Downgrading to Athlon X2 4850e 2.5 ghz 45w from Q6600?

All about them.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
erkan
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:40 pm

Downgrading to Athlon X2 4850e 2.5 ghz 45w from Q6600?

Post by erkan » Fri May 01, 2009 1:17 pm

Hi,

I got a Quad Q6600 based system at the moment but I am thinking about downgrading to a dual core 4850e CPU.

In comparison with the Q6600, how much slower is the 4850e?

How would the 2.4 GHz Q6600 compare with the 2.5 Ghz 4850e if the Q6600 only had two cores? Would the performance betwen the processors be similar?

Thanks

MikeC
Site Admin
Posts: 12285
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Post by MikeC » Fri May 01, 2009 2:17 pm

Using both C2D and AMD X2 systems in the lab, my guess is you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference in routine use. With specific apps, the advantage may go to one or the other.

erkan
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:40 pm

Post by erkan » Fri May 01, 2009 2:36 pm

Yes, think Im going to order X2 and motherboard and try it out on a paralell system.

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Post by CA_Steve » Fri May 01, 2009 3:13 pm

sorta depends on your apps.

erkan
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:40 pm

Post by erkan » Fri May 01, 2009 3:31 pm

I mostly browse the net and play MP3's on my computer.

When I work at home I run Photoshop to cut images and Notepad++ to code PHP.

Wibla
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 779
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 12:03 am
Location: Norway

Post by Wibla » Fri May 01, 2009 4:56 pm

You would probably be fine with an X2, no worries about that. Photoshop can be a bitch, but having enough ram is even more important than raw cpu power for photoshop imho. photoshop also uses gpu accelleration, so that helps

Mats
Posts: 3044
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 6:54 am
Location: Sweden

Post by Mats » Sat May 02, 2009 2:03 am

Haven't you considered staying with the same socket and get an E5200 instead? Low power consumption and faster than a 4850e, here it wins 11 and loses 5 benchmarks to a 3.1 GHz 6000+.
Another test where it's faster than a 4850e in 29 of 31 benchmarks. It's rated for 65 W TDP, but in real world use it draws less than 30 W, maximum.
Unless you need something specific from the AMD platform, like a superior IGP for instance, I don't really see why you have to change motherboard.

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Post by CA_Steve » Sat May 02, 2009 6:42 am

Mats wrote:Haven't you considered staying with the same socket and get an E5200 instead? Low power consumption and faster than a 4850e, here it wins 11 and loses 5 benchmarks to a 3.1 GHz 6000+.
Another test where it's faster than a 4850e in 29 of 31 benchmarks. It's rated for 65 W TDP, but in real world use it draws less than 30 W, maximum.
Unless you need something specific from the AMD platform, like a superior IGP for instance, I don't really see why you have to change motherboard.
+1 on just swapping out the CPU. For everything but Photoshop, nearly any current dual core will meet your needs. For Photoshop, the answer depends on the version you run. Prior to CS4, a faster dual core beats out a slower quad core (as most of the operations only use 2 cores). CS4 makes use of 4 cores, so a quad core can beat out a similar speed dual. Here's a CS4 benchmark.

Also, photoshop performance is dependent on the amount of RAM and a bit on cache size (5-10% for the latter).

finally, only CS4 makes use of NVidia GPUs for speeding up performance.

erkan
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:40 pm

Post by erkan » Sat May 02, 2009 7:34 am

I was thinking of swapping the motherboard I have since I suspect it is not one of the most power efficient motherboards around. Its an ASUS M-ATX something (blue motherboard). Motherboard chips gets smoking hot IMHO on this board compared to the Sempron motherboard my fileserver runs.

I want a system that idlles under 40 watt with a M-ITX PSU.

