Best non multi tasking CPU

[lightweight]

I am about to buy a new desktop and don't know which processor to go for.

I have a laptop for everyday use, but need a new PC to run large financial models in Excel as the laptop is not fast enough to run these (Toshiba Satellite Pro A100, based on Intel Core Duo 1.8).

The models are very large (many sheets with hundreds of thousands of lines all with numerous calculations in them). My current PC locks up and the laptop takes ages to calculate.

I will literally only be running Excel and no other programmes, would it be best to go for a single core processor as no multi tasking is required? Will I see any benefit from a dual core.

I was thinking of the Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (The 6800 is too expensive)
or
Intel Pentium 4 950 Dual Core 3.4GHz

Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[accord99]

What makes the C2D such a powerful dual-core processor is that it's also the most powerful processor for a single-thread as well. The E6300 in general would beat a 3.4GHz P4 in almost everything, so the E6700 would be considerably faster still.

 

[djkrypplephite]

Core 2 owns everything in, well, like pretty much everything. For the love of god, don't buy a P4 or PD.

 

[CompuTronix]

Very good advice. Remember there are always many processes running in the background, so a dual core will more efficiently execute all tasks in concert with Excel. Also, note that the E6600 is a better bang for the buck than the E6700.

 

[powerbaselx]

I am about to buy a new desktop and don't know which processor to go for.

My advise below...

I will literally only be running Excel and no other programmes, would it be best to go for a single core processor as no multi tasking is required? Will I see any benefit from a dual core.

The thing is that nowadays the best deals (price/performance) are all dual core. Of course you could go for a cheap old CPU (P4 or AMD64) but i believe it's not worth it.
Another thing is that even using Excel or one other application at a time, there are always other system tasks that take advantage of the dual core system.

I was thinking of the Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (The 6800 is too expensive)
or
Intel Pentium 4 950 Dual Core 3.4GHz

Your selection surprises me a bit since you requested back there single core advise and then you point 2 DC cpu's and none the entry level

E6700 is a better option. If you are planning just using Excel or other light applications you can save a couple of bucks and buy a E6300 maybe with a little more memory...

Just my 2 cents here

 

[powerbaselx]

I was thinking of the Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (The 6800 is too expensive)
or
Intel Pentium 4 950 Dual Core 3.4GHz

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Are we still discussing this? :lol:

The E6700 will totally kill the crap out of any P4, any Core 2 will kill any P4/D. Not even close.

:lol:

Just for the record, TMG points (in FEAR heavy game) as the best Single Core Intel Pentium 4 670 and AMD FX60. Ditto!

 

[CompuTronix]

Just for the record, TMG points (in FEAR heavy game) as the best Single Core Intel Pentium 4 670 and AMD FX60. Ditto!

Just to set the record straight, the FX-60 is a dual core @ 2.6Ghz, and the FX-57 is a single core San Diego @ 2.8Ghz.

 

[lightweight]

Cheers for all the advice....the 6700 it is.

I guess the reason I raised this question is because when running my core 2 duo laptop, if I look at task manager when excel is number crunching it says that the amount of cpu being used is 50%....i.e only half of the pair, with other applications using only a minimal amount of the other half (maybe 1-2%).

Given that the P4 is 3.4 Ghz (Of which I assume 100% will be used) and the 6700 is 2.67 Ghz.....I thought in pure Excel terms it may be better.

I stand corrected......watch this space for some more stupid questions as I work ot the rest of the spec! :roll:

 

[funnyvlad]

I was thinking of the Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (The 6800 is too expensive)

You are right that 6800 is way too expensive but in my opinion(as Computronix opinion) is that C2D 6600 is the best solution and considerably cheaper than 6700. You can easily overclock the 6600 to a 6800 and above as long you have a decent mobo and memory modules.If you are not interesting in OC then 6700 is a good choice.

 

[lightweight]

Hmmm, I'll have to look into overclocking....I've not really played around with my setup before......I don't want to fry anything!

 

[halcyon]

Hmmmm...so if you overclock a E6600/Xeon 3060 to X6800 levels one's system should still last 3-5 years with stock cooling or ~$30 US aftermarket CPU cooler? ...and be as quiet as the non-overclocked X6800?

 

[funnyvlad]

You said that you only want to use Excel and then even the 6600 is overkill. 6300 or 6400 is enough. I doubt that the extra 2Mb cache(that the 6600 cpu and above have) will do any difference im Excel.

I have no private experience in OC but I have read a lot of forums about it and got to the conclusion that you put a minimum risk when OC a 6600 to a 6800 but then again, if you don´t need the extra Mhz then why take that risk?

 

[funnyvlad]

Hmmmm...so if you overclock a E6600/Xeon 3060 to X6800 levels one's system should still last 3-5 years with stock cooling or ~$30 US aftermarket CPU cooler? ...and be as quiet as the non-overclocked X6800?

All the C2D cpu:s except 6800 are wasting 65W power. The 6800 is wasting 75W. These figures are when the cpu is in idle. However, when you OC a 6600 to a 6800´s level then I simply don´t know if it remains in 75W or higher. Generally speaking, if you want to OC a cpu and keep it that way for years ahead then investing in a good cooler for about ~$30US is a good idea. As you know that the lower cpu temp you have through the years the better the propability is to have a cpu that last longer. Stock cooling is enough for a non-OC cpu but stock cooling tend often to be a low-quality product that makes more noise and generate higher idle temp.

