Intel Core 2 Duo processors?

[Cornholio]

What's the deal with Dual Core processors?

Why is the 1.9GHz Core 2 Duo almost 200 dollars more than the 2.8GHz Pentium D?

[milton]

All the core 2 duo chips are being sold at over retail suggested price right now. The early adopter geeky types are willing to pay to be the first on the block.

Comparing clock speeds w/ older chips is almost meaningless, the core 2 duo's are doing more work on each clock-cycle.

[bio-smear]

Clock speed isn't the only metric by which a processor's performance is judged. I think they call it "flops" or "gigaflops", which is the amount of instructions a processor processes per clock cycle. More efficiency means you can do it with lower clock speeds, which means less heat and less energy consumption.

[Baconzoo]

We are not Men...

We are Devo!

[joshbu]

Clock speed isn't the only metric by which a processor's performance is judged. I think they call it "flops" or "gigaflops", which is the amount of instructions a processor processes per clock cycle. More efficiency means you can do it with lower clock speeds, which means less heat and less energy consumption.

Flops is a measure of floating point operations per second. It's not a very useful metric either, becasue most applications don't use floating point.

These days, application based benchmarks are the only ones that matter. Oh, and power dissipation numbers. That's huge now, and thats what the Core line from Intel finally gets right.

[bio-smear]

Flops is a measure of floating point operations per second. It's not a very useful metric either, becasue most applications don't use floating point.

These days, application based benchmarks are the only ones that matter. Oh, and power dissipation numbers. That's huge now, and thats what the Core line from Intel finally gets right.

I stand corrected. It's hard to absorb the useful information while switching back and forth between tech and porn.

[StormDay]

All the core 2 duo chips are being sold at over retail suggested price right now. The early adopter geeky types are willing to pay to be the first on the block.

Given the Intel price issue, you might want to look at the AMD dual-cores.

In the past the AMD has been less for the same performance levels. I did a quick scan of the CPU prices on Fry's and Intel still seems a little overpriced.

I think I'm going to upgrade my main development workstation to AMD 4600 X2 as soon as I get some free time.


Also, it sounds like source may be a little on the expensive side.

Using Fry's as Baseline (there usually are cheaper sources):

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6300 - HH80557PH0362M - Tray CPU - Socket LGA775
1.86 MHz for $ 184.00

http://shop2.outpost.com/product/492...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

[belgian]

I always liked the milkshake analysis for people who need a basic example.

The Pentium D can drink faster than the Conroe (Core 2 Due). However, the Conroe has a much bigger straw than the Pentium and in the end can finish faster. In short, it is slower BUT it can process alot more information. Thats why AMD processors have been kicking Intel's ass the last 4 years, only not so much now that Conroe has hit the market.

If you're going to get a new pc now, get either a Core 2 Duo or an AMD Athlon X2. Pentium Ds are absolute garbage. But I would suggest waiting for Windows Vista to come out this winter before you buy a new pc so you can save yourself about $400 on purchasing the upgrade. Bill Gates

PS if you're buying a processor by itself instead of in a pre-fabbed build (Dell, Gateway, etc.) buy it from http://www.newegg.com/ which is much cheaper than anywhere else. In reality you'll probably see better performance with the Core 2 Duo over an Athlon X2 but I can't say that it would be tangible unless you are a framerate geek. My X2 4200+ is amazing enough.

[Zalg8]

The 2.66 ghz Core 2 Duo is faster than the Athlon FX-62 in every respect, and is $270 cheaper. The 2.4 ghz version is faster in most benchmarks, and is another $200 cheaper. The 2.93 ghz version is probably sold out almost everywhere. Also, the Intel runs a lot cooler and can be overclocked to higher speeds. Go over to www.tomshardware.com if you want to see some benchmarks.

[Big Blue]

try www.sharkyextreme.com for a ton of info about this kind of stuff. they're constantly testing and reviewing new processors, video cards, etc.

[joshbu]

I stand corrected. It's hard to absorb the useful information while switching back and forth between tech and porn.

Don't sweat it. Look for the processor that can switch between porn and tech faster. It's an application benchmark. ;-)