Some basic CPU/Voltage questions

So I've been wondering what are the differences on both laptop and desktop.

Situation 1:
a) Single core, 2.6 Ghz, Bus speed 800 and 1MB L2 Cache
b) Dual core, 2.4 Ghz, Bus speed 800 and 2MB L2 Cache
c) Quad core, 2 Ghz, Bus speed 800 and 4MB L2 Cache

In this situation, which one is better? Detailed please what is better on a, b and c and their difference with each other. I simply don't understand how these single/dual/quad core works. Quad = 4 of those 2 Ghz cores inside making it total of 8 Ghz?


Situation 2:
a) 4 cell battery, cpu drains voltage of 15w
b) 4 cell battery, cpu drains voltage of 10w
c) 6 cell battery, cpu drains voltage of 35w
d) 8 cell battery. cpu drains voltage of 35w

Couldn't find these answer on the forums so was wondering which one will last longer? Of course the 35w cores are stronger, hence I'm wondering also the time differene between them.

 

sit 1. Depends on what you're doing....I think dual core is the best choose now (price/performance)
Sit 2. b? But give the drain of whole notebook (My take 20 W in idle with wifi on)

 

Price/performance doesn't matter to me, I just want to know detailed about their differences. For example whats the meaning that a Single Core has 2.6 Ghz and dual/quad not?

 

It means that it have 1 core that working at 2,6.When it says dual it means that CPU can do two (2) threads at one time. And when it says quad it can do up to 4 threads at one time. Do not think that quad 2 ghz have 8ghz. It have 4 cores with 2 ghz each.
It is like cars. 4 cars cant go faster than one but can take more peoples at the same time.

Sorry for my english

 

I see. How about the battery? Cell/voltage ratio? How long will a, b, c and d last?

 

It depends. Depends on what does the notebook have inside...

 

1. Depends on the application, for example if an application only allows 1 thread (core) then a will be best. If an application allows only 2 threads (cores) then b will be best and finally if an application allows 4+ threads (cores) then c will be best. This comparison is only valid if comparing the same type of CPU architecture.

2. TDP doesn't equal power consumption, so these figures are useless, hence you can't use TDP to measure battery life. In general for the same type of CPU architecture, more cores/voltage/cache and faster speed/FSB mean more power consumption. How much exactly varies, but a 2.0GHz single core 2MB cache 800MHz FSB will always consume less power than a 2.0GHz quad core 2MB cache 800MHz FSB (for example, these CPUs might or might not actually exist). It gets more complicated when you have faster single core vs. slower dual core (or quad core).

 

Dual/Quad Core are not threads, they are Cores on the same Die.

Threads have another meaning.

Also, Clock Speed is misleading, an old P4 3.6GHz is going to get smoked at anything vs Core Solo 2GHz.

These days it's really a matter of, What Software are you going to run(OS + Apps).

It's just not simple, everyone has differing needs, Core2 and Core i7 offer the best "Bang for the Buck", but, Speed Costs Money, How fast do you want to go?