P9500 vs T9600

~Intel® P9500 45nm "Montevina" Core™2 Duo 2.53GHz w/6MB L2 On-die cache - 1066MHz FSB 25 watt ( + 165 )
~Intel® T9600 45nm "Montevina" Core™2 Duo 2.80GHz w/6MB L2 On-die cache - 1066MHz FSB 35 watt

In a desktop replacement notebook, is the 2.8Ghz T9600 worth the extra $200?

 

No . . . . .

 

+1 to NO
better spend your 200$ on RAM, external hard drive, or accessories

 

Unless you're planning to do some serious number crunching, no. The speed will be negligible in games (sans some RTS's) and in everyday use.

 

I plan to use the notebook for Visual Studio / T-SQL / Analysis Server development work and Photoshop/Illustrator/Flash design work. I do very, very little 3D work and what I do is typically in Blender. I'm hoping this will last me 4 years.

 

Of course the P9500 will last you 4 years. Probably more.

2.53GHz; 1066MHz FSB; 6MB L2 Cache is not slow in anyway, and a 270MHz increase per core is not going to provide a noticeable increase in performance, and is definitely not worth the $200.

Plus, the P9500 has a lower TDP of 25W, so when under load, the max core temps will be a lot lower as compared to those of the T9600....Hence lower Fan RPMs, and more battery life (though most people don't run intensive tasks when on battery )

 

im debating between the t9600 and t9800 now.. so im reading this also.. im trying to decide if i should swing for the t9800 which for me is about 100$ more than the t9600 right now

 

Well, they are literally identical, though the T9800 is just a half-multiplier up.

If you use RMClock to undervolt, go for the T9800.

 

but 227$ for the t9600 vs 309 for the t9800 not sure i should pass on that cheap of a t9600?? what would you do..

 

That is quite cheap. Literally half of what a retail would cost. But if undervolting and all w/RMClock, you'll lose 133MHz at max performance. CrystalCPUID has been said to be compatible w/half multipliers though.

 

you mean ill loose that compared to the t9600?? i usually dont undervolt unless i find i have to.. but with this hot of a chip i may anyway

 

You'll lose 266MHz compared to the T9800.
I think T9800 is 2.93GHz, so its multiplier is 11x, whereas that of the T9600 is 10.5x

Wen you UV with RMClock, it recognizes the highest multiplier as 10x, and max frequency drops from 2.8GHz to 2.66GHz (=T9550).

 

oh gotcha i wasnt thinking about it like that. yeah i wouldnt undervolt it. but i do need to decide tonight before he lists them at higher prices on ebay and i miss out, i can ony take one at these prices he sais since he owes me a favor

 

If someone can show me some real world processor test with these processors, I can determine whether an upgrade would be worth it. If it cuts my time by no more than half, then absolutely not.

 

Go for the T9600, considering that both nearly perform the same....and it is almost $100 cheaper.

 

i know the x9100 smokes the t9600 im most tests and the t9800 is very very close to the x9100 so i would think it would perform better than the t9600?? i mean the x9100 is only 3.06. you really think the 9600 and 9800 will be that close in performance? i thought the 9800 would still perform closer to the x9100.. but without as much power required.

 

All 3 will be quite close in performance. The T9600 is a good deal imo.

 

yeah 227$ for the 9600 retail chip (open box) is pretty great i guess. but i keep wanting to go for the 9800.. i just cant decide how much i want to spend on the chip is my issue right now

 

Flip a coin..

(if the T9800 is non-ES as well)

 

the t9800 is a es but its e0 and a final es release. i dont mind running those at all.

 

You mean C0 ?

 

nope e0 not c0 i have the actual screen shots of it from cpuid.

 

Ok. AFAIK all Penryns are C0 and Penryn-3Ms are M0.

I don't really know. Go for whichever you find good.

 

Maybe, but probably not. I recently had to make this decision, and I use my notebooks for serious number crunching.

But the most you can get would be 11% improvement; probably only possible for a task which fits inside the on chip cache. As soon as memory bandwidth gets into the picture, the P9500 closes the gap a little. And then, if other resources come to play, the gap narrows even more. Very few people would really get that 11% anything like most of the time. I would get it more than most, but still, probably only an hour or two of the fourteen hours per day I use the notebook.

Yet the P9500 has the advantage of lower power consumption; this translates into lower temperatures, less fan noise, and longer battery life, as well as the $200.

I went with the P9500.

 

Thanks Zen. I've been going back and forth between really spending some money and getting a Lenovo W700 or HP 8730w vs finding a cheaper "almost as good" in something like the Sager NP5796, and I'm trying to figure out exactly where I can cut cost if I go with the Sager, and still have a notebook that will be solid in 3 or 4 years.

 

One last question on this. I think I'm going with a laptop that has an nVidia 9800M GTX card and 4GB ram (Sager). Does that make the processor enough of a bottleneck that moving up to the 2.8Ghz T9600 is worth it?

There are things I do well. Evaluating differences in similiar laptop components is definitely not one of them. Thanks for the help.

 

Quite Frankly............if u have a laptop witha 9800m GTX any processor,T9400 or above is good enough.As has already been mentioned earlier, only for serious nomber crunchin do u have to move up to a 2.8.

 

One last question on this. I think I'm going with a laptop that has an nVidia 9800M GTX card and 4GB ram (Sager). Does that make the processor enough of a bottleneck that moving up to the 2.8Ghz T9600 is worth it?

There are things I do well. Evaluating differences in similiar laptop components is definitely not one of them. Thanks for the help.

 

Oops, stupid browser re-posted for me.

Thanks for the answer stonesrubber. Of course, I should mention that the *primary* purpose of this laptop is developing in Visual Studio 2008/ Management Studio and designing in Photoshop / Illustrator / Adobe Flex-Flash. Does that change the answer?