Rick Pali <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:I just bought an AMD 3800+ dual core system. This is why I'm suddenly learning about running two copies at the same time.
The AMD was the best buy for the amount I was willing to spend but I've since found another offer that's very similar, except that it's run by an Pentium D 920. I've read the reviews and the non-overclocked performance of the 3800+ and the 920 are within a few percent of identical for most games and software...and the processor with the slight advantage varies by the type of software. But of course the reviews don't talk about Prime95. Despite the near identical performance with general applications, does the superior Pentium tuning of Prime95 also carry over to the Pentium D? If so, how much of an advantage would the 920 have over the 3800+? Also, my understanding is the L2 cache of the 920 is 2MB for each core versus 512K each core of the 3800+. Does this also make a significant difference? Define significant. In my own personal experience between an AMD and a Pentium D, it depends on the task you're doing, on which CPU is going to provide better thru-put. The AMD does trial-factoring faster than the Pentium D, while the Pentium D does LL-testing better than the AMD. I would guess that P-1 and ECM would be faster on the Pentium D too (there are no time tests for these in Prime95 to be sure). My best guess based on my own personal experience, is that using the Pentium D on LL-tests will save less than 1/2 day on a test that takes 30 days, and using a AMD for trial-factoring will save less than than 2 hours on a test that takes 2 days, on CPUs of equivalent performance. Mileage may vary however, and so may other's estimates... _______________________________________________ Prime mailing list [email protected] http://hogranch.com/mailman/listinfo/prime