Mats
Posts: 3044
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 6:54 am
Location: Sweden

Post by Mats » Sat May 02, 2009 12:53 pm

You never mentioned the motherboard model you use. It's not that strange if the northbridge is hotter on a 775 system since most AMD systems have the memory controller integrated in the CPU die.

erkan
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:40 pm

Post by erkan » Sat May 02, 2009 1:16 pm

I have a Asus P5QPL-VM

With undervolt it stays at 88-92 watt in Vista with Aero turned off (4GB, 500 GB Sata 3.5" disk, 5.25 burner, 6 year old Zalman PSU, Radeon 4670).

MikeC
Site Admin
Posts: 12285
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Post by MikeC » Sat May 02, 2009 1:25 pm

erkan wrote:I mostly browse the net and play MP3's on my computer.

When I work at home I run Photoshop to cut images and Notepad++ to code PHP.
Most of the previous posters' comments about Photoshop assume a much higher level of use with large image files; "cut images" sounds pretty simple and routine. With such intended apps, the 4850e will feel no different from the Q6600.
With undervolt it stays at 88-92 watt
Not great. Th Zalman PSU's efficiency is probably quite a bit lower than 80%, so that doesn't help either. To get the best from a board/cpu downgrade, you should get a more efficient PSU.

With a 760G board and onboard video, you can easily idle well under 40W (AC system power draw). The linked test system idled at 33W. Go to a 780 board for marginally higher power draw (38W) but 1080p HD video capability and more 3D performance. Both of the above linked systems used the same 400W 80+ Seasonic PSU.

A 780G board would be my #1 choice... but if HD video is not necessary, then a 760G board will save a few more watts.

erkan
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:40 pm

Post by erkan » Sat May 02, 2009 1:59 pm

Yes, you are right about my Photoshop habbits, to be honest with you it runs well for me on my 1.6 Ghz dual core work notebook at the office when I think about it :)

That looks promising, with a new AMD system I could idle at 40 watt with my 4670 graphics card (which idles around 8-10 watt).

Another benefit with the new system will be that I could probably run the system with only the fan in the PSU and reducing a lot of dust that my twin 120 mm fan case attracts at the moment.

Mats
Posts: 3044
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 6:54 am
Location: Sweden

Post by Mats » Sat May 02, 2009 2:17 pm

I don't get it, how do you get that kind of high power consumption?
Sure, you have an old PSU, but do you use "Minimal Power Management/Minimala Energisparfunktioner"? Yeah, probably an unnecessary question...
The G41 chipset uses 11.5 W in idle with no external graphics card, dropping that figure to a very efficient 6 W for instance wouldn't make that much difference overall.

Is the G41 chipset that much hotter than the 700 series?
I'd say a new PSU + E5200 is a better investment than a 4850e + 760 motherboard, especially since you won't be using the integrated graphics.

Upgrading to a E5200 should be quite similar to the test system here in terms of power consumption, given that he gets a better PSU. With AMD he can go down maybe 5 W. Not worth it.

The first platform independent change you can do is to get a new PSU
. Maybe this one.

erkan
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:40 pm

Post by erkan » Sat May 02, 2009 2:52 pm

I did not know about "Minimal Power Management", I googled it and found out you can run "powercfg.cpl" in the startbar. But whatever I chose there I am still idle between 89-90 watt, there is no "minimal power management" option there though (maybe because Im running Vista?).

Just as a comparison, I actually run an AM2 solution too on my server which consists of a Gigabyte GA-MA74GGM motherboard, 1 GB stick and a Sempron 1200 45 watt CPU. With a 5 year old PSU that computer idles around 45-48 watt (with no undervolt/underclock) and with an active 2.5" HD and three 3.5" HD sleeping. But in comparison with my workstation that computer is sloooow (however Im running Ubuntu (with X) on my server).

Mats
Posts: 3044
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 6:54 am
Location: Sweden

Post by Mats » Sat May 02, 2009 3:02 pm

IDK what "Minimal Power Management" is called in Vista, but if you use CPU-Z you'll see what frequency your system is running at, which I think is 6 x [FSB] = 1600 MHz.

erkan
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:40 pm

Post by erkan » Sat May 02, 2009 3:15 pm

Yes you where right.

Post Reply