Is L2 Cache more important than FSB??

[MulLa]

I am looking at these two notebook computers.

The Sony PCGC1VG which has the Transmeta TM5600 running on a 100Mhz FSB.

The Fujitsu Lifebook P1010 which has the Transmeta TM5400 running on 133Mhz FSB.

Checking the Transmeta site Comparison table

The difference between TM5600 and TM5400 is the L2 Cache size. Considering that both the Sony and Fujitsu both run on 600Mhz core. Which one do you think is faster?

I am thinking that the Fujitsu is "better" from a price perspective. It's around AUD$800 cheaper which is around US$400 cheaper. Since I don't need the camera attached on the Sony.

 

[AndyHui]

A larger L2 cache is generally more advantageous, since you won't need to access memory as often, which is running at the speed of the FSB.

I think they may cancel each other out, but as Intel has proven with its Coppermine processors, 256KB of L2 cache is generally sufficient. It's hard to say, but I am inclined to think that it's not going to make that much difference in a laptop environment.

 

[mithrandir2001]

If the difference was 133FSB/128KB L2 vs 100FSB/256KB L2, I'd opt for the latter. However, most app code fits neatly within 256KB of L2 cache - 512KB won't make a great difference - so the extra 33% FSB would be more advantegous. So my estimated guess is that the Fujitsu would have better performance.

Of course, you have to determine if the L2 caches are exclusive...meaning that the L1 cache is 128KB: is this data copied into the L2? AMD CPUs are exclusive, but Intel's are not, for instance. Also, do the L2 caches run at full-speed? I'm not expecting you to answer this, but these are the questions you need to ask.

 

[MulLa]

mithrandir2001 Yes many of the questions you have raised are valid and should be looked into. But I guess that I am leaning towards the Fujitsu even before I asked this questions simply from a price point of view.

AndyHui Guess you are from HK from your nick. Would you have any idea how much one of these would cost over there?? Thanx.

 

[agentK]

i agree. a larger cache size is better.

 

[AndyHui]

MulLa: While I can get you prices, I can't get you exact prices since I am in Australia at the moment.

 

[MulLa]

AndyHui Hm... so you are in the same part of the world as I am eh?! :Q It'd be great if you can get me approx prices if you can particularily the Fujitsu one. Thanx once again.