P4 3.2 GHz compared to C2D E6300

[bucwylde23]

Well my dell system has been having problems and they agreed to exchange my computer for a refurb computer. It turns out they are replacing my 2 year old dimension with an XPS 410 with a C2D E6300 1.86 Ghz processor.

In terms of speed, how does the E6300 compare to my P4 3.2 Ghz? The computer that they are sending me is supposed to be at least equal performance to my current computer and I have no experience with these newest processors. I would imagine the E6300 is much faster.

Can anyone give me an idea of what to expect?

 

[Dman877]

Not only is it faster in single-threaded (read most current) software but it's dual core and has a big advantage in multi-tasking and multi-threaded (read future) software. You got a good deal there.

Edit: Some benchmarks

A P4 3.2 is a single core version of a Pentium D 3.2 ghz. So I guess those benchmarks aren't even that representative.

Oh well. Just know you got lucky .

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: Dman877
Not only is it faster in single-threaded (read most current) software but it's dual core and has a big advantage in multi-tasking and multi-threaded (read future) software. You got a good deal there.

thanks for the info. Yeah, I was surprised that they are sending that system on a system exchange. But I'm not complaining

 

[DaveSimmons]

Each of the 2 cores is as fast as a 3.6 GHz P4 for most tasks, so you can do 2 things at once, and have both run faster than just 1 would run on the 3.2

 

[harobikes333]

You got a sweeeeet deal!!

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Dman877
P4 3.2 is a single core version of a Pentium D 3.2 ghz.

P4 3.2GHz = Prescott (1MB L2, 90nm) & Northwood (512KB L2, 130nm).
Pentium D = Smithfield 840 (2 x 1MB L2, 90nm)... Presler 935 (2 x 2MB L2, 65nm)... Presler 940 (2 x 2MB L2, 65nm)

The 3.2GHz Prescott is about = to 1/2 a Smithfield 840. But that's where the P4's leave off. The 3.2GHz Northwood is 1/2 of no Pentium D.

 

[secretanchitman]

nice deal!

yes, it would beat any p4, dual or single core in probably just about anything.

 

[mithrandir2001]

My previous work PC had a 3.2GHz Northwood and my current home PC is a XPS 410 E6300. Yes, Dell is giving you a very good deal. Not only is the E6300 faster, cooler, more efficient and dual-core, you also get faster system memory.

There are cases where the P4 3.2 will beat the E6300. One case is LAME MP3 encoding. LAME is single-threaded so it only leverages one of the E6300s cores and LAME seems to prefer clock speed over other factors (cache size/speed, memory speed). Remember that the P4 3.2 has a 72% clock speed advantage over the 1.86GHz E6300. LAME, however, is not 72% faster on the P4 because the E6300 has higher IPC than the P4. In the end I find that LAME runs about 5% slower on my E6300 than the P4 3.2. Of course, I could run two LAME processes on my E6300 if I wanted to.

 

[bucwylde23]

Thanks for all of the information guys, you definitely know much more than me about this stuff!

The P4 I have is a 3.2 Prescott. Only problem with the new machine is that I will have to get rid of my 2x512 533mhz ddr2 and get some 667 mhz ddr2 to bump the system memory up to 2 GB. The machine only comes with 1 GB since that is what I originally ordered from them.

But that isn't too big of a deal since they are giving me basically a free upgrade.

Besides normal web surfing and email checking I mainly do photo editing, video editing/conversion and music conversion so it looks like this will help out a lot with those things

Thanks again!

 

[Blain]

You can go with an E4300 or E4400.

 

[bucwylde23]

Well, I got the new system today. Looks pretty good so far.

I still need to get my 2x512 MB DIMMs installed to get a total of 2 GB memory.

A downside to all of this is that my previous PC got a 4.3 (I think) in Vista, and this new PC only gets a 3.2.

I guess the nVidia 7300 LE isn't as good as my former 6800 GT.
I thought they would have at least given me a more powerful video card.

 

[0roo0roo]

dual core experience is much nicer, even on a pentium d. multitasking ftw!
c2d multiprocessing is even faster.

 

[dbdynsty25]

Originally posted by: chrisg22
Well, I got the new system today. Looks pretty good so far.

I still need to get my 2x512 MB DIMMs installed to get a total of 2 GB memory.

A downside to all of this is that my previous PC got a 4.3 (I think) in Vista, and this new PC only gets a 3.2.

I guess the nVidia 7300 LE isn't as good as my former 6800 GT.
I thought they would have at least given me a more powerful video card.

You should actually complain about that. I've heard of guys getting really nice cards after they complain about the performance of replacement computer systems.

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: dbdynsty25

Originally posted by: chrisg22
Well, I got the new system today. Looks pretty good so far.

I still need to get my 2x512 MB DIMMs installed to get a total of 2 GB memory.

A downside to all of this is that my previous PC got a 4.3 (I think) in Vista, and this new PC only gets a 3.2.

I guess the nVidia 7300 LE isn't as good as my former 6800 GT.
I thought they would have at least given me a more powerful video card.

You should actually complain about that. I've heard of guys getting really nice cards after they complain about the performance of replacement computer systems.

Maybe I'll go ahead and give that a try...

 

[imported_flounder]

Originally posted by: chrisg22
Well, I got the new system today. Looks pretty good so far.

I still need to get my 2x512 MB DIMMs installed to get a total of 2 GB memory.

A downside to all of this is that my previous PC got a 4.3 (I think) in Vista, and this new PC only gets a 3.2.

