E8400 or Q9550

[Marlec]

Need some advise here please. I wanna upgrade my CPU to something that has tons of raw power for Emu`s but i am not sure which of these 2 to get

E8400: http://processorfinder.intel.com/details...Spec=SLAPL

or

Q9550: http://processorfinder.intel.com/details...Spec=SLB8V

The E8400 is only 150 euro`s & has 6mb of L2 cache plus i am not paying for 4 cores when i can only use 2 whereas the Q9550 is 250 euro`s, has 12mb L2 cache & has 4 cores so its kinda futureproof, GTAIV uses 3 cores and boy does it need it.

Is that 12mb L2 cache worth the extra cash ?? any advise is greatly appreciated.

Oh one more thing, i would like to play the Emulators plus record my game with fraps, is it possible to run the emu on say the first 2 cores and fraps on the other 2 (Affinity) so that fraps does not affect FPS ??

[serious96]

i suggest if you play other than pcsx2 & use it for gaming then go for q9550...!
if not go for e8400...!

[Sythedragon]

Get the Q9550 and overclock it.

[Marlec]

Get the Q9550 and overclock it.

That goes without saying but why do you reckon the Q9550 is better?? dont forget its 100 euro`s more expensive.

[dark king]

take Q9550 i donot think you use your pc for playing ps2 games only and any way Q9550 is better for future

[teknohkrazy]

Pretty much the same as everyone else is saying. It depends on what you want it for. If you just want it for PCSX2, I would go with E8400. If you care about any sort of PC gaming, the Q9550. And with the E8400 how could you play GTAIV?

[coud]

future proofing and general use = q9550

only pcsx2 use = e8400

[The Warrior]

My Advise to you:

Q9550: is the best for everything but Not Really good For PCSX2. this Q9500 can get Good speed at almost many games.
Reason: It has Quad-Core and PCSX2 have a Special Speed Boost for
Dual-Core i.e Dual-Core Mode(DC)

E8400: Can get The Full Speed I have seen many Videos Our BOSS "Bositman" also have this one, you must get this one, anyone having E8400 never had Speed Issues and if have Speed Issues After getting Good Ram and Video Card the problem gets solved this means that E8400 is the Best For PCSX2.

[Blaze]

hold on, lets say i can get a quad-core cpu or a dual-core cpu they both run at the same clock speed/fsb speed, and have the same amount of l2 cache, or perhaps the quad-core has a bit MORE l2 cache... your telling me the quad core will preform WORSE then the dual-core? im sorry but, that does not make much sense.. it HAS to be ATLEAST on par with the dual-core if not slightly better.

[Cain]

hold on, lets say i can get a quad-core cpu or a dual-core cpu they both run at the same clock speed/fsb speed, and have the same amount of l2 cache, or perhaps the quad-core has a bit MORE l2 cache... your telling me the quad core will preform WORSE then the dual-core? im sorry but, that does not make much sense.. it HAS to be ATLEAST on par with the dual-core if not slightly better.

It'll perform the same, relax.