What are "Dual Core" and "Quad Core"? Packing and unpacking. Test bench configuration
Introduction
Most people believe that a high-performance computer can only be assembled from top-end expensive components. But not everyone can afford them, since budget restrictions lead to the search for components that best suit both needs and the amount in the wallet. We have already shown several options on how to get the most out of your money in previous articles. "Intel Core2 E6750 and Q6600: overclocking duel" And "Overclocking Pentium Dual Core E2160: 3.2 GHz for $90" .
After conducting numerous tests, we discovered another solution that is compatible with even the smallest budgets. The Intel Pentium Dual Core processor provides unparalleled overclocking potential, making this cheap processor at correct settings turns into a mid-level speed model. Many buyers have no idea what they will get when they buy a Pentium Dual Core for just 50 euros. Some people perceive the word "Pentium" in the name as a sign of belonging to the old Pentium 4 (NetBurst) architecture. In reality, this is just a simple marketing trick that Intel has used to differentiate its cheap processors from the more expensive Core 2 line.
The Pentium Dual Core E2140 and E2160, as well as the new additions E2180 and E2200, are built on the full Core 2 Duo core, except that it has been trimmed in some specifications to create cheaper processors. For one thing, the processors only ship with a 1MB L2 cache instead of 4MB. On the downside, they are limited to a maximum clock speed of 2 GHz on the 800 MHz FSB.
We were able to overclock the “junior” model Pentium Dual Core E2140, which sells for 50 euros, by 87.5% even without increasing the core voltage. When we increased the voltage a little, we got productivity increase by 118% with a completely stable system.
In this article we will provide step by step guide, how to achieve such overclocking, let's name other components that we used ( motherboard, memory, cooler and power supply), as well as the settings that need to be made to get a fast and stable overclocked system on a Pentium Dual Core. We will also provide some tips for choosing components.
As for the price, the components cost us 470 euros. Since energy consumption issues in lately very relevant, we also analyzed the energy consumption of our computer. The entire overclocked system, including the video card and drives, consumed 105 W in idle mode.
Intel's marketing trick: Pentium Dual Core in detail
When purchasing a Pentium Dual Core, you should pay attention to a number of technical details.
Clock frequency
The “junior” model, which operates at 1.6 GHz and costs 50 euros, provides the best price/quality ratio for overclocking. However, even the fastest Pentium Dual Core processor at 2 GHz costs only 20 euros more. It's a small difference, but it's still there. Spending money on a faster model is hardly justified, since its overclocking potential is no better. In addition, Intel should soon introduce a 2.2 GHz version of the Pentium Dual Core, although the price has not yet been announced.
Stepping
Since processor manufacturers are constantly improving technical processes, from time to time updated series of chips (steppings) are released that have errors corrected (errata) and, as a rule, power consumption is reduced. These errors are usually insignificant, that is, they do not affect the operation of the system. Power optimizations made to the processor result in less heat, which is easy to measure.
The new processor steppings fix some design errors and also introduce minor improvements. Click on the picture to enlarge.
Since Intel has been selling Pentium Dual Core processors at 1.6 and 1.8 GHz for quite some time, they used L2 stepping. Intel recently expanded the line and added 2 and 2.2 GHz models, increasing the number of models to four. At the same time, Intel switched to stepping M0 for the entire line.
According to Intel specifications, processors with L2 stepping consumed only 12 W energy in idle mode, when the processor, thanks to SpeedStep technology, reduced the frequency to 1.20 GHz and the core voltage to 1,000 V. Processors with the updated stepping M0 going even further, energy consumption has already been reduced up to 8 W.
In our experience, different steppings do not always significantly affect the overclocking potential of the processor. As you remember, the first L2 steppings of Core 2 Duo processors, which were more energy efficient, did not provide much greater overclocking potential compared to the B2 versions. As for the Pentium Dual Core, we could not determine the difference between the L2 and M0 steppings in this regard.