I guess the nVidia 7300 LE isn't as good as my former 6800 GT.
I thought they would have at least given me a more powerful video card.

Was the 6800GT an agp card? If not ask them to send it back as it's much faster than the 7300LE (the extreme budget card of one series vs a high end part from the previous series)

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: flounder

Originally posted by: chrisg22
Well, I got the new system today. Looks pretty good so far.

I still need to get my 2x512 MB DIMMs installed to get a total of 2 GB memory.

A downside to all of this is that my previous PC got a 4.3 (I think) in Vista, and this new PC only gets a 3.2.

I guess the nVidia 7300 LE isn't as good as my former 6800 GT.
I thought they would have at least given me a more powerful video card.

Was the 6800GT an agp card? If not ask them to send it back as it's much faster than the 7300LE (the extreme budget card of one series vs a high end part from the previous series)

the 6800 GT was PCI-E. It was actually one of the components that failed in my previous system. It's sitting here beside me still, and doesn't work..

 

[bucwylde23]

I'm on hold now. the guy on the phone just tried to tell me that since both cards are nVidida and have 256 MB ram they are THE SAME CARD and are identically spec'd.

He ended up asking "so what do you want, sir" and I said I want a new video card.

so I'm waiting to see what happens.

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: chrisg22
the guy on the phone just tried to tell me that since both cards are nVidida and have 256 MB ram they are THE SAME CARD and are identically spec'd.

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: chrisg22
the guy on the phone just tried to tell me that since both cards are nVidida and have 256 MB ram they are THE SAME CARD and are identically spec'd.

How the hell do I explain to this idiot that the 6800 GT is hell of a lot faster than a 7300 LE? All he can grasp is that 7300 is a higher number than 6800, both cards are nvidia, and they both have 256 MB ram.

The 6800 GT was the highest option for video cards when I bought my computer. The 7300 LE is the lowest option.

I have to wait and talk to customer care tomorrow.

My p4 3.2 Ghz, 2 GB ram and 6800 GT got a 4.3 windows experience score. this new 1.86 Ghz e6300, 1 GB (soon to be 2 GB) and a 7300 LE gets a 3.2.

 

[Ruptga]

You could go through the trouble of explaining that it's lowest end of one generation vs highest end of the previous, or you could just skip it and cut right to the Vista score, they shouldn't be too confused with a simple 25% decrease.

If all else fails, ask for someone else, eventually you'll get to someone that knows more about computer hardware than which button turns the thing on (hopefully).

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: chrisg22

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: chrisg22
the guy on the phone just tried to tell me that since both cards are nVidida and have 256 MB ram they are THE SAME CARD and are identically spec'd.

How the hell do I explain to this idiot that the 6800 GT is hell of a lot faster than a 7300 LE? All he can grasp is that 7300 is a higher number than 6800, both cards are nvidia, and they both have 256 MB ram.

The 6800 GT was the highest option for video cards when I bought my computer. The 7300 LE is the lowest option.

I have to wait and talk to customer care tomorrow.

My p4 3.2 Ghz, 2 GB ram and 6800 GT got a 4.3 windows experience score. this new 1.86 Ghz e6300, 1 GB (soon to be 2 GB) and a 7300 LE gets a 3.2.

Tell him you want an equivalent or better card and that you won't settle for the 7300.

 

[magreen]

Originally posted by: chrisg22

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: chrisg22
the guy on the phone just tried to tell me that since both cards are nVidida and have 256 MB ram they are THE SAME CARD and are identically spec'd.

How the hell do I explain to this idiot that the 6800 GT is hell of a lot faster than a 7300 LE? All he can grasp is that 7300 is a higher number than 6800, both cards are nvidia, and they both have 256 MB ram.

The 6800 GT was the highest option for video cards when I bought my computer. The 7300 LE is the lowest option.

I have to wait and talk to customer care tomorrow.

My p4 3.2 Ghz, 2 GB ram and 6800 GT got a 4.3 windows experience score. this new 1.86 Ghz e6300, 1 GB (soon to be 2 GB) and a 7300 LE gets a 3.2.

Tell the moron that ok, if two 256MB cards are the same, then you want an equivalent CPU to your old 3.2GHz P4 -- you want a 3.2 GHz Core 2 Duo. See what he says.

No, seriously, you could look up the specs of the 6800GT GPU and the specs of the 7300LE. The number of shaders, pipelines, clockspeed, memory speed, etc. The 6800GT numbers will blow the 7300LE numbers away. Make him speechless by rattling off lists of specs that he'll never understand. Then tell him it's like a 2002 Ferrari racing against a 2007 Daihatsu. Maybe he'll get it. Or maybe you'll be lucky and he'll transfer you to his manager.

 

[bucwylde23]

Well I've got 2 links saved from Dell's own website in which they are selling a refurbished 6800 GT for $439 and also a link to a brand new 7300 LE selling for $76.

No difference huh? Sure is a difference in price

It also looks like the 7300 LE memory is just basic DDR and the 6800 GT is DDR3.

Still looking into the differences so I will be prepared.

 

[yh125d]

find some site that has both cards and compare them, then read off the differences. core speed, mem speed, 256bit interface vs 64, 12 pipes vs. 4, etc...

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: yh125d
find some site that has both cards and compare them, then read off the differences. core speed, mem speed, 256bit interface vs 64, 12 pipes vs. 4, etc...

I'm trying to find one that lists both but haven't yet. The nVidia site basicaly just explains the whole 7300 series and doesn't go into too much detail about the single card.