Topic: Intel Duo Core CPU, anyone have one?

[gmax]

Does anyone on the forum have one of these "Intel Duo Core CPU's" how much faster
would they be compared to a P4, 2.8 HT cpu? .I'm trying to decide if it's worth upgrading yet.

[Sandra]

Do you mean the Core 2 Duo or a dual core ?

The performance of the new Core 2 Duo is very impressive apparently but I havent tried one yet.

I did recently replace my 660 P4 3.6ghz with HT and 2mb L2 cache with a dual core D945 3.4ghz no HT with 2mb L2 cache on each core.

The only program that I have that maxed out the 660 was a video converting program and as I posted in another thread how the 2 CPUs compared.

Here are the results of converting a 4 Hr 52 min mpg film of 6.58 gig to 4.29 gig Xvid using Auto Gordian Knot

660    Total time: 6 hours 3 minutes 46 seconds

D945  Total time: 4 hours 25 minutes 21 seconds

The difference between your P4 2.8 and the D945 would be even greater.

My motherboard wouldnt run the new Core 2 Duo and the D945 is ridiculously cheap at the moment in the UK, I paid £98 inc vat for it from ebuyer.com, my 660 is currently selling for around £270 in most on line stores.
I paid £208 for my 660 in march this year and the D945 was over £300 at that time 

[gmax]

Do you mean the Core 2 Duo or a dual core ?
whoops! i thought they were the same , i'm a bit out of touch with new cpu's
i might wait a few months and see if the prices drop, but those speeds you quoted look impressive

[Sandra]

Dual core cpus from both Intel and AMD have been around for a bit now.

The Core 2 Duo aka Conroe are a recent development from Intel.

The "slower" cheaper ones have 2mbL2 cache but the best ones are the E6600 upwards which have 4mb L2 cache on each core.
Unfortnately there is a price increase that seems a lot for a small rise in mhz between the E6400 and the E6600 but the extra L2 cache makes it more desirable, performance wise.

You may find though, like me, that even though the Core 2 Duos will physically fit your socket 775 motherboard the chipset wont run it.
You should be ok with the D series of dual core CPUs but check your motherboard specs before buying one.

Incidentally Intel are bringing out the Quaddro early next year, yup thats 4 cores on a single CPU 

[gmax]

my motherboard is Asus P4C800-E Deluxe, socket 478, i paid over $300 2.5 years ago, :embarassed:
so if i upgrade i will need a new M/B, ram, cpu and maybe a PSU.

[Sandra]

Afraid so.

I am upgrading a friends pc next week with a new Asrock VSA 775 mobo and a D945 CPU and a new PSU.

Total price from ebuyer came to £161-79 inc vat and delivery.

The advantage of that particular mobo is that it has 2 x DDR slots and 2 x DDR 2 slots, an AGP slot plus a PCI-e slot, also it will take the Core 2 Duo CPUs
Ths means that we can use his current ram and gfx card from his AMD Barton 2500 pc and at a later date he can upgrade the ram to DDR2, the gfx to PCI-e and even the CPU to a Core 2 Duo, if he feels its justified in spending more cash.

[gmax]

Hmm i don't think i would do that, no point getting a fast cpu then using  slow ram and video card, but i guess it all depends on your budget.

[Sandra]

Its just a way of spreading the cost and leaves an affordable way to upgrade.

With that CPU and his current ram and gfx card I am sure hell notice a big increase in speed.
Hes not a gamer so the gfx card isnt that critical.
If he finds its not performing as well as we expect then he can easily upgrade the ram.