Stepping also accelerates M0 well.
Retail box of Pentium Dual Core. Click on the picture to enlarge.
The cooler that comes with the boxed version of the processor does not have a copper core, unlike the Core 2 Duo cooler, using a less expensive all-aluminum design. Since its performance is not enough to cool an overclocked processor, we preferred to take a cooler from a third manufacturer, which made it possible to purchase a less expensive tray version of the processor. On the other hand, if you want a sticker on the case or you like retail packaging, you can easily get the “boxed” version for a few euros more.
In addition to the cooler, the “boxed” version also includes a sticker on the case. Click on the picture to enlarge.
|
|||
|
When there are only a couple of players left in the technology market, they are engaged in complete chaos. So, for example, Intel, having its only rival AMD, allows itself to fool potential buyers by confusing them with the vast range of models of its processors. For example, the similar names Pentium Dual Core and Core 2 Duo belong to completely different families of processors, and the mention of Core in both cases introduces a serious element of confusion when choosing a system or components. Many still mistake these models for one, believing that Pentiums are those Intel processors that are not Celeron, but dual and deuce - different spellings. Let's see how different these processor families really are.
Definition
Pentium Dual Core- a family of dual-core processors for desktop systems from Intel, which appeared in 2007 and is positioned by the manufacturer as a solution for low-budget PCs. Processors are built on Intel architecture Core and are installed in LGA 775 sockets.
Core 2 Duo- a family of dual-core processors built on the Core architecture. Positioned as a replacement for Pentiums, before the advent of Intel Core iX were the most popular processors in the mass segment. Installed in LGA 775 sockets.
Comparison
It would seem that there are two cores on the same architecture, frequencies depending on the models, simultaneous appearance, that is, almost identical lines, but Core 2 Duo is more productive and, it is worth noting, more popular. At least within the limits of my time.
In each of the families, processors are divided into series, including several models. The younger Pentium models are extremely stripped-down releases: they have a 1 MB second-level cache, the system bus frequency is 800 MHz, and they do not support virtualization. The second level cache in these models is common to both cores (at that time AMD's competitor in budget models already divided it, which provided more high level freedom parallel computing). Only two models have a 2 MB L2 cache. For Core 2 Duo, Intel divided the cache, and its volume did not drop below 2 MB, but the maximum was 6 MB.
If most Pentium Dual Cores are based on a core modification called Allendale, then the Core 2 Duo has approximately equal numbers of Conroe, Allendale and Wolfdale. The manufacturing process for Pentiums is 65 nm (with the exception of a couple of older models E5300 and E5200), the Core 2 Duo family also assumes 45 nm (for the Wolfdale core).
Clock speeds cannot be a criterion for comparing Pentium Dual Core and Core 2 Duo - there are many models. However, the minimum threshold for the Pentium is 1.6 GHz, for the Core 2 Duo - 1.8 GHz. The maximum, respectively, is 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz.
Conclusions website
- Pentium Dual Core is less powerful than Core 2 Duo.
- Most Pentium Dual Core models have a 1 MB L2 cache, while models of the Core 2 Duo family have from 2 MB to 6 MB.
- The range of clock speeds for processors of the Core 2 Duo family is wider.
- The technological process of the Core 2 Duo line is both 65 nm and 45 nm, the Pentium Dual Core line is predominantly 65 nm.
Previously, our computers had a central processing unit (CPU) with one core. These days, most processors are dual-core, quad-core, or even eight-core. We'll try to explain to you what a kernel is, how dual-core and quad-core processors differ, and how it all affects how you actually use your computer. The answers to these questions will not only help you learn more about your computer, but may also come in handy when you need to choose between a cheaper processor with fewer cores and a more expensive processor with a large number cores, when buying a new laptop, tablet or even .
Knowing the difference between dual-core and quad-core processors can help you make more informed decisions about purchasing new computer hardware.
What is the core?
