E7200 dying, what should i get?

[50bmg]

See my sig for hardware. As you can see i have a E7200 at 3.8. It has been gaming at 3.8 for a year. One core is starting to fail Prime95 after an hour or so.

Later this year or early next year i plan on building a complete new system, until then i need some help figuring out which cpu i should get. considering a new build later, i would like a Q9650, but that would be a waste, so i am limiting my money at $250.

This machine is a 90% gamer with some pictures, music, surfing, little graphics and very little video. The games i play are Farcry2, COD4, COD5, BF2, BF2142, left4dead and some crysis.

I like the high clock i play with now, so here are my questions:
-can i get a quad OC'd high enough to not notice a difference?
-will i notice a difference of a Quad @ 3.2 or 3.4 vs my dual currently at 3.8?
-will a quad really help vs a dual with the games i play?
-should i get a dual and OC it and wait for quad(i7 or phen II) until my new build?
-if i get a dual, which save money with E5200 or better cache with E8400?
-will more cache help those games?
-will an E5200 at 4.0G make up for low cache and lack of cores?

optoins:
E5200, OC and save money. $70 with 12.5x
E8400, better cache, $170 with 9x
Q6600, $200 with 9x
Q8200, OC as much as i can and have more cores, $170 with 7x
Q9400, better cache and better multiplier, $230 with 8x
Q9550, $280 with 8.5x

 

[mi1ez]

I should avoid the quads with the lower multi's if you plan on OCing to gaming levels. My Q6600 goes to 3.6 but is not happy much further. Might be worth sticking dual for now. Depends how much you're willing to spend and/or sacrifice. I suppose I'd go quad in your situation, but only on a chip with a high multi. Can't see the Q8200 going very far and you will suffer in some games. What mobo you got?

 

[50bmg]

gigabyte GA-EX38-DS4 supports 1600fsb.

 

[50bmg]

bump

 

[Onus]

E8400. The e5200 is too muttly at stock for me to think that, even OC'ed, it will adequately replace what you have.
Actually, why not another e7400 or e7500?

 

[aford10]

If you plan to overhaul soon, it's probably best not spend a bunch of money on a replacement cpu. Getting another E7200 or E7300 would be good. I want to suggest the E8400 or E8500, but they are high priced for a short term replacement.

Go with the E7200 and save your money for a nice i7 system.

 

[orangegator]

Why not just lower the overclock a little on the e7200? Drop it 3.6ghz and see if it's stable. You probably can drop the voltage a little when you do this. IMO, an e5200 is a waste for you, since it won't perform any better than a slightly lower clocked e7200. Plus, getting 4ghz from it isn't guaranteed. Otherwise, I'd get the e8400 and overclock it to 4+ghz.

 

[50bmg]

..........I'd much rather spend $195 on a X4 940 and overclock it to 3.6-3.8,............

I agree. That is the system i eventually want to build. My mobo is still very stable, so it would be a waste for a complete build right now. I will get a tweener cpu and a 4870 1G until i decide to get another mobo and phenom II.

All of you make great arguements for the E7200 or E8400 being the best route for current games. That does seem to make the most since for a tweener cpu.

voltage.... The E7200 needed a bit of a voltage bump to hit 3.8 stable, but it obviously shortened its lifespan. So, will the E8400 need a similar voltage bump to hit 3.6G (400mhz x 9)?

Will the added cache make up for the slightly lower OC?

thanks for the input guys.

 

[Outlander_04]

what voltage have you had the e7200 at to run it at 3800 MHz?

 

[50bmg]

1.32

 

[orangegator]

1.32

That's actually pretty good for an e7200. And as long as the voltage is below 1.4V in the bios, and your temperatures are at 70C maximum under load, your chip will be fine. So, I doubt your chips is dead/dieing. Just bump up your voltage a little bit to get it stable at 3.8Ghz. My e7200 will only do 3.7ghz @1.4V

 

[50bmg]

hmm. so, your saying to up the voltage a bit an re-run prime95?

Low voltage on an OC may cause a prime95 failure?

I try it now.

 

[knotknut]

If you plan to overhaul soon, it's probably best not spend a bunch of money on a replacement cpu. Getting another E7200 or E7300 would be good. I want to suggest the E8400 or E8500, but they are high priced for a short term replacement.

Go with the E7200 and save your money for a nice i7 system.

^ Yes

 

[50bmg]

Ok i bumped up my cpu voltage from 1.32 to 1.34. Prime95 has run for an hour and 20 minutes without error. Before it failed at 39 minutes. Could this have been that my cpuv was to low?

by the way, cpu temp 55c max, cores 70c max at 100% load. The sunbeam core contact cooler is awesome.

If the problem returns and the cpu is dying, i think a new e7200 or e7300 (whatever i can find) will do the trick. I have loved my e7200.

thanks guys

 

[Dekasav]

If the only thing it fails is Prime, I'd leave it. Unless things are crashing or you're getting BSODs, what's the point? Keep it for awhile, put it at 3.6Ghz and ~1.34v, and see if you crash/BSOD, if you don't, leave it. Means you get your Phenom II sooner.