E8200 vs E8400

I haven't looked it up, but since e8200's clocked lower at the same fsb, looks like it's running on lower multiplier.

If you dont plan to OC I would consider the 8400 worth it over the 8200 if the price difference isnt ridiculous. But even if you do plan to OC the 8400 has a 9x multi which will allow lower FSB increases so you will be able to get higher with it. I personally would go with the 8400. Hope this helps!

Best,

3Ball

Not really, higher multiplier can be an advantage if your motherboard's fsb is the bottleneck.

A price list here :
E8200 = 8x333 = 2660MHz : 145 EUR
E8400 = 9x333 = 3000MHz : 185 EUR
Q6600 = 9x266 = 2400MHz : 205 EUR

If you don't plan to overclock E8400 is a better choice.
But at that price point I'd start looking at the Q6600 for 205 EUR.

If you are on a budget E8200 is a great pick.
In ideal (benchmark) cases it would be around 11% slower than E8400.
In real life it's slower but not by much.

All those e8400 fanboys say it's better than quad because it overclocks higher.  

If you have the money I think the E8400 is the ticket, faster and easier to find. The E8500 is a joke, 90 dollars more for 160mhz, no thanks. The E8200 is a great buy and hard to beat for the price, that is why they are hard to find. I personally would buy the 8400 simply because it's faster and only 30.00 difference. Then again I don't have the patience to wait for an 8200, everytime it is in somewhere it sells out immediately.

Fanboys always say they have the best.
I'm a quadcore fanboy. I have more transistors to play with!  

Or as Sean Connery said in "The Rock".
Dual core users(/Losers) always whine about their best. Quad core users(/Winners) go home and do(/fsck) the best (/prom queen)  .

I have both, E8400 seems faster.  

I dont think the problem is picking a CPU.

Why get an Alienware that costs 100s if not 1000s more then you would pay else where.

Build yourself or look for a custom builder on Ebay.

For the cost of Alienware you could prolly get a q9650 with good sli graphics.

I got some ALienware cases if its all about the looks.

Supreme Commander says otherwise. I don't play other games.
Single threaded applications are faster on E8400.
My system during a normal "work session" has 65-75 processes.
The last dualcore I had was an E6300 overclocked to 2.8GHz.
Compared to that ... Q6600 is a different beast.

My A64 3200+ "seemed faster" than my Pentium D 920.
With the Q6xxx and Q9xxx dualcores have become the "budget" sollutions (or for gamers).

That's why I'm a quadcore fanboy.  

And I don't play Supreme Commander I play other games which say otherwise   .

In a couple of years, the games that say otherwise won't be around anymore.  

the bottom line is, Build it your self.

So basicly you're telling me I'm right.  
I also agree, for current gaming(except SC which is the only game I played since DOW DC) a higher clocked dual core is better. For extreme multitasking/CAD/programming/FPGA compilation/content creation (basicly everything I do) quad is the "smarter" choice.

If money is not an issue why would he?
A system integrator like Alienware offers prestige for a price.
No "will it smoke" lottery. And what counts most to some people, it comes ready to play.
This forum is full of people who built themselves and have issues.

For us poor working people/enthusiasts it is the only way.

You are a moron.

The same can be said of my current gaming  

For you, yes it is, well done, nice job, good choice.  

 

True. I'm glad you agree it was right for me!
The OP didn't really state what he does/plans on doing with his new rig.
Alienware points to gamer. If it was work related he'd be buying
from DELL or HP, so if that's the case and futureproofing is not important an E8400 will be fine.
But is it worth the 33% price increase over the E8200 for 11% max performance advantage?

The truth is out there  .

For me the E8400 was worth the premium over the E8200 as I was replacing an E6850 I had to give back to my friend and once you've had 3ghz it's hard to go back   , others may be satisfied with the E8200 but not I.  

the choice depends on what you use your computer for. since you have an alienware, i'll guess that you're a gamer, and for games (except supreme commander) a higher clocked dual core like the E8400 will be the better choice over a Q6600. As for E8200 vs E8400, if you can afford the extra few bucks, might as well get it.

I've bought my Q6600 before E8400 came out. The E6850 was more expensive. That choice was easy. And I planned to overclock it to 3GHz anyway.

Lost Planet is also quad optimized.  

I don't even know what that is.
But now I'll have to check because it smells of science fiction  . I hate you!

Okey it's a FPS no wonder I don't know what it is.

Ah come on now. Nothing wrong with some good natured insults.  

Besides......as a computer builder/enthusiast can you not help but cringe when someone blows thousands of dollars like that?

I have the E8200, and with some simple overclocking I can get it to 3.2GHz with the stock cooler.

I knew nothing about overclocking, spent 10 minutes reading up on, figured it out, and saved myself $40 bucks over the 8400.

Make sure you get a decent video card to match and compliment the power of that cpu cause it won't me a thing if you aint go that GPU thing.................

That insult was uncalled for. You have no idea of his situation.
Yes I'd rather see him hiring me to build him his rig for thousands of dollars like that, but I don't cringe at people using system builders to get a product. You don't tinker around in your car/liver do you? Do you perscribe your own medicine ?
How about tempering with the circuit inside the PSU. If you can do all that yourself great for you. I know I can't. I know how to build computers and I think Alienware is way overpriced. But it's a product for people who don't want to take the time to build their own system. Maybe what he does with the time it would take him to build his own system earns him more money than it will cost at Alienware. Lucky bastard!

Or his parents earning more money...  

But yeah, he's not blowing your money, so what right to do you to insult him for it? It's good. People like that stimulates the economy. We need those.  

Even luckier bastard !  

I've worked long and hard to pay for an Alienware rig, so any jibes at how I'm paying for it are uncalled for, but I can appreciate people second guessing me. It's not like money isn't an object, otherwise I wouldn't be asking people to help me make a decision that will only make a difference of £75. I don't feel I need to justify my choice to buy an Alienware rig but essentially it comes down to a guarantee that the machine will work for at least three years, and if it doesn't then it gets picked up and fixed for free. The machine is rigourously tested and highly optimised to work as a solid unit as opposed to a bunch of components slammed together. Make no mistake, I have the know-how and ability to build a rig myself, I've chosen to rather go with a highly respected company that frequently gets mentioned as one of the premier creators of gaming rigs. And lets be honest, style has to count for something at one time or another.

Thanks to all who have offered their constructive criticism; to those builders who I'm not using, I'm sure you offer a fantastic service, but you're not Alienware. Thanks again folks.