Processor or Hz better?

[Iolana]

Hello, Which is better... a greater Hz or a greater core processor (ex. i5, i7)? What is the difference between 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Vs. 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor?

 

[hunter315]

There are 3 major difference between processors, core count(dual quad hex), speed(usually GHz), and archtecture(i5-7xx, i7-9xx, i7-2600, etc)

In general, its pretty difficult to make a direct comparison between them based on specs alone, but one thing you can know is that the newer Core ix series is better clock for clock than the older Core 2 line up, so a C2D @ 2.66 will lose to an i3 @ 2.66.

There are a lot of Core i5 processors, some are true quads some are hyper threaded dual cores so which i5 are you looking at in particular? It is likely at least slightly quicker than the Core 2 Duo in dual threaded tasks, and in four threaded tasks it will be significantly faster regardless of if its hyper threaded or a true quad, but the true quad would be significantly faster than the hyper threaded dual core in those tasks.

 

[Iolana]

There are 3 major difference between processors, core count(dual quad hex), speed(usually GHz), and archtecture(i5-7xx, i7-9xx, i7-2600, etc)

In general, its pretty difficult to make a direct comparison between them based on specs alone, but one thing you can know is that the newer Core ix series is better clock for clock than the older Core 2 line up, so a C2D @ 2.66 will lose to an i3 @ 2.66.

There are a lot of Core i5 processors, some are true quads some are hyper threaded dual cores so which i5 are you looking at in particular? It is likely at least slightly quicker than the Core 2 Duo in dual threaded tasks, and in four threaded tasks it will be significantly faster regardless of if its hyper threaded or a true quad, but the true quad would be significantly faster than the hyper threaded dual core in those tasks.

Wow, that clears things up a bit! Thank you! I was looking at a i5 with a dual core...with a lower GHz(2.3)

It seems like I would enjoy a 2.66Hz with a C2D because it would be much faster but less fancy because of the older architecture?

 

[enzo matrix]

^ My guess would be they would perform about the same but I would need model numbers to know for sure

 

[Iolana]

^ My guess would be they would perform about the same but I would need model numbers to know for sure

What are model numbers?

 

[Iolana]

is a decrease of .36Hz a noticeable difference?

 

[Iolana]

I was looking at the new lower end 13" MPB vs. the older higher end MPB.

 

[jprahman]

The dual core i5 will beat the C2D slightly. Even though the Core 2 Duo runs slightly faster clock speed the i5 has a better micro-architecture and an integrated memory controller that really helps performance.

BTW, by model numbers what Enzo is refering to the name of the processor, for example Core 2 Duo T5750. The T5750 is the model number, while Core 2 Duo is the family/ generation of the processor. With the Core i5 there are multiple models, each of which with different specs, i5 is not the actual name of the processor you're looking at, its a artifact of branding.

 

[hunter315]

Clock speed isnt really relavent when comparing across families.

The newer core i series completes more instructions per clock cycle, so while its clock runs slower it can get the same or more done in second, so even though the C2D is clocked 15% faster, if the i5 can do 10%-40% more in the same time depending on the program and how many threads it is, then it actually comes out faster an the seemingly faster C2D. We long passed the day when clock speed was the best way to judge a processor, their speeds are far more dependent on architecture than clock speed.

 

[Iolana]

Lots of new things learned! Thanks all So the model number of the C2D is P8800 and i5's might be something close to I5-520M.

There's not much info about it's processor spec.s because it just came out.
All i've found is that it has "2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 dual-core processor ("Sandy Bridge") with 3 MB shared L3".

It looks like the P8800 has nothing on any of the i5s... because of the core/thread (2/2)...where i5s have (2/4)

 

[Iolana]

Yes I am, I was looking at the new lower end 13" MacbookPro vs. the older higher end MPB.

 

[Iolana]

The newer one > (MC700LL/A) & older one > (MC375LL/A )

 

[enzo matrix]

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=40380
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52224&processor=i5-2410M&spec-codes=SR04B,SR04G

^These are the two processors you are looking at. The i5 will certainly perform better.

Here's two review links for the macbooks:
new: http://www.blog.web6.org/macbook-pro-mc700ll-a-review-apple-new-13-3-inch-laptop-2011/
old: http://www.handingchao.com/new-apple-macbook-pro-mc375lla-13-3-inch-laptop-review/

Another link about the entire new line:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4192/macbook-pro-2011-refresh-specs-and-details

So basically you are comparing the low end configuration of the new macbook 13.3" against the old high end 13.3".
The CPU of the new macbook is faster but the GPU is slower. The new macbook also sports all the technologies mentioned in the anandtech article that the old macbook doesn't.

 

[Iolana]

You guys have all gone above & beyond with your answers, thanks so much! Pretty amazing!

 

[Iolana]

Best answer selected by Iolana.