northwood vs prescott

[crspii]

hey wat are the differences between these two p4 cores?

all i know is that the prescott has the (wierd u symbol) of 0.09
and the northwood has one of 0.13

im thinkin that affects number of bands and maybe therefore multi-tasking ability / speed enhancement...

but im not sure so maybe yall help enlighten me

 

[rakesh_1024]

Northwood-512Kb L2 cache
Prescott-1Mb L2 cache
But this doesn't show much off a difference as Prescott is usin a socket made for Northwood.
Moreover, Prescott dissipates a lot of heat.
A separate socket (915) for Prescott is just round the corner.
Maybe it would do some justice to it.

 

[The Merlin]

Currently Northwood is better than Prescott, uses less power and produces less heat, thats why some 478 socket mobo can't handle Prescott. Most don't believe that Prescott will surpass Northwood till it hit 4ghz, so its safe to say that your safe in buying a Northwood

 

[heavywx]

The difference between the two cores, is in the Prescott core intel used a strained silicone compound so the the path the data has to travel is straighter than in the Northwoods and a slightly longer data pipeline. The heat issue comes form the fact that the Prescott and Northwoods share the same size die. More processing power same size die equals more heat. As long as you have good airflow through your case you shouldn't have a problem with heat from the Prescott. But if your worried about heat, there is nothing wrong with the Northwoods, both are excellent processors.