A CPU Upgrade Now?
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 4:29 pm
Con - My PPD keeps dropping.
Pro - A faster CPU may get me bonus points as well as more regular PPD.
Con - Up front outlay.
Pro - A faster CPU will be available for everything I do, not just folding.
Con - An i7 big PPD.
Pro - Smaller investment on my main system, where a new board, memory, and HD would require another version of Windows as well. That last one makes me want to hurl.
So I am considering replacing a really old E6400 with an E7400.
Old - 65nm
New - 45nm
Old multiplier - 8
New Multiplier - 11?
Current speed - 2.8MHz ( 400 * 7 )
New Speed - Either 3.2 ( 400 * 8 ) or 3.6GHz ( 400 * 9 )
(No OC for memory, DDR 800 4-4-4-12)
Old SSE 4 instructions - No
New SSE 4 instructions - Yes
Old L2 Cache - 2MB
New L2 cache - 3MB
Old Power consumption - 250 watts everything folding (CPU + GTX 260).
New? - Hoping for the same, really happy if it actually drops.
Pro - No additional boxes laying around the house.
Con - I have too many boxes so as it is, ergo none.
Old VT - None
New VT - Yes
This last one took some doing, Intel keeps changing when and where VT is available, but matching the Intel part # on Intel's and NewEgg's site states that the one I'm considering now has VT, which may be worth more during folding than the extra cache (but probably no more than say 5% performance improvement.)
Currently finishing WU 2653 in about 2000 minutes and WU 2665 in about 3000 minutes. One day = 1440 minutes.
I'm curious how much faster my PC would fold with an additional 400MHz, another 1MB of cache, and VT. And maybe an extra 800MHz?
I have heard using VT does make the CPU run hotter.
Thoughts?
Pro - A faster CPU may get me bonus points as well as more regular PPD.
Con - Up front outlay.
Pro - A faster CPU will be available for everything I do, not just folding.
Con - An i7 big PPD.
Pro - Smaller investment on my main system, where a new board, memory, and HD would require another version of Windows as well. That last one makes me want to hurl.
So I am considering replacing a really old E6400 with an E7400.
Old - 65nm
New - 45nm
Old multiplier - 8
New Multiplier - 11?
Current speed - 2.8MHz ( 400 * 7 )
New Speed - Either 3.2 ( 400 * 8 ) or 3.6GHz ( 400 * 9 )
(No OC for memory, DDR 800 4-4-4-12)
Old SSE 4 instructions - No
New SSE 4 instructions - Yes
Old L2 Cache - 2MB
New L2 cache - 3MB
Old Power consumption - 250 watts everything folding (CPU + GTX 260).
New? - Hoping for the same, really happy if it actually drops.
Pro - No additional boxes laying around the house.
Con - I have too many boxes so as it is, ergo none.
Old VT - None
New VT - Yes
This last one took some doing, Intel keeps changing when and where VT is available, but matching the Intel part # on Intel's and NewEgg's site states that the one I'm considering now has VT, which may be worth more during folding than the extra cache (but probably no more than say 5% performance improvement.)
Currently finishing WU 2653 in about 2000 minutes and WU 2665 in about 3000 minutes. One day = 1440 minutes.
I'm curious how much faster my PC would fold with an additional 400MHz, another 1MB of cache, and VT. And maybe an extra 800MHz?
I have heard using VT does make the CPU run hotter.
Thoughts?