Turion X2 vs Core 2 Duo for gaming.

So, the basic question is of course, which one is better?
But really there is more: I don't know what to buy!:

1) Acer, Turion X2 1.6 Ghz (with only 512 kb of cache), but with an Ati x1600.
or
2) Dell, Core 2 duo 2.16 Ghz (4 Mb of cache), with an Ati x1400.

The question is, for gaming, will the Turion (with only 512 of cache) take full advantage of the x1600?
Still, if anybody mind, will the dell be too much better in general performance (general work/study).

Please help, I'd appreciate it a lot.

 

if those are your two options I would not buy the Acer. The dell has better parts in that configuration.

 

The Dell will be quite a bit better for everything but gaming. If gaming is your primary concern then go with a laptop that has the x1600 or Go 7600 in it but you can still game with an x1400 as well.

 

If your concern is gaming, get the X1600 based laptop. The Turion will take advantage of the X1600, you need not fear that.

 

Yeah dont worry get the Acer, the X1600 is much better than the X1400, anyways either CPU will be very fast and you will not notice the difference, they can handle all of todays games easy.

 

I dont know about that, I mean the Core 2 is such a far better processor than the Turon. But if its gaming your worried about then go with the X1600, it will be alot better. But if you will notice a difference in overall speed from a Turon X2 1.6 to a C2D 2.16.

 

The difference isn't THAT big. When you play with the acer laptop you'll get more fps in games than with the dell.

Note: the l2cache of the Amd works more efficient i heard something that an 2MB l2 intel cache is comparable with a 1MB l2 cache of amd.

 

The Core 2 Duo is without a doubt faster than the Turion X2, I won't dispute that. However, and I've said it many times, people vastly overestimate the amount of power they need/can use. There is nothing the Core 2 Duo can do that the Turion can't; both are equally capable of gaming. If you are concerned about gaming performance, the first and foremost priority is the graphics card itself. A high-end Core 2 Duo + X1400 combo is no match for a Turion X2 + X1600 system from a gaming performance standpoint.

Right; AMD processors do not need a large L2 cache because they have an on-die memory controller.

 

Yeah, that was exactly what I was thinking. I mean, I'll use the laptop for two duties far away from each other in terms of performance: first: MSOffice, Movies, and sure, multitasking (may be unzip and burn CDs at once), but nothing crazy, and then second: gaming.

 

Well, I'm an Intel guy, and the Core 2 Duo is far superior to the Turion, but the difference in graphics cards is really gonna be biggest difference between those two machines. If you're gonna be gaming, go for the Acer. Now if you were doing intense Photoshop or massive media encoding/decoding, then the Core 2 Duo would be a better idea. But from strictly a gaming perspective, the Acer will be better.

 

Now, to keep in mind, which other processes could be too much for the Turion and not for the Core 2?

 

Get the Dell! Good news is that you can now get a geforce go 7900 GS which is faster than both those ATIs.

Dont bother getting the Core 2 duo 7400 2.16ghz. Save $140 bucks by getting the 2ghz 7200 and use it to get the geforce 7900 GS instead of the x1400 (extra $160).

I just got an Inspiron 1705 with Core 2 Duo 7200 2ghz), Geforce 7900 GS, 2gb 667mhz ram, wuxga, 3 year waranty and some other stuff for $2,007 w/o tax. I did some serious ass searching for about 2 weeks on this forum and manufacturer websites and came to the conclusion that this system is a steal!

 

did you use the 20% off coupon? your price seems off. also you should buy the smallest amount of ram possible and upgrade it yourself

 

That dell will be a great alternative. dell always have better deal than the other dealers and you get an intel procesor and a much better graphics card, but if you want to stay with your option i'll recomend the x1600 for gaming.