Need some help to understand these old cpus

paulcheung

Active Member
HI all, I try to understand these two old cpu I have. one is Intel T2500 in Dell XPS M1710 Laptop and the other one is Intel Pentium 4 in a Gateway desktop computer.
They are both have 1 physical core and 2 logical cores.
This is the Dell XPS T2500 report from SIW

(Dell Inc. MXG061)
Summary
Number of Logical Processors 2
Number of Physical Processors 1
CPU #1 Intel Core Duo T2500
CPU Name Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2500 @ 2.00GHz
CPU Code Name Yonah
Vendor GenuineIntel
Number of Bits 32
Instruction Set MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, XD, VMX, EST
Platform Name Socket 479 mPGA
Revision C0
Technology 65 nm
Original Clock 2000 MHz
Original System Clock 166 MHz
Original Multiplier 12.1
CPU Clock 2003 MHz
System Clock 166.3 MHz
FSB 665.0 MHz
Number of Cores 2
Core #1
Speed 997.5 MHz
Multiplier 6.0
Core #2
Speed 997.5 MHz
Multiplier 6.0
Virtual Technology Supported Yes
Hyper Threading Supported No
Cache
L1 Data Cache 2 x 32 KBytes
L1 Instructions Cache 2 x 32 KBytes
L2 Cache 2048 KBytes

This is from Gateway Pentium 4.
Summary
Number of Logical Processors 2
Number of Physical Processors 1
CPU #1 Intel Pentium 4 550
CPU Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz
CPU Code Name Prescott
Vendor GenuineIntel
Number of Bits 32
Instruction Set MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
Platform Name Socket 775 LGA
Revision D0
Technology 90 nm
Original Clock 3400 MHz
Original System Clock 200 MHz
Original Multiplier 17.0
CPU Clock 3400 MHz
System Clock 200.0 MHz
FSB 800.0 MHz
Number of Cores 1
Core #1
Speed 3400.2 MHz
Multiplier 17.0
Virtual Technology Supported No
Hyper Threading Supported Yes
Hyper Threading Enabled Yes
Cache
L1 Data Cache 16 KBytes
L1 Trace Cache 12 Kµops
L2 Cache 1024 KBytes

The dell say Virtual Technology support. and not hyper threading support

The pentium say Hyper threading support and not Virtual tech support.

What is the different between them?
Which one better?
Sorry for the long post.

Thank you.
 
Hrm... the Core Duo would the newer of the two processors, but it is on the low-end for its time, whereas the Pentium-4 is a more powerful chip-- its added clock speeds would allow it to outstrip the other one.

Unless you absolutely need the newer instruction-sets (as in, you want to run Vista or Win 7), I'd go with the P4.

Of course, the processor isn't all-- if the Core Duo motherboard has more memory capacity, ability to overclock a bit, and such, then that might be the way to go-- you could always upgrade the processor to an upper-end Duo later.
 
Thank you for your reply, I still have some more questions though,
Don't it the Pentium 4 is a single core processor? Why SIW report it has two logical cores? is the hypertreading support make it think it has two cores?

Is the t2500 a dual core processor? does it has two physical core? or is the virtualization support make it two logical cores? Why the core speed is only 997.5mhz?
Thank you.
 
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The P4 is a single-core processor, yes. The hyperthreading capability of this unit allows it to complete two instructions at about the same time, giving it the effect of a dual-processor chip.

The Duo has two cores, but they are linear, so each completes one instruction per pass. This makes the two chips roughly equal, other than the P4 having a higher clock speed, which would allow it to process a bit faster than the Duo.

This particular chip is an early version, so its clock and bus speeds are fairly low compared to the models being sold now.
 
NO, completely wrong. That T2500 will WHIP that P4. Newer architecture, way better. Two true cores, the higher clockspeed of the P4 means squat. Hyper threading on P4's is crap, it's not even close to a second core.

Check out this comparison, not exactly the same because you can't really find a comparison between desktop and laptop CPU's but this P4 in the comparison below is BETTER than the one is this system you mention and the pentium dual core is WORSE than the one in that laptop (less cache)!

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/92?vs=68

Not even close, utter destruction of the P4. The P4 in this bench test is the 660 which has 200mhz faster clockspeed and double the cache size of the 550. The Pentium dual core has the same 65nm architecture as the T2500 and half the cache size (1mb VS 2mb for the T2500) so this bench even shows the real world results skewed in favor of the P4 yet the true dual core annihilates it in performance.
 
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Pentium 4's have always been crap. AMD had the reigns in that era, it wasn't until core 2 duo was released that intel took back the throne.
 
Pentium 4's have always been crap. AMD had the reigns in that era, it wasn't until core 2 duo was released that intel took back the throne.

I agree that AMD had the better chip back then. Frankly, I kind of lost interest in that stuff when everyone started throwing multiple cores around...

Nowadays, I use laptops exclusively, and I haven't built a desktop in years.
 
NO, completely wrong. That T2500 will WHIP that P4. Newer architecture, way better. Two true cores, the higher clockspeed of the P4 means squat. Hyper threading on P4's is crap, it's not even close to a second core.

Check out this comparison, not exactly the same because you can't really find a comparison between desktop and laptop CPU's but this P4 in the comparison below is BETTER than the one is this system you mention and the pentium dual core is WORSE than the one in that laptop (less cache)!

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/92?vs=68

Not even close, utter destruction of the P4. The P4 in this bench test is the 660 which has 200mhz faster clockspeed and double the cache size of the 550. The Pentium dual core has the same 65nm architecture as the T2500 and half the cache size (1mb VS 2mb for the T2500) so this bench even shows the real world results skewed in favor of the P4 yet the true dual core annihilates it in performance.

Hi 87dtna
I see you have an I5-750 cpu on your signature, Is it possible for you to post a screenshot of CPUID? the CPU screen. and if you use SIW, Can you also post a report from the cpu information page?

Thank you.
 
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What for? I don't know what SIW is, but-

cpuzI5750.jpg
 
Thank you, I just want to verify the number of processor, cores and threads. SIW is system information for windows. but this is enough. Thanks again.
 
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