Is AMD Athlon x3 455 @ 3.3Ghz better than Core 2 Duo e7400 @ 2.8 Ghz for Dolphin?

PaRaDoX_94 · 03-09-2012, 10:01 AM #1

In some threads I read that core speed is much more important than numer of cores, because Dolphin only supports two at the moment, but I just bought an Athlon cpu by a very cheap prize (Equivalent to 80 Dollars) and onther motherboard of course, but that is not the piont... I want to know if there will be a notable difference in FPS or it will be the same, or if the new cpu will be slower at dolphin, because I heard that Dolphin runs better in Intel than in Amd, well here are my specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo e7400 @ 2.8 Ghz Dual Core CPU
ECS M7-G41T V1.0 Motherboard
4GB Dual Channel RAM @ 1600 Mhz (2x2GB)
Nvidia Geforce GTX 550TI
Windows 7 Ultimate x64

This will be my specs after changing my cpu
AMD Athlon x3 455 @ 3.3Ghz Triple Core CPU
Asrock N68-VS3 UCC Motherboard
4GB Dual Chanel RAM @ 1600 Mhz
Nvidia Geforce GTX 550TI
Windows 7 Ultimate

OHhh and almost forgot... Does Dolphin Runs in Intel GMA x4500 with the Intel e7400 cpu? (maybe I will build another pc with this) Smile

**admin89** · (This post was last modified: 03-09-2012, 10:41 AM by admin89.)

Core 2 duo is on par with Phenom II , not Athlon
Core 2 duo win because it can overclock higher than Athlon or even Phenom
But the outdated 45nm CPU is just ....weak for Dolphin . Get 32nm Pentium G860 instead

Quote:Does Dolphin Runs in Intel GMA x4500

For what reason ? Even if it run , i couldn't handle 240p

PaRaDoX_94 · (This post was last modified: 03-09-2012, 12:33 PM by PaRaDoX_94.)

(03-09-2012, 10:41 AM)admin89 Wrote: Core 2 duo is on par with Phenom II , not Athlon
Core 2 duo win because it can overclock higher than Athlon or even Phenom
But the outdated 45nm CPU is just ....weak for Dolphin . Get 32nm Pentium G860 instead

Quote:Does Dolphin Runs in Intel GMA x4500
For what reason ? Even if it run , i couldn't handle 240p

what if I unlock the hidden core to make it a phenom? (in case that the core is not damaged)

(03-09-2012, 12:28 PM)PaRaDoX_94 Wrote:
(03-09-2012, 10:41 AM)admin89 Wrote: Core 2 duo is on par with Phenom II , not Athlon
Core 2 duo win because it can overclock higher than Athlon or even Phenom
But the outdated 45nm CPU is just ....weak for Dolphin . Get 32nm Pentium G860 instead

Quote:Does Dolphin Runs in Intel GMA x4500
For what reason ? Even if it run , i couldn't handle 240p

what if I unlock the hidden core to make it a phenom? (in case that the core is not damaged)

and my current motherboard can't overclock the cpu

**admin89** · (This post was last modified: 03-09-2012, 01:35 PM by admin89.)

(03-09-2012, 12:28 PM)PaRaDoX_94 Wrote: what if I unlock the hidden core to make it a phenom? (in case that the core is not damaged)
and my current motherboard can't overclock the cpu

Doesn't make any difference , dolphin only need 2 cores . The Athlon has terrible low-L2 caches : 1.5MB which is no good for dolphin
You're downgrading not upgrading
IMO buy a motherboard then overclock the hell out of E7400 . I bought Gigabyte G41MT-S2PT for only 44$
Or just get Z68 mobo + Pentium Sandy Bridge G860 which is equivalent to the heavy overclocked E8600 , you'll be able to upgrade to Ivy Bridge later

PaRaDoX_94 · (This post was last modified: 03-09-2012, 04:16 PM by PaRaDoX_94.)

(03-09-2012, 01:34 PM)admin89 Wrote:
(03-09-2012, 12:28 PM)PaRaDoX_94 Wrote: what if I unlock the hidden core to make it a phenom? (in case that the core is not damaged)
and my current motherboard can't overclock the cpu

Doesn't make any difference , dolphin only need 2 cores . The Athlon has terrible low-L2 caches : 1.5MB which is no good for dolphin
You're downgrading not upgrading
IMO buy a motherboard then overclock the hell out of E7400 . I bought Gigabyte G41MT-S2PT for only 44$
Or just get Z68 mobo + Pentium Sandy Bridge G860 which is equivalent to the heavy overclocked E8600 , you'll be able to upgrade to Ivy Bridge later

So even if I unlock the fouth core (making the cpu a phenom) would not see any diference? If I unlock the fourth core does the L3 cache will be unlocked? I just play three games: TLOZ WW and TP and SSBB actually I run at 50-40 fps SBBB and 30FPS both zeldas at 720p with anti-aliasing at 4x and the anisotropic filtering at 16x, if I changue the CPU will de FPS drop down? or will be the same? (sry for my bad english)

and about the GMA x4500 is because this is the integrated GPU in the ECS motherboard and I don't have any money for another graphics card

**NaturalViolence** · (This post was last modified: 03-10-2012, 04:48 AM by NaturalViolence.)

Quote:Core 2 duo is on par with Phenom II , not Athlon

Core 2 > phenom II, not on par. Core 2 @ 3.2GHz is roughly equal to phenom II @ 3.6GHz.

Quote:If I unlock the fourth core does the L3 cache will be unlocked?

No.

Quote:So even if I unlock the fouth core (making the cpu a phenom) would not see any diference?

No.

Quote:and about the GMA x4500 is because this is the integrated GPU in the ECS motherboard and I don't have any money for another graphics card

Well sorry but a GMA x4500 isn't going to be anywhere near enough. You need a graphics card as well as a good cpu.

Your new cpu would run dolphin slower than your current cpu.

PaRaDoX_94 · 03-10-2012, 10:15 AM #7

hmm too bad, well what if I overclock the athlon to 3.5 or 3.7, sry to be so persistent on this but i sold out the core 2 duo and im saving for a phenom II x6 (amd is much more cheaper than intel), i tought that with triple core windows would not share a core with dolphin and should run better, I didn't think that the cache were that important on dolphin, but I just watched videos about this cpu running thos games at full speed (30 FPS) and ssbb at 60FPS so i think this could be enough untill i bought a phenom II or a FX processor...

and about the GMA x4500 i just asked this because a friend has this in his laptop and run dolphin decently (with a 2.2Ghz core 2 duo) running wind waker @ 24fps in 640x480 resolution without any filter and disabling fog with frameskip on 1

**ExtremeDude2** · 03-10-2012, 10:20 AM #8

(03-09-2012, 04:13 PM)PaRaDoX_94 Wrote: So even if I unlock the fouth core (making the cpu a phenom)

I lol'd

PaRaDoX_94 · 03-10-2012, 10:24 AM #9

(03-10-2012, 10:20 AM)ExtremeDude2 Wrote:
(03-09-2012, 04:13 PM)PaRaDoX_94 Wrote: So even if I unlock the fouth core (making the cpu a phenom)

I lol'd

um... it looks like I need to learn more about the core unlocking and all that stuff

**admin89** · (This post was last modified: 03-10-2012, 11:22 AM by admin89.)

(03-10-2012, 10:15 AM)PaRaDoX_94 Wrote: but I just watched videos about this cpu running thos games at full speed (30 FPS) and ssbb at 60FPS so i think this could be enough untill i bought a phenom II or a FX processor...

I say this again : Dolphin only use 2 cores (another 1 core for LLE )
And no no no , Bulldozer is the nightmare for dolphin . Get Phenom II 965 instead (Google "Faildozer")

(03-10-2012, 10:15 AM)PaRaDoX_94 Wrote: and about the GMA x4500 i just asked this because a friend has this in his laptop and run dolphin decently (with a 2.2Ghz core 2 duo) running wind waker @ 24fps in 640x480 resolution without any filter and disabling fog with frameskip on 1

His GMA x4500 will bottle neck (slowdown) his CPU . Anything below Intel HD 3000 isn't capable of running the lowest res 1x(480p)
Wind waker and ssbb need very low sys-requirement ....
And what's the point of Dolphin if you can't run game at 720p/1080p or even more than 1080p