cpu L2 cache size?

[SpeedEng]

ok Im about to pick up a q9400 to upgrade the wifes pc

so that leaves me with either a e6550 (4mb l2)
or e2160 (1mb) for my mame box

the e6550 will be stuck at 333fsb (due to mb max fsb) = 2330 mhz
e2160 will be oced to 333 fsb = 3 ghz

now im lazy and hate applyin artic grease over and over
so should I stick with the e2160 or upgrade to e6550 due to the larger L2?

[u_rebelscum]

3.0 Ghz vs 2.33 Ghz, both core 2 duos?  AFAIK, mame ==> 3.0 GHz is the way to go.

[SavannahLion]

3.0 Ghz vs 2.33 Ghz, both core 2 duos?  AFAIK, mame ==> 3.0 GHz is the way to go.

Uh... the OP didn't make it sound like he was buying for a MAME computer, he was buying for his wife.

[MrMojoZ]

Uh... the OP didn't make it sound like he was buying for a MAME computer, he was buying for his wife.

The chip he was buying isn't being discussed, he already owns the two rebel mentioned.

[SavannahLion]

Uh... the OP didn't make it sound like he was buying for a MAME computer, he was buying for his wife.

The chip he was buying isn't being discussed, he already owns the two rebel mentioned.

Oops, you're right. I misread the OP post.

In that case, has anybody done any testing on CPU's with different cache under MAME?

By my rough calculations, an OCed E2160 1MB would be about 12% faster on the cache than E6550. I confess I don't know a lot of key details about the Conroes.

It seems like E2160 is the new 300A so I would go with that. Unless someone knows of any test results with MAME and different cache sizes?

[SpeedEng]

yea sorry about that I didnt leave enough info

yea pretty much 2 c2d's for a mame project

I know mame very cpu dependent (as far as speed goes)
I just dont know if l2 will affect in in any bit

im going to end up using the e2160 because of the higher oc speed
but I would have liked to know if cache affects mame?

[MrMojoZ]

My understanding is that cache plays a big role in performance, but enough to overcome the mhz diffrence between those CPUs I'm not so sure.