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kevhui

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 24, 2008
172
0
I saw all i7 have 1MB L2 cache and 8MB L3 cache, while i5 750 has the same L2 and L3, so why i7 is better?

Similarly, I saw Core 2 Quad Q9550/Q9650 has 12MB L2, so isn't it better?
 
CPU is not all about the size of cache or clock speed....it's all about architecture of the system

and also i7 has hyperthreading, which i5 doesn't, it should perform better in multi-threaded programs
 
Thanks for your information.

I thought hyperthreading is not a new technology, and real number of cores should be better than hyper?
 
Thanks for your information.

I thought hyperthreading is not a new technology, and real number of cores should be better than hyper?
Two physical cores are better than one physical core HyperThreaded for two virtual cores. However, two physical cores are not better than two physical cores HyperThreaded for four virtual cores.
 
i7 is better than i5 because marketing says so :D :rolleyes:

and i can predict the future...


i9 will be better than i7

i5 better than i3
 
Does anyone know if i7 will be sold out of the stores? It seems to be a BTO option off the i5 from the website. Usually this means not in stores. Given all the interest though I thought maybe...
 
I saw all i7 have 1MB L2 cache and 8MB L3 cache, while i5 750 has the same L2 and L3, so why i7 is better?

Similarly, I saw Core 2 Quad Q9550/Q9650 has 12MB L2, so isn't it better?
i5 does not support hyperthreading while the i7 does (hyper-threading = 2 execution threads per core, in place of 1)

Core 2 Quad does not have a level-3 caching (read a bit about cache levels if you're not clear on how L1, L2 and L3 cache differ from one another). But from what I remember from my schooling: bigger cache = harder to manage and can become ineffective (that's why L1 cache is so small but darn fast, while L3 is bigger but slower)

also, i5 and i7 don't have a FSB so some of the memory communication overhead has been eliminated (since it's built in to the CPU now)


CPU is not all about the size of cache or clock speed....it's all about architecture of the system

and also i7 has hyperthreading, which i5 doesn't, it should perform better in multi-threaded programs
+1
the days of cache size and clock speed are long behind us. the paradigm has shifted to multi-threading and memory management.

Simply put, 7 > 5.

Does anyone know if i7 will be sold out of the stores? It seems to be a BTO option off the i5 from the website. Usually this means not in stores. Given all the interest though I thought maybe...

nope, no i7's will be in retail stores - only base i5's
simply because it's a BTO option for the i5 (which you already pointed out)
maybe the the future, but not now at least
 
what a miss-leading title...
just to clarify: they both have 4 cores - but with hyper-threading the i7 has 8 execution threads (or virtual cores I suppose) while the i5 have 4 execution threads


I agree, the title sucks. However other members posted good info that is worth reading and will be rehashed in this one.
 
Also with the i7 you get to see this in istat when you handbrake a movie. A thing of beauty.

img0182zd.jpg
 
Does anyone know if i7 will be sold out of the stores? It seems to be a BTO option off the i5 from the website. Usually this means not in stores. Given all the interest though I thought maybe...

I was told that it will not be sold in stores. I however can not imagine them not selling it in stores. Don't most of us walk into the apple store wanting the best. I want the best so I have to wait 2 weeks?
 
I think this article (previously linked to by spinnerlys) provides a pretty good comparison of the two. It seems that most people won't really notice the difference between i5 and i7, but if you're working with video a lot, you will.

One thing I've not been able to find anywhere is a good list of programs that utilize hyperthreading. I'm leaning heavily toward the i5, but if I was to be assured that the Adobe CS Design suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.) was going to make use of HT in CS5, I would seriously consider going with the i7.
 
It does not compare the i5 to i7 .... so

From the fine print of the BearFeats article:

We haven't forgotten to answer the question, "What about the iMac Core i5?" Geekbench 64 bit results posted on the Geekbench Browser indicate that the Core i7 is 35% faster. Until we can get our hands on a Core i5, we can only hypothesize that it is worth the paying 10% more for the Core i7 to get 35% more CPU crunching power.​

Hope this helps.
 
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