Intel Core 2 Duo @ 1.6Ghz ... ?

[iThinkYouBrokeIt]

link
I'm going to be getting a laptop soon, and I think I've come close to deciding on which model to get. The above link is to the one I've been looking at. It seems to have the features I want, and specs I can't complain about. Except for one. The CPU runs only at 1.6Ghz? I know it's dual core, so it's noticeably better than if it were single core running at 1.6Ghz... but I would like better for it to be 2.0 or 1.8Ghz.

And how exactly does an Intel Core2 Duo @ 1.6Ghz (dual core) compare to ... say, an AMD Athlon64 @ 2.0Ghz (single core) ?

The reason I ask is because this particular computer seems to have specs which are, mostly, double what i'm currently using. Except for the CPU clock speed. I'm wondering if I should special order directly from HP so I could customize my specs. The reason I would order from best buy (or any other retail) is so that I don't have to wait for assembly or shipping. I can just walk out of the store with my machine. However, if it means a HUGE performance difference, I'll probably be willing to wait a couple(few?) extra weeks for that improvement.

[redwudz]

Dual cores often run at lower clock speeds, but having 2 cores makes up for it. My 3800 AM2 Athlon dual core runs at 2.0Ghz and my single core 3800 runs at 2.4Ghz. And the dual core does most encodes faster. The improved multitasking is the big plus, not so much the speed. But for any CPU, faster is better. I think you can do better than 1.6Ghz. Get what you can afford.

You might dig around here for some comparisons: http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/11/21/the_mother_of_all_cpu_charts_2005/

[Krispy Kritter]

It also depends on what you laptop is used for. Most people don't use laptops for anything cpu intensive enough to justify the added expense of a faster cpu.

[hgh]

I have a laptop with the T5500 Core 2 Duo 1.66Ghz and my encoding speeds are much faster than when I was using a single core cpu desktop. If you are looking to buy a laptop to do video encoding I recommend paying attention to the exact name of the cpu, the amount of ram and the video card--at least 2 gigs ram and 256mb video card.

It appears that laptop manufactures are utilizing a new and cheaper version of the T5500 called the T5200 which is 1.6ghz--this is just a cheap version of the Core 2 Duo it runs an FSB speed of 533mhz--I wouldn't buy a computer with it. There is also the T5600 at 1.83ghz. You probably won't notice that much of a difference in speed between the T5500 and the T5600 as they both have an 667mhz FSB speed and 2MB L2 Cache. My advice among T5000 series is you'll be fine with the T5500.

However if you can afford it, you should get noticeably faster performance with the T7200 at 2.0ghz. The T7000 series increases the L2 cache to 4MB while running the same FSB speed of 667mhz as the T5500 and T5600. If you can afford any version of the T7000 series, its the best you can get right now.

FYI Intel is coming out with a new version of their Core 2 Processors that will run a higher FSB than the current design and supports DirectX 10 called the Santa Rosa sometime this year--You may want to wait for it.

Here is a link to a current Intel comparison sheet:
http://indigo.intel.com/compare_cpu/showchart.aspx?mmID=884607,884606,884605,884604,88...&culture=en-US

[ranchhand]

Newegg is listing the AMD dual core, 2.6MHz, 1megX2 L2 cache for $280, +or- (it fluctuates on occasion) and free shipping. Supposed to be a jet.

[Dr_Layne]

I have the AMD 64 x2 5200+ dual core. It flies on applications written to take advantage of dual core. CCE encodes avi to mpeg2 video at 8000kbps CBR at over 4x real time. On my AMD 3200+ I was lucky to get just over 1.5x

A_L

[ranchhand]

Hey All, Newegg just dropped the price on the AMD 5200 D/C to $230 !