Intel P9600 vs T9550: What's the difference besides more power for the T?

[chucky2]

I'm looking to upgrade my moms GM45 based Fujitsu T5010 notebook. I can see that Fujitsu themselves offered the T9600, T9550, T9400, and also the P8800, P8700, and P8600 - my mom has the P8600.

Later Intel released the P9600, but Fujitsu does not appear to have that listed as supported, even though I believe GM45 supports it.

P9600 vs T9550, to me, looks like for the average user are the same specs, except one is rated to 25W vs 35W respectively. So my question is...

...why wouldn't I take a gamble on the P9600 since it should run cooler yet yield the same performance?

The other thing to note here is, T9550's are officially supported, and can be found on eBay readily and for around $60 or so less the the P9600's.

Any info between these two would be much appreciated!

Chuck

 

[Zap]

http://ark.intel.com/compare/35568,37266,37130

I don't think the power consumption will be that different. The TDP is for the "family" of chips and the T chips go up to just over 3GHz while the P chips only go up to 2.8GHz. I'd just get the cheaper, officially supported chip.

Actually, I wouldn't even bother upgrading at all. The faster CPUs are only 266MHz faster and 6MB cache versus 3MB cache. I don't think there will be that much of a "seat of the pants" performance gain to be felt from that incremental of an upgrade. If you want her machine to feel FAST, upgrade it with an SSD (and Windows 7 if not already running it). Oh yeah, and is it running dual channel memory with at least 2GB? What does she use it for?

 

[chucky2]

Yeah, she'll be getting an SSD once the prices come down for the 256GB drives, or when Windows 7 SP2 comes out - whichever occurs first. Right now she's running Windows 7 non-SP1 and I'm getting sick of looking at all the updates outstanding when I use her PC.

Her notebook can unofficially handle 2 4GB DDR3-1066 SODIMM's, but she's got 2 2GB ones in there now. When I do the SSD upgrade I'll max out the RAM (at today and next years prices, plus selling the 2x2GB we have now, why not?) and that's when I was going to do the CPU upgrade.

Basically after the maxed out RAM, the 256GB SSD, and the CPU, the laptop would be considered max'd, which should hold her for basically......forever.

Was just trying to understand how the CPU's were different, other than the TDP. I mean, if you have the same exact CPU, why even have different model numbers? If it's just the TDP then I think I could save some heat (her notebook runs warmish) and get the P9600.

 

[Zap]

Why wait for 256GB SSDs? What's wrong with 120GB ones? Plenty of sales now and then. I picked up one for $115. Windows 7 takes 15GB.

What does she use her computer for?

For most "home" users that just go online, 8GB RAM is money wasted. So is a CPU that is ever so slightly faster (as long as previous one was fast enough). It is highly unlikely that the "faster" CPU will ever make enough of a performance difference to, well, make a difference.

 

[chucky2]

She's almost at 128GB use now. She's a very casual user, however, she likes having all her pictures and videos and stuff on the laptop. We've got a NAS for at home, but when she goes out to the lakehouse she likes having it all on her PC. 256GB just seems like the next natural progression.

I P9600 would really be just a little faster than the P8600 she has now? My brother likes using her laptop for "emergency" gaming (like WoW), which the video card seems to be able to handle. I just figure, if it's a few bucks, why not?

U think a P9600 would suck down more power than a P8600 at normal desktop usage tasks?

 

[Zap]

U think a P9600 would suck down more power than a P8600 at normal desktop usage tasks?

Yes. As I've said the TDP is for a particular family of CPUs. More transistors (more cache) eats more power. Higher voltage (possibility from higher MHz) eats more power. Higher MHz eats more power. May not make a huge difference at idle because they all idle the same, but under load will use more power.

 

[chucky2]

That makes sense. Ok, maybe I'll take the CPU upgrade off the list then. Bummer, I wanted to see if it'd really work...

 

[Zap]

It probably will work fine. I'm just saying that I'm not sure there is enough extra performance to warrant the cost and extra power used.

 

[RecycledElectro]

I'm sorry to resurrect and old thread, but the info was just wrong.

I'd just get the cheaper, officially supported chip.

According to Fujitsu.com, the supported chips in a T5010 are:


Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9600 (2.80 GHz, 6 MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9550 (2.66 GHz, 6 MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8800 (2.66 GHz, 3 MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53 GHz, 3 MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40 GHz, 3 MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz FSB)
So the processors the OP mentioned are all supported.

A 3.07GHz T9700 would be unsupported. (I will never upgrade just to see if it works. I will never upgrade just to see if it works. I will never upgrade just to see if it works. I will never upgrade just to see if it works. I will never upgrade just to see if it works. I will never upgrade just to see if it works. Screw it...where's that credit card?)

The faster CPUs are only 266MHz faster and 6MB cache versus 3MB cache. I don't think there will be that much of a "seat of the pants" performance gain to be felt from that incremental of an upgrade. If you want her machine to feel FAST, upgrade it with an SSD (and Windows 7 if not already running it). Oh yeah, and is it running dual channel memory with at least 2GB? What does she use it for?

IMHO, cache on the processor is one of the most critical things. I am not sure it's worth upgrading for a doubling of the cache, but You will feel the difference.

I find clock speed to be less important, but still an issue. A 10% difference will (almost) never be noticeable.

Another option is upgrading the RAM. Fujitsu once lists the max as 4GB of 1066MHz RAM, but Crucial lists 8GB as the max. (I'm running 8GB.) Faster RAM can also reduce the CAS wait times. This is important since the RAM is shared by the system and the integrated video. I'm running some reasonably fast 1333MHz DIMMS. (2x4GB DDR3-10600 SODIMMs)
Note: Your mom's LifeBook will not be able to use more than 4GB unless it's running a 64-bit operating system.

--RecycledElectrons

 

[JWade]

item of note on space for SSD's, disable the recycle bin, it takes up 10% of space, so on a 128gb, it is taking up 12.8gb of space.