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Xeon vs Dual Core
- Thread starter minxca
- Start date
The main advantage of the Xeon is the extra L3 cache, which may pay off in certain types of applications such as server thread operations. However, the dual-core P4 can use non-registed, unbuffered memory unlike the Xeon, which makes it even cheaper of an option.
Both share the same basic FSB and core architecture though. The performance on a desktop PC for desktop apps should be pretty similar between the two at the same clock frequency.
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
Both share the same basic FSB and core architecture though. The performance on a desktop PC for desktop apps should be pretty similar between the two at the same clock frequency.
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
I'm unclear on what you mean by "server thread operations".
Generally, Intel has increased the size of the L2 and L3 caches on their CPUs as a way of increasing performance in situations where they are memory bandwidth limited. Those situations typically occur when using CPUs with lower front-side bus speeds, or in cases when using multiple CPUs (because they share the same memory bus). The larger caches are intended to help keep data flowing when memory access is slowed. It generally has nothing to do with process threads.
If I recall correctly, both the Xeon and dual core CPUs support SMT (aka, hyperthreading) which is designed to allow execution of certain non-dependent threads to occur in parallel. This can speed up processing of multithreaded applications. The dual core CPUs basically are two CPU cores attached together, sharng the same FSB (which again leads to memory access issues), but each CPU core is also capable of executing threads in parallel, which speeds up multithreaded applications even more.
So in general when choosing between two Pentium 4-based CPUs clock speed is king. The only exceptions to that would be if you are executing multiple threads simultaneously on a regular basis (heavy multitasking, some image-editing applications, or multipurpose server applications).
Generally, Intel has increased the size of the L2 and L3 caches on their CPUs as a way of increasing performance in situations where they are memory bandwidth limited. Those situations typically occur when using CPUs with lower front-side bus speeds, or in cases when using multiple CPUs (because they share the same memory bus). The larger caches are intended to help keep data flowing when memory access is slowed. It generally has nothing to do with process threads.
If I recall correctly, both the Xeon and dual core CPUs support SMT (aka, hyperthreading) which is designed to allow execution of certain non-dependent threads to occur in parallel. This can speed up processing of multithreaded applications. The dual core CPUs basically are two CPU cores attached together, sharng the same FSB (which again leads to memory access issues), but each CPU core is also capable of executing threads in parallel, which speeds up multithreaded applications even more.
So in general when choosing between two Pentium 4-based CPUs clock speed is king. The only exceptions to that would be if you are executing multiple threads simultaneously on a regular basis (heavy multitasking, some image-editing applications, or multipurpose server applications).
- Thread starter
- #4
What sort of bad experience? I've been using AMD CPUs exclusively for the past 10 years or so and haven't had any problems. I've heard of people having problems with certain low-end mainboard chipsets that were designed for AMD CPUs, but never any problems with the CPUs themselves (at least not any that couldn't be attributed to misuse, improper config, etc).
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