Best CPU for Excel 2003

[tonydav]

Hi,

I need to build a machine for a client running some pretty extreme spreadsheets. On their current computer (a P4) it takes 20 mins to recalc. I've tried the spreadsheet on an E8500/2GB system and it's still around the 6 minute mark.

I'm thinking the best I can do is an E8600 without the huge premium of going to an i7 (the m/b ram etc). However I'm not that familiar with the new AMD chips and whether they'd be better.

Also, my gut feel is to stick with Dual Core at a higher frequency rather than Quad Core as I don't think Excel 2003 is multi-threaded. (And a 2007 upgrade isn't likely unless I can show a major improvement).

 

[mindless728]

apparently Excel 2007 is multi-thread optimized (or rather can be)
Multithreaded Recalculation in Excel 2007

but is not really optimized in all cases
Excel 2007 is Multi-Threaded, But Does It Help?

the AMD chips really wouldn't be any faster (in fact they may be slower in excel, never really have seen a benchmark, usually intel chips recently are better for CPU heavy programs)

google search and see what you find, you may or may not have to change some things in excel to do this

 

[seabreeze]

Hi, I need to build a machine for a client running some pretty extreme spreadsheets. On their current computer (a P4) it takes 20 mins to recalc. I've tried the spreadsheet on an E8500/2GB system and it's still around the 6 minute mark.

I can't see the E8600 giving you much more, apart from the direct percentage increase in clock speed.

Is the spreadsheet proprioty in nature? If not, you could email it and I could test it on several machines and let you know.

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