Jump to content

Slow speed Core Duo's VS Higher speed P4's


13 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

At the moment I have a laptop with a 2.4ghz Pentium 4-M and everything runs great (Gaming, programming, etc..).

 

I know about the Core Duo's but I dont totally understand them. I know its a single processor with 2 core's inside it. I've got someone giving me a good deal for a 1.66ghz Core duo laptop. Is it just like 2 1.66 processors or is it a 3.32ghz (1.66x2) processor that divides the threads up into two seperate tasks at a speed of 1.66ghz each? If it is only a 1.66ghz max speed, am I better staying with a 2.4?

 

Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

besides being multiprocessor on a single chip the core cpus have a few other benefits. first, i think the cores share the same cache on-die, reducing memory latency. they also get more instructions per clock, just like how a slower clocked amd chip can execute code just as fast as an intel chip with more ghz.

 

the core chips are also designed to be laptop processors and therefore have a number of battery saving features absent on the p4-m's which are little more than a desktop chip crammed into a laptop. because of this core laptops will get much better battery life, my 15in 1.66 core duo notebook gets more than 3 hours battery life. along with powersaving features, most core notebooks can be built much smaller than a laptop that has to have the space to power and cool a desktop cpu.

 

but buying a laptop shouldn't be just about how fast the processor is. you should also check if it has a good graphics chip, or one better than your old notebook. does it have enough ram? 512 is the minimum, but you would be best buying a laptop with 1gb of ram, 2gb is overkill and anything less will be noticeably slower, especialy because pagefile access on laptops is a lot worse on account of their slow hard drives. is the hard drive itself big enough to hold all your files and perhaps a bit extra. is the screen bright enough and free of ghosting? do the colors look ok? does it have all the pheriperal ports you might need like a built in flash reader or enough usb ports. does it get a good wireless signal or does it drop connections when more than 30 feet away from a router? how loud do the speakers get and how clear is the sound? for the rest of sound, are the fans quiet and is the disk drive whisper soft or sound like a can of rocks in the washing machine. a laptop with good parts will have a drive so silent you have to put your ear to it just to hear it burn a dvd. how does it feel, is the keyboard to your liking? it the trackpad ok (the ones on the asus notebooks are some of the best i've used)? Does it feel cheap or flimsy anywhere(you don't want plastic doodads breaking off or the case cracking a few months after you get it)? are the hinges on the screen sturdy? it should also come from a reliable manufacturer with good customer relations. is it light enough to cary around easily. does it easily fit into a backpack or another bag you could carry other things in? do you even like the way it looks? if you think the laptop looks ugly you will grow to hate it, trust me on this.

 

most important, can you justify the price you are paying?

 

keep these factors in mind when getting a laptop and you won't end up with a purchase you wish you hadn't made. note: all these factors exclude any and dell laptops, you would do much better spending your money elsewhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry for the long time it took me to reply, Ive been busy. =/

 

Ok so say I have something that requires 2.0ghz Minimum to run, would I be better off sticking with the 2.4 P4, or would it make be the same/better if I got the Core Duo. (oh I messed up on the speed its 1.60 not 1.66)

 

I know, I already checked out the specs of this laptop before I even thought of buying it. ( $499 ). Its got an 80gb hd, CD/DVD RW, a 128mb video card, only 512mb ram but I can get 2gb more for $110 and I probally dont even need that much so ill just end up paying an extra $55 for 1gb and sell the 2x256 pieces. Everything loks pretty good to me. Ive had a comapq laptop and 2 dell ones, I'm using a dell one right now and this is the one I'm thinking about replacing because you can hear this thing so loudly and could probally heat a cold house if needed :P. I've only got a 60gb hd on this, and the same ammount (512mb) of ram. Plus the main battery if fried on this so I have to use a battery module which takes up the CDRW/DVD drive (Doesnt even have a dvd burner =/) and i'll only get about 2hours max with that module. I personally liked the compaq one over both of my dells, but I ended up selling it double what I payed for it so its ok :).

 

I'm just worried that it can't run things that require a higher cpu speed. One more question tho, do the Core Duo's have SSE4 or SSE3 only? (Model T2050) Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

youll be fine. i think its oblivion that requires a 2ghz processor, and i have the 2ghz core duo in my mbp. it runs extremely well, even though the clock speed is only 2ghz.

basically, think of it like this:

 

1 x 2.4 < 2 x 1.6

 

 

youd be getting a faster computer with the core duo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah - and besides the old Pentium M (Dothan) outperformed most higher clocked P4s without problems. I remember that my old 1.6 GHz Pentium M was faster (in benchmarks like SuperPI oder SiSoft Sandra etc) than the P4 my friend had. Now my Core Duo 1.66 GHz is in most CPU benchmarks faster than my Pentium D805.

 

Intel has gone a new way with the Pentium M and Core (2) Duo. Just look at toms hardware guide, they have a long article about this subject.

 

And besides: the lifetime of your battery will greatly improve over your current pentium 4m.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alrighty, i'm going to Flordia for vacation for a week, so i'll probally just sell my dell when I get back and get a new laptop.

 

As for the battery life, I know the P4's are horrible. Thats probally one of the main reasons i'm getting a new one as for my battery is dead.

 

Thanks guys for your help :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Core duo.

My Pentium M Dothan at 1.77 beat a P4 at 3 ghz.

I don't remember what the test was called...it was he thing that calculates some digit to like a million...andways the laptop was about 7 seconds faster. And the same machine with HT (the P4) beat my laptop by 2 seconds.

I'm sorry i didn't save the results, they were done over a year ago, but it should give you an indication of how well the pentium M architecture performs, which the core duo is based on. Now imagine it dual core!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Your 2.4 GHz P4 is nearly 2-4 times slower then my 1.6 GHz Pentium-M Dothan. A higher clock speed doesn't mean more performance these days because of cache and other stuff within the CPU, the 2.26 GHz Pentium-M pretty much even matchs with the higher 3.6-3.8 GHz P4.

 

A 1.66 GHz Dual core would own your pentium 4 no problem. But for dual core, its pretty much 2x CPUs in your system (Physical, instead of virtual like HT technology) It'll run as 2x 1.66 GHz but that 1.66 GHz compared to your 2.4 GHz is more like 3.2 GHz

 

My 1.6 (Overclocked 1.73) GHz Dothan vs a 3.4 Ghz Pentium 4 (775) on a benchmarking program, I pretty much even out with that CPU.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...