All right, so right now i'm on a Desktop with a Q6600 and i just bought a Asus K55a


Heres my Desktop setup:

Q6600 Core 2 QUAD x 2.4ghz with 8 MB L2 Cache + NO L3 Cache + 2 GB DDR 2


Heres my new Laptop setup :

i7-3630 QM Quad Core x 2.4 ghz with 1MB L2 Cache + 6MB L3 Cache + 6 GB DDR 3




So my question is this :

Wich PC will run better in Full audio session ?

I can already do pretty impressive session with my q6600 but will my i7-3630 qm will do better ?

And if so....why ??

Is it because of the L2 or the L3 ???

Does my DDR3 vs DDR2 will make a significant change ??

 

Depends on your OS and how many processes are running in the background! If you install OSX on your computer, you'll have much better performance. I've tested it.

 

That was a real stupid response, Cashe has nothing to do with the O.S. of a computer

Anyways....

The L2 and L3 cache are for holding data that is to be used by the cpu next. For higher performance you do need higher clock speeds and the more cores the more the cpu can proccess at once and the more programs and tasks the cpu can do at the same time. Higher clock speeds means how fast it can go also.Older boards used to have L1 on chip, and SRAM chips around the CPU socket to serve as L2 cache, then they got moved onto chip, so we had L1 and L2 on the CPU, then they wanted more cache so they put L3 cache on the chip as well, much larger than L1 or L2, and significantly slower than L2 but still a ton faster than going to RAM.

Current processors like the Intel Core i series and the AMD Phenom II and Athlon II chips have the L1, L2, and L3 cache built into the CPU die, L3 tends to be shared among all cores, while L1 and L2 are dedicated to each core. The L2 cache is significantly faster then the L3 cache, and is dedicated per core, where the slower L3 cache is basically a global cache that all cores can access.

rule of thumb is to always go with what ever box has the better CPU and the most RAM, the CASHE does not matter much in the long run

 

I think cache does matter. One of the reasons which separates slower processers from faster processors, even though their clock is similar (cache is expensive, yo).

Also, newer processes should be faster than older processors, even with the same clock speed due to continual architechture improvements (bigger windows for Out of order execution evaluation, etc)

 

Ok. thank you Mykal.

So if i understand properly , the fact that i only have 1 MB of L2 instead of 8 MB of L2 should not make much difference in the number of vsti + vst ill be able to apply on any project.

What will make the more difference is that i have 6 GB of DDR3 and not 2 GB of DDR2 anymore.


Let me know if i'm wrong , but that what i understodd.

Thank you

 

it's basic math , it takes longer to CASHE 8mb vs.1mb. There is no speed difference at all . just a size difference and how the cores handle it

 

I understand that there is no ''speed difference''( clock speed ) .....but is there any VSTI - VST amount capacity difference due to less L2 cache ???

 

Thanks Mykal I was wondering why my Q9650 has only come down by £50 since I bought it 5 years ago.

 

The cache is very important in the performance of a CPU but you don't need to go so deep in order to know which CPU is best.

Just look for a test(s) of both processors and his performance. I don't know which tests are more important for audio/music but the floating point power is surely one of them.

Although the Mobile versions are less powerful than the desktop ones I think that your laptop (i7) easily beats your desktop Q6600. In case you don't know the i7 family is notably faster than a Quad one at the same clock speed /number of cores. The DD3 vs DDR2 also is for sure better but for audio/music soft I think the impact is less than the CPU one. But the memory is very important for all purposes, you need faster memory in order to get the best from a faster processor.

Finally, obviously the more RAM the better, and you have 3 more times in your laptop.

Conclusion, in a few words, I'm pretty sure your laptop will be much better in all aspects than your old desktop.

 

Thank you so much mate !!

That answer was clear and precise !!

Its realy appreciated !!