Computer Question (not Mac vs PC)

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>I'm buying a computer for college! I don't know much about computer processing systems, so I need someone to clarify something. The system processor I'm going to buy is an Intel Core 2 Duo and I have a choice between 1.8 GHz, 2.0 GHz, 2.2 GHz, and 2.4 GHz. What do I gain by increasing the number of GHz? Is it worth the extra money?</p>

<p>Thanks. </p>

<p>(I don't know if I asked my question clearly enough so if you don't understand it ask me to clarify. It's tough asking questions if you don't know what you're talking about).</p>

2

<p>To be honest, your not going to get that much of a performance increase from going from 1.8 to 2.4. Most operation really don't need that great of a CPU...your better off maxing out with some good ram.</p>

3

<p>If you don't know how to answer that question, how likely do you think you are to require more power than the lowest possible amount?</p>

<p>Ram is about the only thing a casual user will know the difference with, as previously stated.</p>

4

<p>theres a huge forum called forumz.tomshardware.com for computer stuff,</p>

5

<p>I'd agree that ram is where you should place your money, but it really depends on what you plan on doing. If all you're going to be doing is surfing the web, writing papers, preparing presentations, and sending emails, then really even the 1.8 GHz system with 512 mb of ram is overkill ... heck, you could just save your money and buy an used laptop for all of that, but if you plan on recording/editing videos, doing much/any graphic design, recording/editing audio, or any gaming, you'll need something with at least a gig or two (1-2 GB ram) and at least a 2 GHz processor would be nice (2.4 would be best, especially for realtime processing such as is needed in some games and intense audio and video editing).</p>

6

<p>For the intel core 2 duo's, the 2.0 ghz processors (T7200 or T7300) are the sweet spot for price/performance. The 2ghz processors and above all have 4mb cache, while the 1.8ghz one's only have 2mb and the price difference between the 1.8 and 2.0 isn't that much. Over 2.0ghz, you won't notice the difference so you'll probably be wasting money.</p>

7

<p>I ask here because I only wish to seem stupid, not retarded.</p>

<p>Thanks for the answers. I think I'll go with 2GHz, but just wanted to know if it was worth looking into more CPU.</p>

8

<p>No, more processing power isn't worth the money to a normal user. It will just barely make your computer faster, and it only really matters when the processor is being used 100%.</p>

9

<p>Congratulations, nameless1, for being the only one here (out of a whole group of people posting as if they are experts) that actually knows enough to point out the cache issue.</p>

<p>I would repeat what nameless1 said, but it'd be inane. I would add, though, that adding more RAM (over the 1 GB that seems pretty standard as a baseline amount these days) would show no more performance gain than more clock speed, generally (excessive bloatware isn't included when saying this ;)).</p>

10

<p>Haha it used to be 2007</p>