When we talk about celeron

[Bereta_Eder]

if there is a speed, let's say 1,5 Ghz, that's the speed right?
it doesn't matter if it's a celeron? or is there a 1,5Ghz pentium which is not a celeron but it's faster?

isnt the speed the real speed?


can i have stated the question more badly?

[Pekka]

No, that's the clockrate.

[lightblue]

The Celeron laptops confuse me a bit, 1.5GhZ laptop same price as a P4 3.2GhZ. I guess it;s just power use but I found it odd.

[Nostromo]

CPU speed is not a reliable indicator of CPU performance.

Many factors inside and outside of the CPU exert a significant impact on CPU performance, and on overall system performance.

The CPU

CPU speed is measure in megahertz. A 1Mhz CPU can accomplish one million CPU cycles in one second.

Does this mean that a 2Mhz CPU is twice as fast as a 1Mhz CPU?

Not necessarily. This depends on how much work each CPU accomplishes in each clock cycle.

The 1Mhz CPU might very well be faster, in practice, than the 2Mhz CPU - if it is more efficient or can process more tasks in each CPU cycle.

The Cache

The purpose of a cache is to enable the CPU to access recently used information very quickly.

A cache will significantly affect CPU performance.

However, caches also are represent some difficulties in simple comparison.

Some caches are bigger than others. A typical L1 cache is 256Kb and a typical L2 cache is 1MB.

Generally speaking, the larger the cache, the better the system performance boost. However, this is not always the case.

A cache operates at a certain speed, just like the core of the CPU. Some caches operate at the full speed of the CPU, while others operate at half that speed or less.

A small cache which operates at full speed may be much more useful than a cache which is twice as large but operates at only half the speed of the CPU.

Even comparing cache sizes can be difficult. Some CPU's utilize inclusive caches. In a CPU with an exclusive cache, the data stored in the L1 cache is often duplicated in the L2 cache. Only CPUs which employ exclusive caches will have the full capacity of their L2 caches available.

The Front Side Bus

The Front Side Bus (FSB) is the connection between the CPU and system memory.

The Front Side Bus operates at a speed which is a percentage of the CPU clock speed.

The faster the speed at which the Front Side Bus allows data transfer, the better the performance of the CPU.
System Memory

RAM has an access speed. Faster RAM will mean the CPU has to wait less often for data. This will, effectively, make the CPU faster.

The Rest of the System

Everything in the system affects total system performance, from the rotational speed and access time of the hard disk drive to the speed of video RAM.
Benchmarking

The next possible answer for measuring CPU speed and overall system performance is benchmarking.

Unfortunately, benchmarks are necessarily flawed. A benchmark can only prove how quickly a system runs the benchmark. A benchmark cannot show how quickly a system will run your mix of applications in the real world.

The Good News

The good news is that almost any new PC that you can buy today will be fast enough to run most applications reasonably well.

If you believe that your application has special requirements, read your application documentation or contact your application vendor.

[Bereta_Eder]

you mean a desktop P4 3,2?

[Bereta_Eder]

thanks nostromo

[lightblue]

No a laptop with a P4 chip.

[Bereta_Eder]

Originally posted by lightblue
No a laptop with a P4 chip.

i found those to be more expensive than the laptops with the celeron. maybe you mean a mobile technology celeron against a "typical" P4?

[lightblue]

Is that what the M is for? Means it's lower power use right?

[Q Classic]

The difference between Celerons and Pentiums lies largely in the cache size; in actuality, the processing parts of the cores are largely the same.

These days, desktop Celerons are based off of the P4 architecture, while the laptop ones are based off of the Pentium M core.

Pentium Ms are derived from Pentium IIIs, as an evolution, whereas Pentium 4s use an entirely new architecture (NetBurst).

What this means is that you oughtn't compare laptop and desktop chips directly, as performance wise, the laptop chips do, more or less, match up with the desktop ones without going to the high clock rates.

[Q Classic]

M chips do use less power, but M probably derived from the fact that it was meant as a Mobile chip.

[lord of the mark]

how i explained it to QOTM when we bought our first PC.

ok, the chip is like a little man working at a desk. The generation of chip, P3, P4, etc shows you how smart the little man is, while the speed shows you how fast he moves. You want a worker who is smart AND fast. The RAM shows hows much room he has on his desk to work. If he doesnt have enough room, there are things he cant do. The HD is the drawers where he keeps things hes not currently working on. If he doesnt have enough room on his desk, he will have to go more to the file drawers, and that will slow him down. Storing something on a floppy, CD, etc is like putting something in the archives offsite - lots of space, but harder to retrieve.

[Bereta_Eder]

Originally posted by lightblue
Is that what the M is for? Means it's lower power use right?

i think so

qcube thanks too and lotm

[Q Classic]

Personally, I suggest looking for ones labelled as Pentium M, not Pentium 4 or Celeron; however, Celeron/Celeron Ms are all right, if you're on a budget.

Avoid Pentium 4s.

[Ninot]

Maybe im confused (i hope im not, i studied this kinda thing for years) but I think many of you are using the word "Celeron" in the place of "Centrino"

Centrino

Celeron

I have owned a couple of Celerons in my time, and they made me want to murder something. I always advise against them.

Centrinos are awesome tho.