Improving L2 Cache

M

mpkeith

New Member
First of all, I'm not sure this is something I even need as I know nothing about this kind of stuff, so any input will be greatly appreciated.

My stone-age Dell laptop took a dump on me so I decided to buy a new laptop that fit my budget. After I had already made the purchase I heard somewhere that in order to run Photoshop (which is a program I use daily), it is recommended that your processor has a minimum 2mb L2 cache.

The new laptop I purchased has a 2.1ghz AMD Sempron SI-42 cpu vs my old 1.6ghz Pentium M and 2gb memory @ 800mhz speed vs my old 1gb @400mhz speed.

On my old laptop, I never had any trouble running Photoshop but despite everything else being better on the new one, it DID have 2gb L2 cache vs only 512kb L2 cache on the new one.

I haven't received the new laptop yet, so I'm not sure if there will be any problems yet or not, and that's why I'm asking for some input here. I'd rather know before I open the box so I can return it without any headaches or lost money.

If you think I would have trouble running programs such as Photoshop (I also use Camtasia Studio screen recording software on a regular basis), what would need to be done to improve the L2 cache on my new laptop? It is a Toshiba Satellite L455D-S5976 if that makes a difference.

Thanks ahead of time for your thoughts!
 
i dont see why their saying cache sizes in that...but the only way to get that would be with a intel cpu, as amd chips are typically 512Kb-1Mb, whereas intel is typically above 2Mb.
 
After looking around some more, it mostly seems it's in reference to multitasking with programs such as Photoshop. I usually have a couple notepad files open as well as a browser window or 2 open alongside it, and when using Camtasia I have to have other programs open as that's what I record. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how it handles.

I did a search for this model along with photoshop and saw someone had put an AMD Turion dual core cpu in for 512 x 2, but the only problem with this is that it voids the warranty, which I don't want to even attempt as it's brand new.

I guess I'll see how things pan out and if it is indeed incapable of handling what I need it to I will contact Toshiba and see if there's a way to upgrade without voiding warranty... probably not though.
 
yea see how it works, the cache might not even be a factor...tho it could be, but i wouldnt recommend not leaving it plugged in while working with it, because if its like my tl-60 turion, its a snail when its running locked down at 800mhz in power saver mode
 
I would think that it would work fine. Your Sempron should perform a bit faster than your Pentium M. The cache may pose a problem, but I wouldn't think that it would be too major. One thing I recommend you download for your laptop is HDtune: http://www.hdtune.com/download.html

If you ever experience blue screens of death, run an error scan and check your disk health to ensure that your hard drive isn't going bad on you.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'll try to remember to come back and post the outcome when I get it... it's due in on Thursday.
 
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