I'm wondering which CPU would be better for Dolphin. I know which one is better in general (the i7), but I'm curious as to whether or not i7s perform better clock for clock.
The i7-930 comes at 2.8 Ghz (3.06 Turbo but I don't know if that matters in Dolphin) with a 4 x 256KB L2 Cache and 8MB L3 Cache.
The Phenom II X4 965 is at 3.4 Ghz with 4 x 512KB L2 Cache and 6MB L3 Cache.
I know the i7 has more powerful features like it's better instruction set and all that, but does it actually work better in Dolphin? Let's assume there's no overclocking done.
Thanks in advance, guys!
Both should handle dolphin fine.
That said, the i7 line is significantly faster-per-clock then the Phenom II line, and has 2 threads per core versus the Phenom IIs 1 thread per core. Both typically overclock to the same frequencies. A 2.8 930 and a 3.4 PII should be right up against each other in performance.
A i7 platform will more than likely end up more expensive then a Phenom II platform, however.
Bonus info: For only doing dolphin, go with a dual or tri-core Phenom II. They are cheaper, but will run dolphin the same as a quad.
Okay, thanks for the help.
I would strongly recommend a i5 760 over any of them. Dolphin uses three threads maximum, so it will never benefit from hyperthreading on a quad core processor (since that would require a bare minimum of a 5 threaded application to show a hint of any benefit).
Since Dolphin is primarily limited by the amount of information two threads can process, it would be wise to maximize the amount of work done per thread. If Dolphin were literally the only application to ever be run on this machine, a dual core i3 would be by far best bet for that specific task. A quad core i5 760/750 would offer more diverse performance on other applications that use more threads. The core i5 760 makes more sense than the 750 for Dolphin because the i5 760 has a 3.2GHZ turbo speed. This is important because if "lock threads to cores" is checked, then the i5 760 would turbo to 3.2GHZ for dolphin, and it would processor far more information per cycle than the Phenom II line at 3.2GHZ.
Also, if you can wait until mid-January, then Intel is releasing new processors with even greater performance per cycle. This is important as this would allow even greater two thread performance, which is the general limitation of Dolphin.
I second Ultratags suggestion. The i5 760 is your best choice. And to answer your question, yes, core i3/i5/i7 cpus have a much higher performance per clock in dolphin (nearly double in fact) than core 2/phenom II cpus, though I do not know why.
(10-03-2010, 06:06 AM)Ultratag Wrote: [ -> ]I would strongly recommend a i5 760 over any of them. Dolphin uses three threads maximum, so it will never benefit from hyperthreading on a quad core processor (since that would require a bare minimum of a 5 threaded application to show a hint of any benefit).
Since Dolphin is primarily limited by the amount of information two threads can process, it would be wise to maximize the amount of work done per thread. If Dolphin were literally the only application to ever be run on this machine, a dual core i3 would be by far best bet for that specific task. A quad core i5 760/750 would offer more diverse performance on other applications that use more threads. The core i5 760 makes more sense than the 750 for Dolphin because the i5 760 has a 3.2GHZ turbo speed. This is important because if "lock threads to cores" is checked, then the i5 760 would turbo to 3.2GHZ for dolphin, and it would processor far more information per cycle than the Phenom II line at 3.2GHZ.
Also, if you can wait until mid-January, then Intel is releasing new processors with even greater performance per cycle. This is important as this would allow even greater two thread performance, which is the general limitation of Dolphin.
I'm glad you mentioned the i5 760. The only way I could afford an i7 930 is at Microcenter (I live close enough that I can pick one up when I'm in the area). Unfortunately, I discovered just how much more the motherboard would be too and that would push it a bit too pricey for it to be worth it to me since I want a good GPU/CPU balance (this isn't just for Dolphin). I think an i5 760 is well within my price range though! It's only $20 more than a PII X4 965 at Microcenter and a motherboard isn't that much more either.
Thank you guys VERY much. I will have to consider this a bit more, but an i5 760 looks like the perfect choice right now.
(10-03-2010, 06:06 AM)Ultratag Wrote: [ -> ]Dolphin uses three threads maximum
Two.
(10-03-2010, 09:35 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: [ -> ]core i3/i5/i7 cpus have a much higher performance per clock in dolphin (nearly double in fact) than core 2/phenom II cpus, though I do not know why.
I am guessing because of DDR2 vs DDR3 though I have not been able to confirm that yet.
Quote:Two.
Nope, he is correct about three threads maximum. With dsplle on thread the lle plugin is given it's own thread and therefore dolphin uses three threads. However since most people don't use the lle plugin or dsplle on thread for most people dolphin uses two threads, but it can use 3.
Quote:I am guessing because of DDR2 vs DDR3 though I have not been able to confirm that yet.
Yeah I had that theory as well but I didn't want to say it without some kind of proof. Since most of the huge slowdowns that people have with decent core 2/phenom II setups only occur with efb to ram you would have to assume that memory bandwidth is the cause. When xtreme gets his i7 rig back up and running I'm going to have him run some tests that will prove/disprove that the memory bandwidth is the cause of the speedup. So we will have our answer soon.
(10-03-2010, 02:55 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: [ -> ]Quote:Two.
Nope, he is correct about three threads maximum. With dsplle on thread the lle plugin is given it's own thread and therefore dolphin uses three threads. However since most people don't use the lle plugin or dsplle on thread for most people dolphin uses two threads, but it can use 3.
Quote:I am guessing because of DDR2 vs DDR3 though I have not been able to confirm that yet.
Yeah I had that theory as well but I didn't want to say it without some kind of proof. Since most of the huge slowdowns that people have with decent core 2/phenom II setups only occur with efb to ram you would have to assume that memory bandwidth is the cause. When xtreme gets his i7 rig back up and running I'm going to have him run some tests that will prove/disprove that the memory bandwidth is the cause of the speedup. So we will have our answer soon.
AM3 motherboards (used for Phenom II) support DDR3. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean.