Hardware - want advice on processor speeds and generations

[disciple]

[background]
My main hard drive is failing, and because my newest machine is 13 years old and ex-lease machines are so cheap, I'm looking at buying one of them instead of replacing the hard drive or downgrading to the older slower one I used previously.

[question]
I'm always astounded by the slow clock speeds in most post Pentium IV processors. Does anyone have any insight based on real world experience? Supposedly an Intel "Core 2" processor will perform much better than a much faster P4 processor. Ex-lease Core 2 Duo machines at about 1.8GHz are about the same price as Ex-lease Pentium D (i.e. dual core Pentium 4) machines at about 3.4GHz. But are the Core 2 processors really a lot better, like they're supposed to be? Does it depend much on the use (e.g. are they really just better for Windows gaming or something?)
I would be running the machine on Linux and using it for fairly typical general use, plus a reasonable amount of compiling. Does anyone have experience that they can comment on this?

Thanks for any insight into this.

[EDIT]
The other thing that seems odd is that the machines with fast P4 processors typically have twice as much ram as the "Core 2" machines - if the "Core 2" processors are so much more capable I would have thought people would have used them for more demanding applications, and thus needed more ram too...

[OverDrive]

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup. ... +D+3.40GHz

If you know the core duo part# you may find it in the list.

This is from wikipedia

In 2007, Intel released a new line of desktop processors under the brand Pentium Dual Core, using the Core microarchitecture (which was based upon the Pentium M architecture, which was itself based upon the Pentium III). The newer Pentium Dual-Core processors give off considerably less heat (65 watt max) than the Pentium D (95 or 130 watt max). They also run at lower clock rates, only have up to 2 MB L2 Cache memory while the Pentium D has up to 2x2 MB, and they lack Hyper-threading.

The Pentium Dual-Core has a wider execution unit (four issues wide compared to the Pentium D's three) and its 14 stages-long pipeline is less than half the length of the Pentium D's, allowing it to outperform the Pentium D in most applications despite having lower clock speeds and less L2 cache memory.

As a general rule core duo's use a higher ram front side bus speed. So ram throughput would be higher.

You need more than pure number crunching speed when compiling. Ram and Disk throughput come in to play also.

I remember getting a laptop with core duo T2310 back around 2006, Over the years I watched ebay for CPU upgrade deals and finally ended up with a T8300 before I finally wore out the touchpad some 7 years later.

I'd say get the core duo if the system can support cpu upgrades. I think thay are socket 775 and may support core 2 quad cpu's also. ( if the BIOS support them).

Or just look at off-lease core 2 quads now. I usually find them for a $50usd premium on ebay and craigslist.

Hope this helps.

OverDrive

[disciple]

Yeah, I'd seen benchmarks and explanations like that, I just found it hard to believe they'd be better in real life.

Or just look at off-lease core 2 quads now. I usually find them for a $50usd premium on ebay and craigslist.

Wow! Here you still have to pay enough for a new machine to get a quad.
I got a 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo in the end. Had to pay twice as much, but it came with monitor/keyboard/mouse and allegedly a brand new 500GB hard drive, so I think it is a good deal as it is more future-proof.

[OverDrive]

Was it a generic or a brand name? Check and see if it can support a quad and maybe you can watch ebay for a quad cpu over the next few years.

After I posted my reply, I took a look at Aukland Craigslist and was pretty shocked at the lack of listings and very high prices.

If it supports a quad, I see Q6600's on ebay for under $50us.

The ones you really want are Q9450,Q9550 or Q9650's They have 12MB Cache. I've seen Q9450's for $75us.

Don't know about shipping though.

[disciple]

We don't use Craigslist here. We have TradeMe which is like a NZ ebay and pretty much a monopoly

[greengeek]

I got a 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo in the end. .

Does that limit the types of puppies you can run? (Requirement for smp or something?)

[mikeb]

Pentium IV processors clock speeds were quoted at 8 times the cpu speed whereas previously intel were using the 4x figure used since the 8088 days hence the apparently amazing speeds...just a marketing ploy really...originally to make the 8088 look 4 times faster than say a 6502 which of course it was not.

In other words the clocks run twice as fast but are divided twice as much to arrive at the actual processor clock.

@greengeek yes SMP needed for dual core...think puppy 4.3 onwards has that enabled.... hence my use of a slax kernel on 4.12. You CAN run older pups but they will only see one core.

mike

[disciple]

Pentium IV processors clock speeds were quoted at 8 times the cpu speed whereas previously intel were using the 4x figure

But I'm comparing Pentium IV with later processors, not earlier ones. Did Intel revert to the 4x figure after Pentium IV?

[mikeb]

Did Intel revert to the 4x figure after Pentium IV?

its a distinct possibility as that does seem to fit with your observations....just I am not so familiar with core duos.
Pentium IV was a dead end branch squeezing the last drop of performance out of an obsolete architecture by upping power input to the cpu...hence the huge heatsinks....it also recouped their development investments for those types (pentium 2/3/4)

mike