Which processor do you recommend?

Hi

I'm thinking about getting a Studio XPS 16, but I'm not sure about the processor. Is there much difference between the P8400 (3MB cache/2.26GHz/1066Mhz FSB) and the T9400 (6MB cache/2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB). The difference in $$ is $150 but don't know if it's worth it.
I'll be using it for some photo editing, work and college.

Thanks!

 

I would say, for those tasks all you would notice is loss of battery time and increased heat. The P8400 should be perfect, if you HAVE to upgrade, get the 8600 or 8700.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_core_2_duo_processors

 

If you need battery life, shoot for the P series, as it has a 25W TDP and runs quite cold.
If you need a little bit more power that you'll really only notice in benchmarks and gaming, spring for the T series, but you'll note lower battery life with its 35W TDP.

 

Hasn't the T9400 been replaced already with the T9550?

 

Not for Latin America

 

Amigo, go with the "T", I don't think you are going to regret it it's 3MB cache difference that's something to keep in mind.

 

you will only notice the 3mb difference in the cache if your going to crunch some high numbers with your cpu (i.e. encoding, heavy photoediting)

 

I'm even not that sure about this one.

I compared x264 Encoding times regardings this benchmark:
http://www.techarp.com/x264_Benchmark/hd//results-1.htm

E6600 (4MB L2 Cache) OC @3,GHz is exactly as fast as an E4300 (2MB L2 Cache). And a Pentium-Dual Core (1MB L2 Cache), which is also based on the Core architecture requires a 7% higher clock to reach the same speed.

In gaming the difference seems to be bigger, but also only between the 1MB and 2MB Cache versions:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3127&p=2

Since the uncore (= L2 Cache) is clocked at full speed in the Core architecture (this changes with Core i7) and only in some C2,C3,C4 states some cache can be disabled, I'm seriously thinking the T8100, T8300 with 3MB Cache is a great notebook choice. If you go for 6MB, it'll consume more power and be just hotter.

I've seen some investigation on VM use cases, where the L2 Cache does make a bigger difference. This is due to the shadow page table bookkeeping.

 

great info thanks i didnt know that

 

Great explanation, I always thought more cache = better but the advantages all seem to be on the cheaper side.

 

That's a very good explanation, I did some research on my own too and the extra $$$ doesn't seem to give a noticeable advantage. I'll go for the P8400

 

what about the p9600 (6mb cache, 2.66 ghz/1066 mhz fsb) found in the studio xps 13? does it use a lower voltage as well, or would it be better to just go with the p8600 (3mb cache/2.4 ghz/1066 mhz fsb) or p8700(3mb cache/2.53 ghz/1066 mhz fsb)?

 

According to what I have read, the major difference between those processors is the cache, so your decision will mostly depend on what you're going to use your laptop for and again, if battery life and heat is important to you or not. With a studio xps 13 I assume you're going to be carrying it up, therefore battery life may be important and the p8600 or p8700 would be a better choice for your money.

 

This is the exact reason I chose the T8300 processor for my XPS. I could have went to the 9400 or something like that when I ordered, but reviews stated the power consumption and heat were much greater.

I have not regretted my choice in processor....

 

I found more 2MB vs. 3MB vs 6MB L2 Cache Benchmarks:
http://extreme.pcgameshardware.de/prozessoren/24789-test-der-grosse-cache-test.html

Although it's german it is easy to read the numbers in your favorite game or application from the chart.

Since the GPU in this Desktop benchmark is much stronger than GPUs in notebooks, the performance gain in games on notebooks is even less than the above benchmark suggests. This is due to fact that the M1330/M1530 GPU is much more bottlenecking.

Also recognize that the benchmark is performed at 3GHz core clock. This favors big caches slightly more than at 2.5 Ghz since the discrepancy of L2 speed vs main memory speed is bigger. On the other hand notebook memory is slightly slower. Both effects should cancel each other.

Another 2MB vs. 4MB L2 Cache comparison:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=4