Processor comparison

Question

What would the approximate performance difference be between the two otherwise identical systems:   Inspiron 6000D with Intel Pentium MProcessor 760 (2GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB) Inspiron 5160 with PROCESSOR, 80546, PENTIUM 4 PRESCOTT MT, 538, E0     Also, is the 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon X300 Video Card, for Inspiron 6000 integrated or upgradable?

ejn63 · Answer

Add 1 GHz to the Pentium-M to come up with the equivalent P4 (so a 2 GHz Pentium-M runs about as a 3 GHz P4).

The video card is replaceable, but there is at present no upgrade, nor any guarantees there will ever be. Dell never upgraded the 51xx models beyond entry-level video, and the 6000 is similarly a budget system.

If video is an issue, look at the Latitude D810 or Inspiron 9300/XPS - don't buy a 6000d expecting a video upgrade, as there may never be one, and the card, as is the case with all Dell systems, is proprietary and single-source.

milly2 · Answer

Actually, the 6000D is a replacement for a fauly 5160 (the notorious motherboard issue). As such, and in light of your reply, I'm wondering if the processor then meets Dell's supposed standard for replacement with an equal or superior system.

Any ideas?

ejn63 · Answer

The 6000 is indeed the replacement for the 51xx series.

The feature set is similar, and the video is comparable. The 51xx was never a high performance system to begin with - it was a budget-to-mainstream system all the way around, just like the 6000.

milly2 · Answer

'Similar' or 'superior' - I'm asking because if the processor is indeed lower performance, I'm going to call Dell to challenge them on the issue. After months of dealing with them with no apparent result, I'm not accepting another defective/inferior replacement. As to it being a mid-level performance system, I know and agree. The original system was a graduation present and not the one I would have designed myself. That Dell's trying to squeak by with a barely equivalent replacement after two years is dissapointing, but not surprising. That's why I'm wondering if the 2.0 Ghz M is indeed lower performance than the 3.20 ghz P4M.

Straddude2 · Answer

We've come down the question... Is a Prescott P4 better than a Pentium M processor... Its all a matter of what you are expecting your laptop to do! :) Both of these specific processors (The M at 2.0Ghz and the P4 and 3.06) are pretty good solutions for a non-ethusiast, non-gamer who needs enough power to get the job done. That being said, they are also both 90nm processors, giving you the most efficient processing available through intel. The advantage to having the P4 is high clock speeds (800Mhz FSB) and a faster processor. The disadvantages to the P4 rigth now... The heat are power consumption of these processors are unbelievably higher than the M series processors. (Having two 3.4Ghz P4's, my computer is a space heater :)) Obviously, the advantage to having a processor like the M is to have less heat, and less power consumption. For example, the P4 can easily put out 30 to 40 watts of heat even when sitting idle - with the specification allowing a maximum of 115 watts - the Pentium M is downright frugal, with its maximum thermal design power of 27 Watts. This all in all, allows for more battery life out of the same battery. If you want power, go with the P4... Less power but more mobility and heat, go with the M.

Take it easy!

milly2 · Answer

That's pretty much exactly the case I've been trying to make to Dell in contesting the replacement of a P4-M 538 3.20 ghz processor with a system running a PM 760 2.0 ghz processor. While the FSB is the same in both cases (533 mhz) and there's a cache increase from 1MB to 2MB, nearly everything suggests an overall drop in processing power.   While there are likely to be advantages to the PM (being able to put the laptop on my lap without risking a burn after five minutes, for instance, or extended battery life), processing power is far more important to me. I'm a student who's using the computer for everything from standard word processing and email apps to database work, physics simulations, watching movies, and light gaming. This is my primary (and only) PC at present.   After the two presumably heat-related motherboard problems I've had with 5100 series systems, I'd certainly like a system less prone to overheating, but not if it will bring about a loss of performance, as this will.   I spoke with a manager in Dell tech support yesterday and he agreed that there would be a performance drop and stated that instead of replacing my defective 5160 with a 6000D (which has not yet shipped), he was going to seek to upgrade that to a computer with comprable processor-level performance. He gave me a case number and transfered me to customer service, which he said would complete the setup.   I asked him to conference them in, as I pretty much expected something to go wrong, as this is Dell tech support. He said that was unnecessary, as I had a case number. I got on the line with customer service and was told that the case number was invalid (I was given an 8, not 9, digit number). I explained the situation to an exceptionally rude customer service rep and asked her to see if the 8 digit number was a dispatch number. After telling me that this wasn't her department and so she had no responsibility to look into it, she relented and told me that it wasn't a dispatch number (this happened a bit fast for her to have checked). I asked to speak to her supervisor, and was promptly disconnected.   I called tech support back and spoke to another supervisor who told me that the PM chip outperforms the P4M in every way, including all tests of clock speed. I disputed this, and he told me that he had been on the design team for the 5100 series for two years and that he knew what he was talking about. I asked him if he happened to be on the part of the design team that missed that motherboard flaw that's widely reported on these forums, he told me that even if I was right from a 'technical standpoint,' the 6000D was in production, despite my request that I be informed of the system specs before that stage, and that I should 'live with it.' I asked to speak with his supervisor and was told that I'd be called back in half an hour.   I'm currently at 20 hours and counting.   This has been a nearly year long technical support nightmare, and I'm really eager to just bury the issue. I've been buying Dell computers for close to a decade and miss the days when, if your problem couldn't be solved immediately over the phone, a tech would be there within two days to fix the problem once and for all.   At this point, I'm pretty much ready to accept the 6000D and performance loss just so I have a working computer, but it's exceptionally frustrating. Does anyone have a link to a benchmark comparison of the P4M 538 3.2 ghz and PM 760 2.0 ghz processors? I've been looking for a side-by-side comparison that I can clearly show the next person at Dell that I speak to. Does anyone here know of one?   Thanks.

Straddude2 · Answer

Ok... I'm sorry to hear about Dell being.. Dell. I only bought from them due to their Inspiron XPS line. Granted I've changed most of the hardware in mine to hardware I know is better than stock, but I hate to hear of all your problems and I hope I don't see any of them down the line!

As for the benchmarking situation...

This is the best and most thourough benchmark of the P4, P4EE(representin' :)) P-M, AMD64.

http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=gmso&page=1

I'll save you some time. There is no clear winner between the P4EE (running at stock 3.4Ghz) and the AMD64. However, I think you'll be surprised once you see the graphs. That Dell "dood" with the P-M processor was full of it. You'll see.

(and to be completely honest, he was. It's called bad salesmanship)

Also, on the webpage, be sure to read the fine print under each graph title... they can be misleading is you don't. Sometimes a longer line doesn't mean better and vice versa.

milly2 · Answer

Called again, spoke to a customer service rep who at first refused to connect me to a supervisor. Finally relented. Supervisor told me that he didn't think he could do anything and that I should just stop pursuing it. I said that I was highly hesitant to accept a downgrade in performance. He placed me on hold to look into the issue for a full half hour, at which point the call kicked back to the start of the phone system.   Amazingly frustrating. I'm writing a letter to Dell, and it's taken nearly seven pages to chronicle my recent dealings with their tech/customer service departments (I've been keeping notes).

milly2 · Answer

Got a Friday night (2:15AM!) from a rep calling to see if the issue had been resolved - once I said no, he pretty much lost interest and reverted back to the 'live with it' line of answers. Finally agreed to schedule a call with both a tech support and customer service supervisor at 4PM today - let's see if it happens. The last two times I was promised such a call it didn't arrive.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

Processor comparison

Was this post helpful?