Nehelem vs older 3g-quad dual? is L3 cashe the thang?

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pfflampfflam
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
So, are the processor differences between a Nehalem and a 3-Ghz Quad Dual really so startlingly different that I should spend over a #1000 more rather than get a used 3-G model?





I am wondering in terms of thinking far into the future, meaning this: my current Mac is going onto 10-years old, my next Mac will have to stick around for as long most likely, yet I want to be able to expand and keep 'with it', work intensely with Video and Audio and not feel like the computer is instantaneously obsolete.



Any ideas?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    Any opinions?
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  • Reply 2 of 6
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    Anybody know of an Apple forum with some traffic?
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  • Reply 3 of 6
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    Anybody know about the 3-Ghz Mac Pro models with 2 X quad cores



    who might also know a little about the



    new Nehalem processors?
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  • Reply 4 of 6
    Marvinmarvin Posts: 15,585moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pfflam View Post


    So, are the processor differences between a Nehalem and a 3-Ghz Quad Dual really so startlingly different that I should spend over a #1000 more rather than get a used 3-G model?



    The Nehalem model is significantly faster:



    http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/0...nd-benchmarked



    "The Geekbench benchmark for the 2.93GHz, dual Quad-Core Nehalem system gave a total score of 17,665



    The 3.2GHz 8-core Mac Pro has got a score of 11,030 with many results in the 9,000 range. The multi-core performance of the new 2.93GHz processor has significantly outpaced the previous generation machines."



    A number of benchmarks showed the 2.66GHz quad Nehalem to be faster than the 2.8GHz 8-core Harpertown but they are about even:



    http://www.macworld.com/article/1395...acpro2009.html



    Apple suggest that's the case too:



    http://www.apple.com/macpro/performance.html



    Even if the old 3.2GHz one came with a full warranty, I'd take the quad Nehalem over the Harpertown one. Determining how long it will last you depends on what you do with it.
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  • Reply 5 of 6
    duskdusk Posts: 36member
    Also since the Socket is different you might be able to upgarde a Nehalem later while you will have to buy a new Mac Pro to upgrade the from a C2Q.

    Difference between Nehalem and C2Quad is quite significant. The Memory Controller is on DIE and a lot faster. It does 8 threads compared to 4 it has an extremely fast but small L2 cache. It is basicly a the cores of the Core 2 Quad built into a CPU design like an AMD Opteron with added Hyperthreading and Turboboost(good Powermanagment).



    The performance difference is the biggest when it comes to rendering, video encoding and such stuff.
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  • Reply 6 of 6
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    well damn . . . I kinda needed those answers yesterday as now I am the proud owner of a 3-Ghz machine.



    Oh well, I'm sure it will be for the best, since I can't afford the high end of the high end anyway.



    Thanks for answering
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