2.17G Core Duo vs 2G Core 2 Duo

Is there a big difference between both?

2.16Ghz T2600 Core Duo 2MB Cache
vs
2.0Ghz T7200 Core 2 Duo 4MB Cache

just compare between the 2 processors, as if all other components like the ram and vga are the same in the 2 machines.

the user will use only photoshop, dreamweaver, office,day to day computing plus gaming.

 

a little but not noticeable...

 

the T7200 will run a bit faster.

 

You can compare both these CPUs at Tom's Hardware mobile CPU charts. In the real world applications the T7200 seems to be fractionally ahead.

John

 

yup in the end u probably wont notice a difference in real life and if u do itll be so minute it wont matter

 

what if the T7200 is using an x1400 256 hypermemory ati plus IDE hard drive 5400
while the T2600 is using an x1600 256 ati plus SATA hard drive 5400?

what will you choose then?

 

In that case i'd take the T2600 for the better gpu.

 

I agree. The X1600 is the better GPU, and the SATA HD will be slightly faster, resulting in an overall performance increase.

 

I wouldn't automatically go for the more powerful GPU unless you need the extra 3D power. The X1400 + T7200 will give you more battery life compared to the other combination. And if you compare the power consumption of 2.5" IDE drives and SATA drives at Tom's Hardware you will see former tend to draw less power when idle while the other performance statistics don't come out strongly in favour of SATA. So personally, having now got a notebook with a potent GPU which sucks battery life, I would go for the combination with the X1400.

John

 

Good point, John. If you're not intending to game a lot or just play some older or undemanding games the T7200 setup might well make more sense, especially if the laptop will be mobile a lot.

If you do want to play recent games the X1600 is a step up from the X1400 and the cpu will make little difference.

 

I read that the C2D's are about 10% faster than an equivalently clocked Core Duo. So looking at the speeds you are comparing here, you probably will not see much of a difference for every day type applications. For graphics crunching, the C2D will probably excel however due to its larger cache.

 

You cant put a clear percentage as the difference depends on the application used. For apps that use its larger cache then definitely it will excel and perhaps by more than 10%. so in the end it all depends on what u use it for.

 

if you need better battery life pick up the T7200

 

That's what "about" means. There are also a number of architectural differences, such as more decoders and floating point units in the Core 2 Duo chips, so that also contributes to the speed differences, sometimes more than just the expanded cache size, so it's not quite accurate to just say "only on applications that use more cache"