Each processor core is actually a separate central processing unit that performs work and is integral part the entire processor (CPU). For example, a dual-core chip may look like a single-core chip, but it actually has two physical central processing units on the chip.
Additional central processing units allow the computer to do several tasks at the same time. If you've ever used a single-core processor and then upgraded to a dual-core processor, then you must have noticed a significant difference in the performance of your computer and its responsiveness to tasks.
Let's assume that you are extracting files from an archive and browsing the web at the same time. If you have a single-core processor on your computer, then browsing the web will not be very comfortable. A single-core processor will have to split its time between web pages and retrieving files from the archive.
If you have a dual-core processor with two cores, then one core will work on retrieving files, and the second will provide a smooth browsing experience in the web browser.
No matter whether you multitask or not, your computer often performs some system tasks in background, and thanks additional cores, you can make your system more responsive. For example, it allocates a separate process for each open website. This allows Google Chrome use different processors for different sites, rather than using a separate processor (CPU) to handle all browser-related tasks.
Clock speed and cores
Processors have a clock speed that shows how fast the processors work (in reality, everything is, of course, much more complicated, but let's look at at the moment we agree with this statement).
For example, Core processor i5-3330 from Intel has a clock speed of 3 GHz and a quad-core processor, which means it has four cores. All four cores in this Intel i5 processor run at 3 GHz.
Doubling cores does not double speed
Many computer programs are single-threaded, meaning that their work cannot be divided among multiple processors (CPUs). Each of them must work with one processor (CPU). This means that increasing the cores will not double their efficiency. If you have a single-threaded application running on a quad-core processor, then it will use only one core, while the remaining cores will be in the process of waiting, and only when other applications are running will they take action.
Properly writing multi-threaded applications that can scale across multiple processors simultaneously is actually a fairly complex area of computer science. This is becoming an increasingly pressing issue as processors with a large number cores rather than processors with fewer cores designed for high speed.
Some applications can take advantage of multiple cores. Google Chrome's multi-processor architecture allows it to perform actions on multiple cores simultaneously. Some computers can also distribute calculations across multiple cores.
However, most of the applications used are single threaded. A quad-core processor will not run twice as fast as a dual-core processor. If you run Microsoft Office on different processors, you will see that the performance is very similar.
A high number of cores can help you if you want to do multiple tasks at the same time or if you have multi-tasking applications that can handle multi-core processors. For example, if you are running several while encoding videos, extracting files, and some other processor-intensive things, then an eight-core processor can help you with this, while even a quad-core processor will start to slow down under such loads.
Dual Core, Quad Core and...
Phrases such as “dual core”, “quad core” and “octa core” are quite often found in the foreign computer press, let’s look at their meanings:
- Dual Core: two cores.
- Quad Core: four cores.
- Hexa Core: six cores.
- Octa Core: eight cores.
- Deca Core: ten cores.
Core management and monitoring
From there you can control which programs use the processor cores. Click right click mouse on the process bar and select “Set Match”.
Here you will be able to use the application from the physical processors (cores). Most of the time you won't need it this opportunity, but if you want to limit access to certain kernels to avoid bugs, for example in old computer games, then this feature will be very useful.
Using Task Manager, you can use the Performance tab to view the usage of each core of your processor.
Hyper-Threading (hyperparallelism)
Intel processors use a technology called: hyper-threading. With hyper-threading technology, each physical core is seen by the system as two separate logical cores. In the screenshot above, we are not using a quad-core processor, it is just a dual-core processor with hyper-threading technology.
It improves performance to some extent, but still a dual-core processor with hyper-threading technology is not nearly as good as a true quad-core processor. After all, it still only has two physical cores, although this trick allows them to do a little more work at once.
Need to download music from VK?
We continue the series “The Limits of the Possible”, and, as promised, in the third material we will look at the limits of productivity for Intel processors Pentium. We voiced the basic principle of selecting participants back in the first part: test the performance of the youngest and oldest processor of each line, if there are no significant reasons for deviating from this rule.
The Intel Pentium line is interesting primarily because at the moment it contains processors for as many as three platforms: the outgoing LGA775, the innocently killed (well, what else can we call it?) LGA1156, and the new Intel flagship - LGA1155. We tried to follow the selection principle as much as possible and reasonably, so only 2 exceptions were made: for objective reasons, there is no pair of Pentium E2140/E2200 (we simply could not find them at any of our processor suppliers for testing), and there is no Pentium G6950 - it hardly makes sense to test a processor that differs from the G6960 only in a frequency lower by 0.13 GHz. The rest is a complete set: E5200/5800, E6300/6800, G6960 and the LGA1155 group - G620/850, and even the energy-efficient G620T.
Test bench configuration
In the first information plate we present the most indicative technical specifications tested processors, how they differ from each other. To be fair: three of them (belonging to a specific platform, power consumption, the presence of a built-in video core) cannot directly influence the speed data, but it would be incorrect not to mention them, from our point of view. Last characteristic, would certainly affect the speed in some applications, but since four of the eight processors tested in this material do not have a built-in video core, we used an external video card in all cases.
CPU | Pentium E5200 | Pentium E5800 | Pentium E6300 | Pentium E6800 | Pentium G6960 | Pentium G620T | Pentium G620 | Pentium G850 |
Platform | LGA775 | LGA775 | LGA775 | LGA775 | LGA1156 | LGA1155 | LGA1155 | LGA1155 |
TDP, W | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 73 | 35 | 65 | 65 |
Built-in video core | − | − | − | − | + | + | + | + |
FSB, MHz | 800 | 800 | 1066 | 1066 | −* | −* | −* | −* |
Number of cores | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Frequency | 2.5 GHz | 3.2 GHz | 2.8 GHz | 3.33 GHz | 2.933 GHz | 2.2 GHz | 2.6 GHz | 2.9 GHz |
2 MB | 2 MB | 2 MB | 2 MB | 3 MB | 3 MB | 3 MB | 3 MB |
* - These processors really don’t have a bus called “FSB”. There is a bus similar in meaning, but it throughput has a significantly less impact on performance due to the use of a memory controller built into the processor. Conditionally (very conditionally!) we can assume that the memory speed of Pentium for LGA1156/1155 is approximately equal to processors for LGA775 with 1066 MHz FSB, since their built-in dual-channel memory controller works with DDR3-1066. However, we should not forget that the integrated CP provides lower delays.
...Well, for especially sophisticated aesthetes - a complete hardware configuration of test benches.
Testing
Traditionally, we divide all tests into a number of groups and show the average result for a group of tests/applications in diagrams (you can find out more about the testing methodology in a separate article). The results in the diagrams are given in points; the performance of the iXBT reference test system from 2011 is taken as 100 points. For those who are interested in more detailed information, again, it is traditionally proposed to download a table in Microsoft Excel format, in which all the results are presented both converted into points and in “natural” form. The configuration of the 2011 iXBT reference test system is as follows:
Interactive work in 3D packages
The identical result of the E5800 and E6300 is impressive - despite the fact that the frequency of the latter is 400 MHz lower, it managed to catch up with the E5800. In the absence of other assumptions, we can only draw the only conclusion: the FSB frequency of 800 MHz in this case is a really significant “brake” even for the Pentium. However... why “even”? Logic dictates that what less the processor has a cache - so more it depends on the exchange speed with RAM. LGA1155 is certainly on top (you’ll still have time to get used to it...), but the G6960 is a complete outsider: even the economical G620T, whose frequency is 733 (!) MHz lower (and the L2 cache size is the same), has caught up with it.
Final rendering of 3D scenes
The result, as is easy to see, very much depends on the frequency, even when comparing different architectures. However, the LGA1155 line is very effective here too: the old E6800 almost managed to catch up with the G620, but the frequency of the latter is significantly lower. At the same time, no one doubts that even 2.9 GHz for the Pentium G850 is clearly not the limit for the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture.
