P9600 vs T9550

Im buying a E6500, but im not quite sure on whether to get the P9600 or T9550 proc... Aside from the 25W TDP of P9600, are there any other differences between the two? Any recommendations?

I'll be installing Vista 64bit and will be using this laptop for dev and testing purposes, I'll have multiple VMs running on Virtual Server so Intel VT is a must have. Also, I live in the tropics so heat will definitely be a factor when Im working out of the office.

 

Unless you plan to do heavy number crunching, the P9600 is a better option as you will have a longer battery life.

 

As far as I can see, both CPUs have the same clock speed and cache size.

T9550 (6M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) uFCPGA8 Core Voltage 1.050V-1.212V TDP 35W

P9600 (6M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) uFCBGA8 Core Voltage 1.050V-1.212V TDP 25W

So it appears that power consumption is the only difference. According to the Intel data sheets the difference in power consumption applies through the whole operating range so the P series CPUs also leak less power when under low load. This reduces the fan activity as well as increasing the battery time.

My E6400 with P8600 and Intel graphics kept cool and quiet in an ambient temperature of around 34C, but it wasn't very pleasant for me working in that temperature. if you are concerned about heat and fan noise then the Intel graphics is preferable to nVidia.

However, you could be lucky and get a T9550 which would meet the Intel power specs. This could happen if the supply of low power CPUs exceeds the demand for the premium priced units.

John

 

HerrKaputt,

Can you elaborate on "heavy number crunching"?

I'll be replicating a production environment (SQLSVR, IIS, MOSS, AD and workstations) running on several VMs when testing deployment and patches.
Development is mostly on .Net platform, and the systems I'd be working on are mostly for the financial sector.


Tnx

 

John,

I was going to order the nvidia card coz I was under the impression that the Intel graphics card utilizes shared memory. Is this correct?

Hope you don't mind, can you check your bios if Intel VT is enabled?

I wanted a Vaio Z before and was about to get one last Jan, I read in the Sony thread here that Intel VT is permanently disabled in bios. Changed my mind and started reviewing other options.


Tnx

 

You may be right about the Intel GPU and shared memory although it may be worthwhile researching whether this is an overall performance bottleneck with modern chipsets and a generous allocation of RAM.

See the attached regarding virtualization support (that is for BIOS A01 - I photographed most of the BIOS pages when I first got the computer but I doubt if Dell has subsequently disabled that option).

John

 

HerrKaputt and John,

thanks for taking the time to answer my query... i decided to go with P9600, i'll need all the power conserving options i can get with a 6-cell