T7250 and T7300 differences

I know the obvious difference is the 2MB less of L2 cache, but I was wondering if there are any noticeable differences between the two?

 

No, thats the only difference I believe. It doesn't really affect performance a great deal, as only processor heavy applications will gain from more cache. Not even all processor heavy applications either, but just those that use the cache alot and are involved in alot of data processing.

 

The extra cache might increase performance by a tad on the T7300 but not for everyday use like previous post.

Also, I have also heard (though unsure if true) is that the T7300 breaks down easier and is harder to fix. I am not sure for what reason this might be though.

Best of luck. Just to ease your mind, my new SZ6 has the T7300.

 

You don't fix processors, you just replace them. Once a processor 'breaks' then it is dead. But aside from that, All Intel processors go through the same manufacturing process, so they would all be susceptible to whatever rumors you may have heard.

 

But to really get to the heart of the question, you will probably not notice the difference unless you throw 2 machines side by side and start heavy benchmarking or you are using some very math heavy programs.

Intel calculations

Definition of CTP

The low down on the T7300. It appears the T7250 does not have this product page setup yet, but I would guess the specs are the same minus the cache.

Intel Chart of Processor Numbers

And to really put you to sleep at night Intel Whitepaper on Cache

And last but not least, real life testing of L2 cache difference on Core 2 Duo processors
Legion Hardware Test

So the question comes into play, how much is that few percentage points in performance increase worth? If you disable a few unneeded services in Windows, delete unused programs, defrag the hard drive, run with some more ram, you will get more than the L2 cache increase would give you.

Hope this helps both you and everyone else that is struggling over this question.

Just to give my personal take on it, I run virtual machines and several of the "high-needs' programs like Photoshop, ACID, Chief Architect, AutoCAD, etc so I will definitely see an increase when running some of the long processes like rendering; but very few people out there are doing long intensive operations like that which is where the cache really helps. If you are just gaming, you are not giving the processor enough information in the stream to benefit because you are not flooding it.

Think of it like shoveling dirt into a hole and using a dump truck. The size of the hole doesn't matter when you are shoveling because you can only put so much in. But with the dump truck, a bigger hole means you can pour faster to unload what is in the truck, a smaller hole means you need to pour slower.

 

Maven,
Thank you for the informative reply and the links there in. Very helpful.

 

so far there is no other apparent differences besides the 2mb cache

 

Its just the cache, processor will replace the t7100. Intel are dropping the price of the T7500 I believe which will replace the t7300.