I have upgraded the question with the CPU brands and models Im talking about if that can help – William Weifenbach – 2018-07-15T00:53:11.793

I dont really mind about power consumption cost, I just want better performance. I see the Q8400S has 4mb cache instead of 6mb cache; will this have impact on performance or its nothing to worry about? And I dont run VM's. Also this is a bit of an off topic question but can I use the same heatsink thats actually in the computer and use it with the new CPU im going to get? Or it needs to be "compatible" or needs to fit some certain specs of the new CPU? – William Weifenbach – 2018-07-15T02:09:57.307

Is Intel trusted Execution technology necessarily an advantage? See https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/20/intel_flags_firmware_flaws/

– DrMoishe Pippik – 2018-07-15T02:15:32.623

You will get better performance, but in the overall scheme of things the performance increase will probably be very modest at best. More cache will give you better performance, but,of-course, the Q8400S has a faster clockspeed that would seem to offset that. I imagine you can use your existing heatsink, provided you know how to reapply it properly. Are you sure the bottleneck is your CPU, and not your hard drive? In the general case, I would expect an SSD to make a way bigger performance impact then a new CPU. – davidgo – 2018-07-15T02:15:58.877

Its not necessarily an advantage, but the link you referred to does not list your CPU's as affected (its TXT, not TXE). I was also wrong in what this does though - it relates to TPM and securing the boot process. – davidgo – 2018-07-15T02:24:35.280

@davidgo so the Q8400S would be a better choice looking on performance side? And the computer is running Windows 7 with 4.5GB of RAM wich is enough so the RAM is not a problem, then the old hard drive that was replaced a year ago by a newer samsung/seagate with good average speed(and way better than the old hard drive wich was slower and wich had a BAD S.M.A.R.T state). I dont think it worth changing the HDD to a SSD right now, thats why I wanna give a try with replacing the CPU and it worth the try, these CPUs are not really expensive – William Weifenbach – 2018-07-15T08:08:05.213

They are pretty similar and no one can tell you which will be faster without knowing your workload, but the difference between the 2 new CPUs will not be noticeably different overall. You greatly underestimate the improvement an SSD will provide over even a very fast hard drive - between 5x and 100 times (it will make a bigger difference when reading smaller files) Also, if you are short of memory - and 4 gigs is not a lot - your drive will be swapping. If you are doing browsing/word processing/spreadsheets don't waste your money on a CPU. Get an SSD. – davidgo – 2018-07-15T08:18:34.713

@davidgo I 100% believe you when you say SSD helps a lot, however I dont want to spend a lot of money on this old computer, so im just looking for a cheap upgrade, and SSD are kind of expensive for not that much memory space on it.. I found pretty cheap prices for CPUs and thats why I want to give that a try – William Weifenbach – 2018-07-15T17:01:53.540

Have you considered using a small SSD as a caching (or OS) drive drive? You can get a 128 gig SSD for less then 50 USD – davidgo – 2018-07-15T18:16:36.633

@davidgo thats an idea, ive heard people do that often. Maybe later I would do that, but for now I will try the CPU and ive ordered a 2GB RAM stick to add to the computer(wich will make 6GB total RAM) so it might help a bit, that and the new CPU. We will see – William Weifenbach – 2018-07-15T20:39:06.883

Asked: 2018-07-14T23:36:24.403

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Active: 2018-07-15T02:25:12.570