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As the subject line states; What's more important [in reference to bang for the buck in CPU performance]... CPU speed or L2 cache size? Given 2 processors with say, 500 to 750mhz in speed difference, and the slower one having twice the L2... would it outperform the speedier one?

 

Thanks

L2 cache is more important for me but i am not sure. clock speed does make sense that is why E8400 performs better than E8200.

E8400: 3.0GHz  6MB L2

E8200  2.66GHz 6MB L2  

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cache-size-matter,1709.html

 

Similar to my tread   :D. i have socket 754 mobo with Sempron 3400+ which has  256 KB of cach, and i am thinking of upgrading to Athlon 64 3400+ which has 512 kb and another one has 1 MB, but less speed, i cannot decide

LOOK at it this way cache cant be change but MHZ can be. In my opinion I would get a CPU with a larger cache and overclock it a little and you have the best of both worlds. If your not a overclocker then I would still trade cache for MHZ

Er...relatively, cache size goes first. See....a faster CPU pays off for computational- intensive programs. While a larger L2 cache pays off for intensive I/O of data from ram to the CPU and back again, but one thing, have to mention, is that larger cache size mens the chip would run hotter. XD

Hence why the new 45nm Quads with 12megs of cache were made 45nm right ?

Otherwise they'd be hotter than the Q6600

sambarrett:

LOOK at it this way cache cant be change but MHZ can be. In my opinion I would get a CPU with a larger cache and overclock it a little and you have the best of both worlds. If your not a overclocker then I would still trade cache for MHZ

Good point. But the thing is that i am one of those unfortunate ones who bought eMachines, and those prebuilt systmes, like emachines and Dell usually come with BIOS that are locked from overclocking because manufacturers know that their pre-buit systems are useing subpar components and are bad for overcloking. I tried raising FSB with nTune but it is resetting to origianl settings that manufaturer decided are optimum for the system. I tried looking into the BIOS in hopes to overclock my pc from there, but no success.  Such a shame because Sempron 3400+ is highly overclockable from 2.0 up to 2.6, i know it for sure cuz i visited many overclocking sites.