Apparently this ARM processor is slightly better than Intel's Atom N270, which makes it a netbook contender.
Given that this is a developing/debugging station, I'd stay with x86 for the sake of compatibility, and if you are looking into any sort of bang for the buck, the C2D will most likely beat it. With an E8400 (3GHz dual core) at my office, the idle power usage stays around 65W. Of course the Cortex will have a much lower power usage, but with the C2D if you need that extra performance, it'll be there. What could make a difference is the number of cores, in a multithreaded compiling scenario, if comparing 4 cores against 2 cores. What's the expected cost for a station with a quad core ARM setup? -- Dante On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 10:43 AM, Randall Whitman <909li...@whizman.com> wrote: > > How would *4* ARM cores compare with *2* Intel/AMD cores? > (quad-core ARM Cortex A9 cf Intel Core2 Duo) > > A. Background > 1. Current workstation is adequate 99% of the time but creaks when > Firebug & Dragonfly chew up CPU - current hardware is: > 1x AMD-Athlon-XP3000+ (2166Mhz, 128k L1, 512k L2) w/ 166Mhz bus, 2G RAM; > current RAM usage runs 3G including cache&buffers, 2G without. > 2. I have read that the biggest TCO of a computer is often the > electrical power consumption. > > B. Objectives of new workstation (for which i am starting to plan/spec-out) > 1. Run Firebug/Firefox & Dragonfly/Opera simultaneously, > with OpenOffice responsive meanwhile. > 2. Potentially run OpenOffice (or Firefox, etc) under debuggers > (gdb, valgrind; not at the same time as B1). > 3. Limit electrical power usage - rationale is both TCO & environment/green. > 4. Limit noise - silent/fanless ideal. > 5. Usable for at least 5 years before replacement, > no hardware-induced downtime. > 6. Run my choice of GNU/Linux distribution (currently Ubuntu, > subject to change), with full hardware support. > 7. Balance all of the above objectives with budget/initial-cost/price. > > C. Draft specs > CPU: ARM Cortex A9 (2x 2-core 2-scaler 2Ghz @ 2W) (or 1x 4-core) > RAM: 3-4G > video: ~2000x1600 capable, specs avail for FOSS X-driver (monitor separate) > I/O: HD >= ~200G, DVD, USB, Eth > OS: Ubuntu-LTS > other: low electric power use, low noise > > I think roughly i'm trying to maximize mips-per-watt, price/performance, > and/or mips/watt/price - given the minimum capabilities/performance listed > in B1-2 above. > > T.I.A. for additional insights. > > /Randall > _______________________________________________ > LinuxUsers mailing list > LinuxUsers@socallinux.org > http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers > _______________________________________________ LinuxUsers mailing list LinuxUsers@socallinux.org http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers
