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8600 vs 9100

post #1 of 8
1/13/05 at 6:26pm
Thread Starter 
yo all,

firstly i have to say great forum. I've learnt a fair bit. I've decided i now wanna go for a i8600 or a i9100. I know that the PCIe cards are coming out in a week but i don't care! I want a machine under £1000 and I'm fine with running a machine thats decent spec. I'm gonna b using for games, work, dvds, music the lot. It'll replace my desktop. I've got a few questions about them that i'm hoping some1 could answer

1. What is better? a Intel® Pentium® M 725 (1.6 GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 400 MHz FSB) 15.4" WXGA LCD Screen with a i8600 or a Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology (3.00 GHz) + 15.4" UltraSharp™ WXGA with the i9100?

2. How far behind is the Radeon 9600 from the 9700?

3. Can some1 with a 8600 or a 9100 please please please download this FFXI benchmark and tell me what they got!

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/mul...ownload/bench/

Thats it for now. If i come up with any more questions i'll let you know
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post #2 of 8
1/13/05 at 6:46pm
1). The 1.6GHz P-M loses a bit of performance to the 3.0GHz P4 (It's about the equivalent of a 2.4-2.6GHz P4). The extra CPU power won't matter all that much for gaming, but if you plan on multitasking, the P4 is the clear winner.

2). Not far at all. The MR9700 is basically an MR9600 with a higher clock speed. And the MR9600 Pro Turbo is already clocked higher than other 9600s. In other words, the 9600 in the i8600 is not very far behind the i9100's MR9700 at all.

3). I'll let someone else do that.
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post #3 of 8
1/13/05 at 11:41pm
Most of the people buys things they don't really need. It doesn't matter if there are 3+ GHz Pentium 4 processors out there; I bet that you are not going to compile linux kernels all the day, perform molecular simulations or turn your laptop into a dedicated web server.

You will probably use it mostly to browse the web, do your work or homework and listen to music and movies. Maybe even playing games.

All of that is well served with a 8600, but also gives you a lighter laptop and much longer battery life (if you don't need to travel why a laptop?), not to mention a cooler system, wich makes the system more stable overall. The processor is not an issue anymore, and you should focus yourself into the screen, memory, the hard drive capacity and the expandability options. The 8600 can be used with a docking station and that way you can get a desktop PCI slot and and and extra media bay, perhaps for a second hard drive. That kind of options are not supported in the I9100.
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post #4 of 8
1/14/05 at 1:11am
I didn't run the benchmark but I had a 1 Gig 1.6Ghz MR9600 I8600 and it ran FFXI fine. It was my work computer from my last job so I don't have it anymore.

Both are going to run the games very similar but you will get better battery life from the 8600. That is the one I would go with.
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post #5 of 8
1/14/05 at 4:45am
I will run the bench in an hour, when I get back from work

Edit: Crashed my system, it did...
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post #6 of 8
1/14/05 at 2:13pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Damaged4Life
I will run the bench in an hour, when I get back from work

Edit: Crashed my system, it did...
Crashed your system? wierd.... Worked on my 1ghz desktop. (you now see why i need a desktop replacer eh? )

I've decided to go with the i8600 for all the above reasons. The 9100 is a very nice lappie but its too much of a beast. I have a mate with a 2.4ghz pentuim and it heats up like crazy. Hopefully this Centrino will be nice and cool I'm gonna order as soon as i've presented it to a few mates

Thanks again.

ps if any1 does get the benchmark running i'd love to know the score they recieved
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post #7 of 8
1/14/05 at 2:46pm
Played FFXI for about a month--no problems (well, the XP grind killed me so I've moved on to WoW). See sig for machine specs.
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post #8 of 8
1/15/05 at 9:30am
Thread Starter 
er...I've changed my mind about getting the 8600 lappie. I called Dell (I'm in the UK) to see if i could get money off by not getting the promo offers. They took 25 quid off (about 40-50 usd?) but it took me about an hour on the phone to try and understand the indian call centre people. I am asian so i'm not trying to diss them but Dell should have more sense than setting up there call centres in India. It puts people off. Its put me off

What happens when i need to send the lappie back if its got dead pixels or if it doesn't turn on? I really don't wanna have to try and explain it to the Indian call centre.

Sides, I've come across the Acer Aspire 2023 with 3 years insurance for about £1100. the stats for the lappie are slightly quicker than the 8600 and hey, it plays FFXI so i'm happy

Thanks for all the responses thou

Libertine
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