6860 CPU Upgrade Opinions Please

Alright I'm getting really impatient waiting for a good price on an x9000 so I'm looking between the x7800, t9300 and t9500. Likely I will be choosing between the x7800 and t9500. The main reason I don't just pick up the x7800 is because I'd really like to have that 6mb cache. So my main question is would I benefit more from the overclockability of the x7800 or from the extra 2mb of cache on the t9500?

I play some games, mostly COD4, soon to be Diablo III, GTA IV, Starcraft 2, GW2 and GoW2. Also, I will be using several different CAD programs.

 

I would definitly suggest the t9300 if you are hard pressed for money/time. If not I would definitly wait to get an x9000.

I've used both the t9300 and the x9000. The x9000 is in my laptop(of course), and the t9300 is in my brothers. For most games you wont see any difference, but if your running a game that has many objects(GW2,SC2). If you've played GW1, the only time we see a difference in processor is in Kaineng City(main city) where we both have to load 20-30 other characters at once. I've never used a CAD program so I don't know if the cpu will be your bottleneck there.

I really wouldn't reccomend the t9500, just becuase it isn't worth the increase from the t9300. If you can find a t9500 that is selling for a better price than a t9300, that would be the only time I would get the t9500.

Also (I may be wrong about this), I don't know if the chipset supports half multipliers, so the t9300 would run at 2.4 ghz instead of 2.5ghz. I still say that 200mhz isn't worth too much of an increase of price.

Of course my own opinion would be to stick it out for the x9000, It just has that whole "Mines Bigger" aspect to it, and I like knowing that there isn't a better processor out there that I could have put in my machine.

 

as always your budget is the key to an informed decision, how much you are willing to spend and how much will you pay for those on your list.

all the x7800 bought by our forum members preformed with zero issues, and scored slightly better 3dmarks than the t9300s. the gap will probably be even smaller regarding the t9500 (usually outrageously expensive compared to benefit over t9300).

the reason one would go with an x7800 is its value (bang/buck) and the fact it allows some bios tweaking (yes some find it fun - go figure )

 

As far as prices go, I'm looking around ~$350 maybe a little higher(if i find an x9000). The chips I've found already are $270, $330 and $260. (t9300, t9500 and x7800 respectively.)

 

as i said the t9500 is outrageously priced.
might want to post in our BST thread about looking for x9000

 

Yeah, tried that, no luck. Just people being ignorant repeating the same things over and over.

 

If your just wanting the speed then the 260 dollar x7800 is a pretty good deal.

I paid 380 for my x9000 so thats basically 120 dollars for 3megs of cache and a die shrink. The t9300 will do everything your wanting to do quite competently though and give you the chache and die shrink for 10 dollars over the x7800 (plus will run cold as ice in the 6860)

I will agree with the others though, dont get the t9500...its crap. WAY to much money for 100mHz of improvement over the t9300 (something you'll never notice as a human)

 

Keep looking. A new T9300 can be sold for as little as $250 (that's what I payed for mine) on ebay. I'm sure that with enough time you will also find an x9000 for your $350 budget.

 

Yeah I'm an impatient guy but I've decided to wait... if I'm gonna spend money to upgrade I feel I should max it out that way I don't waste any cash....

 

There was a X9000 ES C0 last week on ebay for $300!