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    how important is L2 cache

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by cosmic ac, Nov 27, 2006.

  1. cosmic ac

    cosmic ac Notebook Consultant

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    The AMD TL 50 has 256mb X 256mb L2 cache and the AMD TL 52 has 512mb X 512mb L2 cache is it worth the extra $24?
     
    cosmic ac, Nov 27, 2006
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  2. Jalf

    Jalf Comrade Santa

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    I expect you mean kb L2 cache. :)

    How important is it? How important is clock speed? It depends on how much L2 cache we're talking about (going from 256K to 512K is likely to have a bigger effect than going from 2MB to 8MB), and it depends on what code the CPU is executing.

    You might want to check this thread. Other than that, the best answer I can give is that "more cache gives you better performance, everything else being equal".

    It might be best to just follow AMD's model numbering scheme. A TL-52 is one notch faster than a TL-50. Whether it achieves that extra speed through bigger cache or more clock speed doesn't really matter. Overall, and on average, it more or less evens out.

    Otherwise, you could search on google for reviews or benchmarks of the CPU to give you an idea. But I wouldn't expect to see any major difference. I'd estimate 5, maybe 10% extra performance.
     
    Jalf, Nov 27, 2006
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  3. Angelic

    Angelic Kickin' back :3

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    Ill answer your question. It will give a modest gain of around 2-3% at most, but since its a cheap upgrade of only 24 dollars, then yes go for it.
     
    Angelic, Nov 27, 2006
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  4. Notebook Solutions

    Notebook Solutions Company Representative NBR Reviewer

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    Let's explain first what L2-cache is. L2-cache is a medium between your RAM (memory) and CPU (processor). If you have 2 GB of RAM in your notebook that only has 256 kb L2-cache it will surely form a bottleneck.

    So if you are configuring the notebook with 512 MB of RAM and if you are not planning to upgrade then the 256 kb L2-cache is fine. But I recommend you to get the 512 kb L2-cache version. Especially if the notebook is configured with 1 GB or more.

    Charlie :)
     
    Notebook Solutions, Nov 27, 2006
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  5. cosmic ac

    cosmic ac Notebook Consultant

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    OK it looks like a 1 to 10 percent increase in speed that is a good value for $24
     
    cosmic ac, Nov 27, 2006
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  6. Jalf

    Jalf Comrade Santa

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    How so? The cache doesn't limit how much data can be transferred from RAM (and anyway, the amount of traffic doesn't depend on how much RAM you have)

    So RAM bandwidth usage has nothing to do with amount of RAM which has nothing to do with amount of cache.

    But yeah, for $24, there's not much reason not to upgrade :)
     
    Jalf, Nov 27, 2006
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