Packing and Unpacking
Another failure of the only representative of LGA1156: it lost to the fast “old man” and is on par with the slowest Pentium for LGA1155.
Audio encoding
It seems that the audio encoding algorithms use commands, the execution of which has not undergone significant optimization in the new Intel microarchitectures - the entire line for LGA775 holds up very well. Maybe there is simply nothing to optimize there?..
Compilation
In compilation, the principle “the newer is better” works almost without exception: E6xxx is better than E5xxx, E6960 is better than all Pentiums for LGA775, processors for LGA1155 are best. The only exception is the energy-efficient G620T, which, due to its record low frequency, showed a rather modest result.
Mathematical and engineering calculations
The middle is clearly expressed in the form of the fastest Pentium for the old platform and the fastest Pentium for LGA1156, but both “high-speed” processors with normal TDP for the LGA1155 platform easily outperform them.
Raster graphics
One of the rare cases: albeit due to a significantly higher frequency, the Pentium E6800 nevertheless managed to overtake the Pentium G620.
Vector graphics
“Single-processor” (although now we should probably start writing “single-core”) tasks: neither CorelDraw nor Adobe Illustrator They cannot use more than one processor core. It is not surprising that this conservative approach brought the main benefits to the older processors: many representatives of the Pentium Exxxx line managed to come closer than ever to the leaders.
Video encoding
Another example where the principle “the newer the better” works almost flawlessly.
Office software
In tasks that generally do not require high performance, the speed of the new Pentiums is not so different from the old ones. In general, in fact, there is one application in the office subgroup that can use many cores and is speed sensitive - this is FineReader. If you're interested, download the board with the full results and take a look: it's funny. However, don’t expect any revelations - LGA1155 is good, as always.
Java
The line of results at first glance seems uneven, but if you take a closer look, you can see that here, too, new platforms are always ahead of older ones.
Games
No, honestly, we didn't draw this diagram with a felt-tip pen on a piece of paper! :) This is exactly how it really is - an almost smooth “ladder” from the beginning to the very end. Quite an unexpected effect, especially considering the presence of the Pentium G620T on the diagram with its 35-watt TDP and 2.2 GHz frequency. So if anyone is really seriously considering building gaming computer based on processors of this line, we have good news: it can be made quite quiet and cool. :)
Results
It remains for us to once again state the triumph of the latest Intel platform over all its other platforms - today LGA1155, even in relation to low-end CPUs, can rightfully be recognized as the queen of speed. The funniest thing (or the saddest thing, depending on who you choose) is that the role of the “ugly duckling” did not go to one of the processors for the dying LGA775, but, on the contrary, to the only representative in our testing of the not so long ago “young and promising” LGA1156. It is overtaken by both the outdated E6800 and the new G620, which is at the bottom of its class (we won’t count the G620T - the main feature there is not performance at all, and no one really hides this). The rivalry between E5xxx and E6xxx did not work out: in the overall standings, the lines almost do not overlap - on the contrary, they complement each other. Well, one cannot help but note the magic figure of 50% - for the second time, the fastest processor in the line is about one and a half times faster than the slowest, despite the fact that the manufacturer is different, and the number of cores is the same for all participants in today's testing.
And finally, for those who like to look at everything through the prism of the confrontation between two main competitors: as you can see, the final diagram includes 2 especially for you AMD processor. They were very carefully selected simple principle: so that the first overall score is as close as possible to the result of the slowest Intel Pentium, and the second, accordingly, to the fastest. And despite the fact that numbers are an abstraction, and they are devoid of a sense of humor by definition, our overall score this time was a good joke: these turned out to be two Athlon IIs - the slowest dual-core and the fastest quad-core. That is, in fact, based on the average performance of the line AMD Athlon II and Intel Pentium are almost similar - and exactly like rulers, entirely. It's funny, isn't it?
In the next part we will tell you everything you need to know about Intel performance Core i3...