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hierarchy of processors

post #1 of 17
7/20/05 at 10:33am
Thread Starter 
a salesman yesterday told me that a Centrino processor is faster/better than pentium....I was wondering if there is a strict order of better --> worse processors, that I could keep in mind when shopping for my new notebook? or are there other mitigating factors that determine the speed/quality of a processor?
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post #2 of 17
7/20/05 at 10:42am
There are so many features of CPUs that you can't label one better than the other and have everyone happy with it.
But here's a basic rundown:
Celeron - designed to be a basic budget CPU; not for speed/gaming demons but good for basic word processing, DVD watching, internet browsing
Pentium 4 (mobile/desktop) - designed for pure horsepower; good for gaming and multitasking (with HyperThreading)
Pentium M (part of the Centrino name) - designed for mobility; in higher speeds, it competes with the Pentium4 for speed; great for travel

AMD makes similar products, most with 64-bit support

Also, Centrino is part of Intel's Pentium line; a "Centrino Technology" laptop is made of a Pentium M CPU, Intel Chipset, and Wireless capabilities
If a laptop is made without an Intel Chipset or wireless, it is not branded Centrino but rather as a Pentium M
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post #3 of 17
7/20/05 at 10:47am
Ah, the masses are so uninformed...

For any laptop, I recommend the Pentium-M, but the Turion has shown performance gains in workstation use.
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post #4 of 17
7/20/05 at 11:16am
Thread Starter 
thanks for "informing" me, red. and have fun at the comic book store today
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post #5 of 17
7/20/05 at 12:15pm
Also, the Pentium M runs much cooler and allows for MUCH better battery life than a P4, celeron or Athlon64.

The P-M runs at lower clock speeds than the P4, so a good rule of thumb is to multiply the clock speed of the P-M by 1.7 in order to get the equivalent P4 speed. So, for example, a 1.73ghz P-M has performance about the same as a 3ghz P4.

The present price-performance sweet spot is currently the P-M 750, which runs at 1.86ghz. A price drop is due soon (the 24th of this month), so if you can wait a week, you might be able to save some money on the price drop, or get more performance, as the new sweet spot should move up to the 2.0ghz P-M 760.

This is a quick breakdown of the P-M numbering scheme:
770- 2.13ghz
760- 2.0ghz
750- 1.86ghz
740- 1.73ghz
730- 1.6ghz

There is also a series of P-M ending in 5 (725, 735, etc). These are not newer models, these are the older models. The 725 runs at 1.6, the 735 at 1.7, the 745 at 1.8, 755 at 2.0, 765 at 2.1. The difference between the 7x5 and their similarly-clocked 7x0 counterparts is that the 7x5 ones have a 400mhz front side bus, and the7x0 has a 533 mhz FSB. Don't be concerned about it, as the difference in real-life performance is negligible.
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post #6 of 17
7/20/05 at 1:13pm
There is no strict hierarchy.

A Pentium M is superior in notebooks because of its power saving features. It is also competitive with Pentium 4s in gaming/3d rendering because of its strong floating point processing power.

However, a Pentium 4 (Xeon specifically) will absolutely trounce a Pentium M in database management and similar server applications because of its superior arithmetic processing power.

Athlon64/Turion64 processors from AMD are powerful and well balanced, but those available in the market at the moment still can not catch up to the Pentium M in terms of mobility.

So to summarize, there are always niches to be filled in every market, so manufacturers must specialize their product line in order to be price competitive.

There will never be one product that's categorically superior over others in every fashion.
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post #7 of 17
7/20/05 at 1:18pm
It all depends on what you want.
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post #8 of 17
7/20/05 at 2:01pm
This is my brief rundown:

P4 - outdated, very hot, but lots of power in 32 bit world
Athlon XP - good general use CPU for Desktops, makes good overclockers and gaming
Athlon 64 - good 64 bit cpu that delivers tons of raw power, overclocking ability, and makes less heat than P4
Turion - good mobile CPU in 2 flavors, 25w and 35w (?), the 35w series is high performance mobility, the 25w is a direct competitor to PM
P-M - really good mobile cpu most useful in laptop use
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post #9 of 17
7/20/05 at 5:11pm
Most powerful chips out there:
AthlonX2
AthlonFX

Best chip for mobility:
Pentium-M
Followed by:
Turion 25w

Chip that no one should buy for any reason:
Pentium4/Pentium-D
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post #10 of 17
7/20/05 at 5:41pm
to add to kalessian:

if you are on the budget, best chip:
Semptron

If you are retarded or need EXTREME mobility:
Transmeta Crusoe
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post #11 of 17
7/20/05 at 7:00pm
the p4 is a great desktop processor but not as good in the mobile area, that is the reason the P-m was ever made.
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post #12 of 17
7/20/05 at 7:14pm
One thing to note, the Turion MT uses 2Ws less power than the Pentium-M.

And before you get all defensive, I was referring to the salesman--not you.
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post #13 of 17
7/20/05 at 9:23pm
Quote:
Chip that no one should buy for any reason:
Pentium4/Pentium-D
Now what exactly is your resoning behind this? there great desktop cpu's, and i will be buying a pentium d for the next computer i build....
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post #14 of 17
7/20/05 at 11:24pm
I have read a lot of reviews on the Turions lately, and I can say its almost the same crap as the centrino,but if you can't get at least 13000 MIPS out of it is not worth it, j/k.

Since the reviews seem to show the same performance for both centrino and turion i'll go with the turion, because I can take advantage of the gaming power.
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post #15 of 17
7/21/05 at 11:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. roboto
Now what exactly is your resoning behind this? there great desktop cpu's, and i will be buying a pentium d for the next computer i build....
My guess is that he's referring to the fact that they're generally slower than similarly priced Athlon 64s and their power consumption and heat dispersion characteristics make them hard on your power bill, hard on your power line, hard on fans, etc.
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post #16 of 17
7/21/05 at 4:27pm
Actually, benchmarks show that pentium ms are are better for gaming than turion cpus.
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post #17 of 17
7/21/05 at 4:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tetrismaster
Actually, benchmarks show that pentium ms are are better for gaming than turion cpus.
Yes, yes, but we won't get into that discussion again.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Redmumba
One thing to note, the Turion MT uses 2Ws less power than the Pentium-M.
Which doesn't seem to be measured on the same scale as the P-M is. It still seems to produce worse battery life results.
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