Which CPU is better? (cost v performance)

Hello all,

Quick question: I'm upgrading an older laptop and I can't decide between buying a C2D t5800 and a t5850. The specs are almost the same, with the 5800 pushing 2 ghz with an 800 FSB and the 5850 doing 2.16 ghz on a 667 FSB. The T5800, however, is almost half the price of the 5850.

Is the higher clock speed but lower FSB worth the higher price? Will the performance difference even be significant enough to justify the higher price?

Thank you for any light you can shed on the issue.

 

the T5850 is around 5% faster than the T5800 but nearly twice the price
so is it worth it to go for the T5850? It doesn't seems like it is.

another thing is that those cpu are quite weak so buying a laptop rather than one of those cpu could be a possibility as well
you should check what you intend to do with your laptop

for basic needs like internet, office, music or anything like this you should be ok. It is less obvious for multimedia, games and other demanding applications and it depends also on the laptop that you have

 

It's not going to be used for too many demanding apps, I just want a bit more power than it has already. Thanks so much for the info!

 

Are these bare CPUs? In that case, you might want to check the chipset of the notebook you're going to install them into. Not all chipsets support an 800 MHz FSB, and for those chipsets, the T5800 simply won't work.

 

First determine your need, then decide on the CPU that best fulfills that purpose. With exception, clock speed is no longer a significant factor in choosing a CPU.

 

Use! Think about the CPU if you have a specialized use for it. In most cases CPU is no longer of much concern since even the most modest ones carry more than enough processing power for most uses.

 

I'd add: balance. You can have a 980X but it'll "feel" barely faster than a netbook if it's paired with integrated gfx, 1Gb RAM and a 5400rpm HDD.

I have a 720qm in this lappy and it's really snappy, but without a boot SSD drive I'd probably have a different perception.

OP:
As said, check the 800FSB CPU will work. If you google and find anybody with your model with any 800FSB CPU in it working, . You may need a BIOS update to support it though - perhaps do this *before* you swap the CPUs...

Just don't get the more expensive one unless the other won't work. Unless you care about benchmark numbers you simply will not ever notice the difference of clockspeed or bus between the two.

 

According to Intel's processor finder, the T5850 is not a processor. Am I missing something here?

Intel® Core?2 Duo Mobile Processor Family

 

I'm not sure. It's not listed there, true, but it is listed on both Wikipedia ( List of Intel Core 2 microprocessors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and as being in several different notebooks on Google. I suspect it might be a chip that was only released to OEMs and never intended for retail sale, but that still doesn't quite explain why it wouldn't be on Intel's website.