cpu cache

[Jenox]

Bigger L2 is always better, but the performance difference isn't earth-shocking.

Cache size is good and all, but a bigger reflection on performance is frequency and architecture. Architecture is the main thing though. That and transistors is going to become a huge thing, with graphene and high-k metal transistors replacing silicon we're going to see absurd frequencies. For example in MaximumPC on the 45nm Penryn Core 2 Duo, they're stating that mid-range Core 2 Duos will hit a STANDARD of 4GHz, with Extreme Edition and Core 2 Quad hitting MUCH higher frequencies.

Expect record breaking performance from Intel and AMD within 3 years.

 

[ownage]

Bigger L2 is always better, but the performance difference isn't earth-shocking.

wrong. The Cedar Mills needed bigger L2 cache because of their long execution pipelines. But the L2 cache latency was horribly high. The C2D L2 cache latency is lower than the AMD latency, if i remember correctly.

 

[Jenox]

Yeah it is lower actually. You're correct on all of that.