Jump from 1.66 to 2 GHz really worth it?

Happy lazy Monday afternoon all,

Trying to spec out a new I6400/I9400, I've noticed that the price jump on Core Duo CPUs from T2300 to T2500 (only 2 configs offered on Dell Japan) is insane.

Is the extra .34 GHz really worth the $300 some odd price increase? For that matter, will I notice any significant difference from my current 2 gig P4?

Thanks in advance,



HH

 

Get the faster hard drive and more memory first. You'll only notice a difference if you are really pushing it.

 

Probably not worth it for that type of jump. I went from 1.6 to 2 ghz for $180. From 2 Ghz to 2.13 was another $280.

 

wow thats weird im writing this and it is 9:41 sunday night. but i agree with them

 

For $300 your better off just upgrading to more RAM or faster RAM 533 vs 667mhz. Then getting a 7200RPM HD. If the upgrade was like $100 it would be worth it. But $300 is pushing it.

 

That's another goofy thing about Dell Japan (besides the fact that you can only get to the order screen by using IE or an IE tab in Firefox)...if you go for the 7200rpm drive, they won't allow you to add an X1400 for some reason. Is it the same way w/ the US site?

HH

 

Nope, it's not.

 

Don't forget your talking a .34 difference in GHz not MHz here. .34Gig is a pretty big number if you write it out and relook at it. That difference itself is almost larger than total processor speed we were all just using as little as 6 years ago.

You'll never have too much processing power, but you can easily leave yourself short, think about the future unless you plan to just buy a new laptop every year. That $300 upgrade could easily mean 2 more years of usefulness out of this system your buying today the way the software developers keep developing new apps that require more and more system resources thus raising the minimum processor speed required to run them each time.

Many reports out there claim the new 1.66 DUO processor handles like the non DUO 3.0 GHz processor would, and the 2.0 GHz is claimed to handle comparative to a non DUO 4.0GH.z processor. If these claims are even remotely accurate then the .34 GHz difference is closer to being equal to a full Pentium M 1GHz "feels like" difference.

I'd make that upgrade if I could afford it and if I couldn't afford it I'd look back at other options I could cut the difference on so I could.

 

I agree 100% go for the hard drive and memory

 

The processor speed really isnt that important. Once you get to certain point you dont really need a better one. The RAM is more important... which is good because RAM is a lot cheaper.

Video games are really the only time you need that extra processor power... and if you are a gamer, you are probably just going to upgrade the processor later anyways.

 

As said before, get the drive and RAM instead. I use my laptop for gaming often besides work and it's rare that the CPU will be pushed to that level. Your gfoing to need the RAM and HD speed a lot more in those situations anyway.

For example, upgrading to 1GB from 512MB sounds small, but will improve system performance a LOT. WAY more than the CPU upgrade would.

 

you will definatly see the difference more with ram. Although if you are multi tasking alot it the jump could make a considerable difference.

 

This is how I justified the worth of getting the 2G processor vs HD or RAM:

I needed to jack up the unit price beyond $2000 to take advantage of the coupon, but I didn't choose more RAM or a faster HD because either carried a significant price mark-up if I purchase them from Dell than if I were to purchase from a 3rd party vendor and upgrade them myself. I'm sure there was the same mark-up applied to the processor but because processor is not something really upgradable in a laptop I won't be messing with it, therefore since it was a permanent upgrade, it was worth it to choose that over HD or RAM.

 

Yeah, I've pretty much decided that when I do take the plunge, I'll go w/ the better CPU due to the non-upgradability factor.

I remember back in the day when I bought my first desktop for college, a 486 33MHz beast of a system (both size & price wise), w/ *gasp* 8 whole megs of RAM *grin* and the sales guy just looking at me and saying, "You're never gonna need that much power for years...you really sure you wanna go with this system?"

Now if I could only find someplace over here in happy land that doesn't jack up the price of RAM as much as Dell. May have to order internationally from Crucial or New Egg, but at least it'll be cheaper than what I can get locally.

 

your computer will be obsolete before you see any return on the money you spent for the cpu upgrade.

 

Uhh... CPUs are upgradeable... I just did a E1705 from 1.6 to 2.1 for a client of mine ( dont ask me why he did it). Gave him a few extra fps in games but no real difference in overall performance.

Also, Merom is supported natively on E1705 and E1505. I would suggest waiting as they will provide the best price / performance upgrade, from what I hear.

 

Thanks for all the advice, guys.

What kind of time frame are we looking at for the Merom release? I've hear Q4 2006, so what...September, October?

Also, I've read here and there that Intel'll be dropping prices on Core Duos soon...but about how soon? Any ideas?

Thanks!



HH

 

Merom: from August.

 

I heard Intel will drop the price of Core Duo at the end of May.
And btw, does Newegg ship stuff to Canada?