Difference between Processors

Ok, so me and my dad have been debating which processor to get me for college. Its between the Intel Dual Core 2 T7100 1.83 gHz or the Intel Dual Core 2 T7300 2.00gHz. Im going to be using the computer for mostly school work which will include Chemistry Programs, Physics Programs, maybe math, and most likely Medical stuff, but Ill also be playing Halo 2, Battlefields, WoW, and maybe some other new game that comes out and looks cool. Which should I get, whats the difference between the 2 and would i notice a difference between the 2 of them

 

Besides the additional MHz, the T7300 also has double the cache...which will lead to slightly higher performance. I'm fairly certain the T7300 will provide the best performance for money spent.

 

The T7100 would be fine for your use. It's fine for most non-technical users. Put the money into a heavy graphics card (8600GT or better) and 2GB of RAM instead. The games you mentioned (and most games) don't really utilize multiple CPU's very heavily, or even a single CPU. Most things are GPU limited lately.

 

Either processor will do fine. If your gaming, then gaming performance is very dependant on the graphics card. Make sure you get an adequate graphics card to play the games. Out of the processor, I would advise to with the T7100, unless the T7300 isn't a massive amount more money.

 

the difference is $75. and the graphics card is a Geforce 8400M GS with 128 dedicated and 383 total

 

The T7300 has a higher clock frequency, which means more data can be processed in a given amount of time, making the CPU on the whole, faster.

Meaning more data can be stored in "Temporary memory" in the CPU, so less time is spent fetching data from the Main System RAM, and this leads to higher performance as Night said.

I would just go for the cheaper option. You really won't be able to tell the difference between the two.