Does someone with some spare time feel like explaining wtf all these processors are, and how they stack up relatively?

[dug777]

:confused;x777

Now there are confusing four digit numbers everywhere, and various ominous-sounding combinations of two letters stuck next to them, and something called 'phenom', and more pentiums and cellys, but based on C2 arch, and it's almost enough to drive me to cut myself...

:confused;

EDIT: & L3 cache again, I thought that died with Gallatin?

 

[HannibalX]

AMD is bad? Well my system does everything I want it to.

I would suggest reading processor reviews on the AnandTech main web site.

 

[Trey22]

I'd like to see a chart with the info you're requesting dug. That would clear things up for me too.

 

[hokiealumnus]

I have no reference comparing them, but here's a listing of all that they've got right now, with specs on each: Intel's Processor Spec Finder.

 

[Mondoman]

It's not that bad:

1) Ignore the AMD stuff until they get their CPU design act together (1+ years from now, at least).

2) Essentially all the current Intel stuff is now based on the Core2Duo architecture (this includes the new Pentium Dual Core and Celeron lines); you can look up process scale, cache size, specific feature support, etc on the Spec Finder as ha wrote.

3) The "E" models are dual-core, while the "Q" models are quad-core.

4) "Bigger" model numbers within a line are normally better.

5) The main differences among the dual-core lines and models are:

• a) Different cache sizes, with the Celerons/E1xxx having the smallest cache (512kb right now), the Pentium Dual Cores/E2xxx having the 2nd smallest (1MB right now), the E4xxx having 2MB cache, the E6xxx having 2MB (older models) or 4MB (newer models) cache, and the E8xxx having 6MB cache.
  b) FSB speeds, with the E1xxx/E2xxx/E4xxx all at 800MHz, E6xxx at 1066MHz (older models) or 1333MHz (newer models), and the E8xxx at 1333MHz.
  c) CPU core speeds, with the range of core speeds increasing line-by-line. The E1200 is 1.6GHz, E2xxx are 1.6-2.2GHz, E4xxx are 1.8-2.4GHz, E6xxx are 1.86-3GHz, and E8xxx are 2.66-3.16GHz.

6) The main differences among the quad-core lines and models are:

• a) Different cache sizes: Q6600/6700 have 8MB cache; Q9300 has 6MB cache; Q9450/9550 have 12MB cache.
  b) FSB speeds: Q6xxx have 1066MHz; Q9xxx have 1333MHz.
  c) CPU core speed ranges: Q6xxx are 2.4-2.66GHz; Q9xxx are 2.5-2.83GHz.

7) There are other minor differences, chiefly that some CPUs (normally the higher-end ones) have virtualization technology, and the newest E8xxx have "trusted execution technology" and new "Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.1 (SSE4.1)" numeric extensions.

 

[Trey22]

Thx Mondoman... #5 was exactly what I needed. Cheers.

 

[Tempered81]

Damn, Mondoman! That is an informative post! Thanks. Can you do one for the intel T, U, and L series of core2duo?

 

[krnmastersgt]

What about the different steppings, and the extreme series?

 

[Mondoman]

Sorry, I'm spent for now...