In single process applications , how much faster is a

[shambling]

AMD athlon 64 3600+ x2 processor than a 2.6ghz pentium 4 northwood processor?

Is that 3600 supposed to represent a comparitive ghz to the old intel ghz measurements for performance? i.e. a 3600+ x2 would be like two 3.6ghz p4's?


Would it be night and day faster? I'm trying to keep an overall build cheap, so I'd like to go with a 3600+ x2 with a decent OC'ing motherboard, and build the system up over time with better fan for oc'ing, better cpu in the future, and better gpu's

Also, if the 3600+ x2 would be slower in single process applications, I'd like to know that too. But I have a feeling it'd beat the pants off my 2.6ghz p4 since it runs at 100mhz memory timings on an intel board. lol


edit: hmmm could have sworn I posted this in the non-overclocking cpu board.

 

[sdeivis]

No, 3600+ means it's combined power can be compared to P4-3.6's power in either application. Go for 3800+, as it's the same chip with twice the cache (2x512) and costs a few $$ more...

 

[shambling]

Newegg has the brisbane core (the one I'm interested in) as having the same amount of cache as the 3800+, and the 3600+ x2 is also (from what I've read on a couple of overclocking sites) the better performer as far as overclocking goes. I'm pretty much decided on the processor I want to upgrade to.


Although, each single core is only rated at 1.8ghz? So for games it would actually be slower than my p4? Hmmm... I'd probably be better off investing the extra in a 4600+ x2 or higher than. Can't really see the sense in upgrading for dual core thats going to run slower in single thread applications (of which, almost 90% of what I do is single thread)

 

[jjnguy13]

Size...erm...speed doesn't always matter. I can't say which will perform better in single-threaded applications, but I can say that you can't directly compare clock speed to determine performance.

Take the C2D's(Core 2 Duo) and The PD(Pentium D). They are both dual core CPU's and the PD's run way faster in clock speed, but the C2D's beat the pants of the old PD's.

 

[kwalker]

The best way to get the answers your looking for is with the CPU charts here.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html
Even if you dont believe in benchmarks for comparison you must admit the charts are very helpful 8)

 

[shambling]

only reason I really asked was because neither of the cpu's were listed on those cpu charts


But yeah, I have a feeling even a single core 3600+ would run faster by far than my current CPU. heh