Is Cache important?

The laptops I've been looking at differ greatly in L2 Cache. The AMD Turion has 1MB Cache (512KB+512KB) and the IC2D has a 4MB Cache. I was wondering if it was important to get the IC2D because of the Cache. They both have 256MB Nvidia GEFORCE 8400 GS graphics cards. Thanks.Is Cache important?
Different architectures. AMD chips do not require much L2 cache to perform well due to their onboard memory controller. Intel chips are much more dependent on L2 cache - I would never get a Core 2 Duo with less than 2MB of L2 cache per core unless it was someone who intended to overclock and would be getting a Yorkfield chip in a few months.That being said, the only mobile Core 2 Duo chips that have 4MB of L2 cache are clocked at 2.0GHz or greater - which means they'll perform much better than any Turion.Is Cache important?
The Cache is basically active memory that gets stored by the system for faster access, In your case it all depends on how fast the CPU uses the Cache this link has lots of useful information http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cache.htm, also I hope you don't plan on playing high intense games with the 8400GS as its a very week graphics card even for a laptop
Would this one be a good laptop for gaming? (for the price it seems leagues better than the XPS--I've seen XPS runnin 3 grand w/ the same stats as this.http://www.costco.com/CTO/HPProduct.aspx?Prodid=10029570%26whse=BC%26Ne=4000000%26eCat=BC%7c84%7c56670%26N=4017749%26Mo=1%26No=1%26Nr=P_CatalogName%3aBC%26cat=28163%26Ns=P_Price%7c1%7c%7cP_SignDesc1%26lang=en-US%26Sp=C%26topnav=%26model=GT811AV%26configno=729203f5-b989-4178-a093-150ca9e1402c
The 8600M GS isn't quite as good as the 8600M GT. But for the price, it does look like a good laptop, I just wouldn't count on it being a gaming powerhouse.
What kind of games would it run? (I don't require high detail, just playable fps)--would it run COD4 or Crysis, or just games like Med2TW and Prince of Persia Trilogy? thanks
[QUOTE=''moonroot'']What kind of games would it run? (I don't require high detail, just playable fps)--would it run COD4 or Crysis, or just games like Med2TW and Prince of Persia Trilogy? thanks[/QUOTE]Oh, it'll run any game currently on the market - Crysis will probably be low-medium, but everything else should be medium at least.
Sweet, is it necessary to have a 6MB Cache or could I downgrade to the 4MB to save money?
i.e. would the processor bottleneck the graphics performance if I kicked it down to the 2.2 GHz w/ 4MB L2 Cache?
Sorry about all the posts, I just keep thinking of more q's lol. Is it helpful to have the 7200rpm hard drive like i do or should I downgrade?
Srry again lol. Earlier you said that the Intel w/ 4MB was better because it was clocked at 2.0GHz+ . If I were to find and AMD w/ this graphics card and a 2.2 or 2.4 GHz processor, would it be preferable? Thanks
RaivnAzn???
One at a time:1: You don't need a 7200RPM drive unless you're not overly concerned with battery life and need to move around a lot of files all the time.2: Any Intel Core 2 Duo processor with more than 2MB of L2 cache is fine. I said the 4MB was better because Intel does not make any mobile chips clocked lower than 2.0GHz with that much cache, meaning that if you have a cache that big, you've got a faster-clocked processor. And you can't compare Intel and AMD clock-to-clock. I haven't looked at laptop processor charts for quite a while though - last I checked though, a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo chip will outperform a 2.4GHz Turion X2.