What's the benefit of greater L2 cache?

[Ð88]

I'm just curious to know how much of an increase in performance you get from a processor that has a higher L2 cache memory as compared to one of the same specs but with a lower L2 cache. Take for instance the Core 2 duo E6300 and the E6600 processors. One has an L2 cache of 2MB and the other an L2 cache of 4MB. Does this provide a lot of gains to have more?

oh and i think what's most important that i want to get from this is whether or not, if i were to choose between the E6300 and the E6600 which have a considerable price difference, is it still worth the extra cash to opt for the E6600?

 

[AMDpwnz0r]

I also would like to know... my processor is only 2x 512... but i heard AMD uses less cache

 

[esa193]

yes the extra cash is deff worth is for the e600 that cpu is an over clocking beast
and the l2 catch i forget but it has somthing to do with prossesoring more instructions al the same time

 

[LambOfGod]

I'm just curious to know how much of an increase in performance you get from a processor that has a higher L2 cache memory as compared to one of the same specs but with a lower L2 cache. Take for instance the Core 2 duo E6300 and the E6600 processors. One has an L2 cache of 2MB and the other an L2 cache of 4MB. Does this provide a lot of gains to have more?

oh and i think what's most important that i want to get from this is whether or not, if i were to choose between the E6300 and the E6600 which have a considerable price difference, is it still worth the extra cash to opt for the E6600?

Most benchmarks have shown a 5% - 7% increase in performance with the extra 2MB of cache on the E6600

Same with AMD.

 

[LambOfGod]

and the l2 catch i forget but it has somthing to do with prossesoring more instructions al the same time

Thats not Correct, cache stores data so the CPU can access it faster.

 

[sanka]

You could always go e6400, right in the middle of those two.

 

[compguy91]

I believe the more cache a processor has the faster it can get things in and out of the processor therefore making it able to handle more at once. I could be wrong but I think that's how it works.

 

[LambOfGod]

Thats not Correct, cache stores data so the CPU can access it faster.

I answered this already.

If you want a more detailed explanation

here ya go. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cache

 

[compguy91]

I answered this already.

If you want a more detailed explanation

here ya go. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cache

thanks!

 

[LambOfGod]

thanks!

No prob man