I don´t know if a OC 6600 will as quiet a a non-OC 6800.

 

[lightweight]

I have T2400 1.83Ghz core duo in my laptop with 1GB ram, but this is not fast enough for the Excel calcs I run, so I was going to upgrade the desktop to the 6600 with 2GB to try and enhance.

I've just read that Excel 2007 takes advantage of dual core processors by multi-threading calculations....I think I'll buy Excel 2007 first to see how it runs on my laptop before making a final decision....hopefully OC will not be necessary.

 

[halcyon]

Hmmmm...so if you overclock a E6600/Xeon 3060 to X6800 levels one's system should still last 3-5 years with stock cooling or ~$30 US aftermarket CPU cooler? ...and be as quiet as the non-overclocked X6800?

All the C2D cpu:s except 6800 are wasting 65W power. The 6800 is wasting 75W. These figures are when the cpu is in idle. However, when you OC a 6600 to a 6800´s level then I simply don´t know if it remains in 75W or higher. Generally speaking, if you want to OC a cpu and keep it that way for years ahead then investing in a good cooler for about ~$30US is a good idea. As you know that the lower cpu temp you have through the years the better the propability is to have a cpu that last longer. Stock cooling is enough for a non-OC cpu but stock cooling tend often to be a low-quality product that makes more noise and generate higher idle temp.

I don´t know if a OC 6600 will as quiet a a non-OC 6800.

Thanks for that info!

 

[powerbaselx]

Just for the record, TMG points (in FEAR heavy game) as the best Single Core Intel Pentium 4 670 and AMD FX60. Ditto!

Just to set the record straight, the FX-60 is a dual core @ 2.6Ghz, and the FX-57 is a single core San Diego @ 2.8Ghz.

Right. And to get even straighter it's not "TMG" but "THG"....

 

[m25]

I am about to buy a new desktop and don't know which processor to go for.

I have a laptop for everyday use, but need a new PC to run large financial models in Excel as the laptop is not fast enough to run these (Toshiba Satellite Pro A100, based on Intel Core Duo 1.8).

The models are very large (many sheets with hundreds of thousands of lines all with numerous calculations in them). My current PC locks up and the laptop takes ages to calculate.

I will literally only be running Excel and no other programmes, would it be best to go for a single core processor as no multi tasking is required? Will I see any benefit from a dual core.

I was thinking of the Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (The 6800 is too expensive)
or
Intel Pentium 4 950 Dual Core 3.4GHz

Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

If you don't use multithreaded apps and need a good single core, the best bang/buck is a Athlon64 3800+ or a faster a FX-57.

 

[gOJDO]

You will have benefit with dualcore. Е6700 is awesome CPU, but I will recomend you E6600 or E6400. Their performance/price factor is much higher.
I have E6400 overclocked at 3.2GHz on a Gigabyte GA965P-DS3(Intel 965P chipset) mainboard. If you consider OC-ing, I think that the E6400 can offer the best bang for the buck.

 

[Pippero]

I wouldn't use an overclocked CPU for business purposes.
And if a Core Duo 1 CPU is not fast enough for him, i wouldn't recommend anything less than an E6700.
If he needs single core on the cheap, again don't go for anything less than FX-57.
But the E6700 is better even in single threaded apps, if he can afford it.

 

[m25]

You will have benefit with dualcore. Е6700 is awesome CPU, but I will recomend you E6600 or E6400. Their performance/price factor is much higher.
I have E6400 overclocked at 3.2GHz on a Gigabyte GA965P-DS3(Intel 965P chipset) mainboard. If you consider OC-ing, I think that the E6400 can offer the best bang for the buck.

You're going to far (an I did too) because he's only going to run Excel and a CeleronD/Sempron is more than enough for that.

 

[Pippero]

Nope, he's not going to run Excel to keep track how much he bench-presses or weights over 6 months, like me and you do.
He said that he runs large financial models on it, and that a Core Duo 1 (which is a fast cpu, by all means) is way too slow for him!

 

[geralt]

Check this out:

HWI Excel benchmark

This test measures how long it takes to calculate a complex financial spreadsheet.

Excel benchmark

 

[m25]

Check this out:

HWI Excel benchmark

This test measures how long it takes to calculate a complex financial spreadsheet.

Excel benchmark

Just as I was thinking; This thing is not multithreaded, that's why tha mighty Core2 Extreme is not even 2X faster than a sempron 3600+ and if for you those times are not multiplied by some large factor (if real life tables don't take much longer), It does not really make much sense to have a Core2 over a Sempron.

 

[geralt]

Check this out:

HWI Excel benchmark

This test measures how long it takes to calculate a complex financial spreadsheet.

Excel benchmark

Just as I was thinking; This thing is not multithreaded, that's why tha mighty Core2 Extreme is not even 2X faster than a sempron 3600+ and if for you those times are not multiplied by some large factor (if real life tables don't take much longer), It does not really make much sense to have a Core2 over a Sempron.

Yes, he may be much better with Excel 2007.
Anyone know how much improvement it offers due to multithreading?

 

[joefriday]

It is probably more of a ram issue than a CPU performance issue. Is the CPU pegged at 100%? If not, upgrade your ram and be done with it.

BTW, dual core CPUs won't help you in Excel.

EDIT: after looking over the whole thread, it appears you are indeed CPU bound. My hat is off to you. Most ppl never max out their CPU using office apps. A midrange core 2 duo should work nice, as would an Athlon FX single core CPU, if you could find one for a reasonable price.