[CordialSpam]

The 2.8E has better price ($175 I beleive) and it has better fsb and better cache than the 2.8C...the 2.8C costs 2 bux more and it has less fsb and cache and it has more votes...does the C oc better than the E? or??

[homer77]

2.8e runs hotter compare to 2.8c. when you overclock, you generally raise the vcore to allow cpu run higher fsb. this thread explains it. when you increase vcore, you also makes the cpu run hotter.

in short, you need a GOOD cooling (ie, water cooloing) in order to clock 2.8e higher. if you don't have good cooling and don't want to spend that much on getting one, then 2.8c might be a better choice to oc.

also, at the same speed, 2.8c has higher performance than 2.8e due to longer instruction sets in 2.8e.

[Syx]

In games like doom3 the prescott(e) has shown more performance, but they're both good processors.

[Flu!d]

Overall, in the grand scheme of things, the Northwood IS NOT faster than the Prescott clock for clock. Overall, they're both about even when you actually average out the benchmark results from most of the popular hardware review websites - In fact, averaged out on some hardware review sites, the Prescott actually comes out on top [gasp!].

And more and more, i'm seeing cases where code seems to be getting optmisied for SSE3 and then the Prescott really kicks arse....For example, the latest patch for superpi optimised for SSE3 took 3 seconds off my best superpi time, 3 seconds?! Does anyone have any idea how hard it is to shave 3 seconds off a superpi time? Now my best time @ 3.9 ghz is 32 seconds....

I also woulden't be suprised if modern games like Doom3 were optimised for SSE3.

[Dcasole]

CordialSpam, the 2.8E does run hot ( overclocked or not ) but you can cool it on air!

A Prescott most of the times is not just " Plug and Play"

See my signature for Intel's recomendations for a " Thermally advantaged chassis"
I made this mod along with adding a 80MM fan to the duct and my temps are as good as most Northwoods 9 (See my Signature for temps)

Another challange is your power supply and motherboard requirements

You have to make sure that both are up to the task of supply power to this hog!
Some recommended boards are Asus , 1C7Max and of couse my favorite MSI Neo Series

For the PSU you will have to have at least 20 amps on the 12 volt rail

If you so a seach of this board you will see that most people are able to achieve 3.4 to 3.6 overclocks out of a prescott on air . I have been able to run stable at 3.59 on stock Vcore

Which brings me to another topic . be very careful when raising the Vcore on a prescott. The Prescott uses what is called "Dynamic VID' to contol the voltage . This Dynamic VID throttles the Vcore up and down according to load. If you were to put your Vcore on the High side of the limit of your chip Dynamic VID could push it over the edge and you could end up with a "Fried Chip" Here is a quoite Directly from MSI

I discussed the Vcore change question with the board designer over last weekend. Base on my understanding, the reason we didn't offer that when Prescott is populated was because a new Intel VID design on Prescott: "Dynamic VID" (VID becomes variable on different stages). According to the board designer, if M/B (BIOS) overwrite the Vcore, Dynamic VID will become invalid which might damage the CPU (Prescott Core) when power stage changed.

You can read the whole review here
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTg5

So if you want " Plug and Play" go with the Northwood

Good Luck

Dave