Conroe vs Merom

[2ms]

Is a 2.3GHz Conroe identical in performance to a 2.3GHz Merom. If the two perform differently (other than Merom using less power), then please explain why and/or characterize the differences in performance

[enz660]

same question here..

[Evilsizer]

merom is conroe, as you know merom uses less voltage for the same speed and is 35watt TDP vs 65watts.
merom uses 166mhz x4 = 667mhz cpu bus
conroe uses 266mhz x4 =1066mhz cpu bus

depending on the task merom will preform close to its bigger brother somewhere within 10%-15%(guessing). i havent been able to find any numbers comparing the 2, thats why the guess. this lack of matching performance is due to the fsb the cpu uses nothing else. as if you were to be able to use the same fsb for both there would same across the board.

now why you didnt ask.. the "woodcrest" core is the same as the 2 above the main difference being the fsb for the LGA771 variant is 333mhz x4=1333mhz cpu bus. the mear increase in fsb for the cpu alone at same clock speeds gives the cpu a boost. using a "woodcrest" at 2.66ghz with 1333mhz cpu bus vs 1066mhz is going to give you in the area of 10-15% increase in performance from the faster fsb alone.

hope i didnt confuse you...but it comes down to the fsb of the cpu. given same cpu speed the one with the faster fsb is going to be faster/better.

in case you didnt know
T5xxx(merom) use socket-M aka socket 478/479
Xeon 5xxx uses LGA771 setup for dual cpu allowing 4 cores total atm

the merom is in retail channels along with mobo's to use them in. the main reason i see why someone would use it is for HTPC'S/passive(near passive rigs). since the majority of mobo's for it are m-atx and smaller.

[2ms]

damn that sucks. Isnt bus bandwidth the biggest weakness of the c2d? Why is it necessary to narrow the bus for the mobile apps? It cant be the bus is what causes the power consumption difference , can it?

[greenmaji]

More bus speed makes for more expensive motherboard production normaly.

And that kind of makes sence in this case, notebook computers need some way of saving money producing expensive propietary motherboards.

Server motherboards are rediculusly priced and dual etched for the CPU to NB interconect.

And desktop motherboards are middle gound.

[Evilsizer]

damn that sucks. Isnt bus bandwidth the biggest weakness of the c2d? Why is it necessary to narrow the bus for the mobile apps? It cant be the bus is what causes the power consumption difference , can it?
i think intel in the mobiles aims for really low heat and power usage for the chipsets. this is more then likely the reason why the c2d in lappies dont get a fsb boost till they change the socket. intel might also be shrinking the chipset die, with the new socket. thus allowing them to boost the fsb without being more power hungry.

[Gautam]

Meroms are pretty competitive against Conroes. The lower FSB doesn't hamper them as you may think. Unfortunately all the pics are down in this (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1449272&postcount=33) thread, but it still sums things up well.

Really they're about equal for all practical purposes, unless you really get into the nitty-gritty in comparing benchmarks. Meroms pack an incredible amount of performance per watt...completely unprecedented. (I hear a ~10W model will be coming out in the near future as well)

[Evilsizer]

Meroms are pretty competitive against Conroes. The lower FSB doesn't hamper them as you may think. Unfortunately all the pics are down in this (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1449272&postcount=33) thread, but it still sums things up well.

Really they're about equal for all practical purposes, unless you really get into the nitty-gritty in comparing benchmarks. Meroms pack an incredible amount of performance per watt...completely unprecedented. (I hear a ~10W model will be coming out in the near future as well)
thanks for pointing that thread out i didnt see it. was it 10w, i thought i saw something about a 8watt one some time ago unless im thinkng of the older ULV's...well yea a 7watt banis 900mhz
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL6NJ
funny how going from 900mhz to 1.1ghz jumps to 12watts
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL6NC
but then i hope intel can top this one
1.1ghz 5watts
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL7F4
the die shrink from 13 to 09 really made a difference.

[schnikies79]

is there any use for the merom outside of the notebook area? i have a core duo in my laptop that i'm thinking about upgrading to a c2d early next year. it would be nice to be able to do something with the old chip other than just sell it off.

aren't they pinned different than the conroe?

[Evilsizer]

allendale/conroe = lga775
yohan/merom = sk478/479

if you got a core solo/duo lappy you should be able to drop it in as you might need to update the bios.

like i said above the merom would be great for near passive and htpc rigs. mobos for dothan/yohan/merom are more costly then conroe boards. looking at newegg old dothan boards still go for $130.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010200280+1070613561&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=280
with the cheapest core solo/duo/core 2 duo @$130-$180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010200280+1070621045&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=280

i mean look at this passive celey-m
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813202002

[2ms]

I just got a new 20" C2D iMac and these things are barely larger than a normal lcd screen of the same size. And they have built-in speakers, dvd burner, all the i/o right on side of screen yada yada. I think the only fan is a 1.5" nearly silent one for air intake and then there basically invisible exhaust slots on underside and top of screen. I'm pretty awestruck by how fast this thing is. For example, it is noticeably faster than the big, loud, 3.0GHz computers (basically high-end Dells with FireGL pro cards) in the CAD lab at my engineering school Even installed Windows (with BootCamp) as addition to the OS X and games fly in my book, but I've been out of hardcore gaming for a few years so my reference might not be up to date.

Oh yeah and my point was that it good example of Merom being put to very unique, convenient, useful use outside of the notebook area.

[t0xik]

Conroe for the win

[Moto7451]

Merom runs at a 667MHz FSB because the current chipset (the 945GM) runs at a max 166MHz FSB to keep the chipset's power usage low iirc. When their next mobile platform comes out (I forget the name) it'll be on the 800MHz FSB I think.

[Charr]

Merom's performance is right on par with Yonah's performance since the bus speed is the limiting factor on Merom. Many people who have bought Merom chips are disappointed because of the lack of a boost from the Yonah series, but that is to be expected since Merom is the same price as the Yonahs once were. Intels next centrino platform is named Santa Monica, and it will use the 800MHz bus and 802.11N rather than 802.11G.

[Evilsizer]

Merom's performance is right on par with Yonah's performance since the bus speed is the limiting factor on Merom. Many people who have bought Merom chips are disappointed because of the lack of a boost from the Yonah series, but that is to be expected since Merom is the same price as the Yonahs once were. Intels next centrino platform is named Santa Monica, and it will use the 800MHz bus and 802.11N rather than 802.11G.
yep im :drool: :drool: for a "mini mac" type with that hardware.

[Charr]

Merom does "kill" the Yonah line, so the price is falling ;)

[Gautam]

Merom's performance is right on par with Yonah's performance since the bus speed is the limiting factor on Merom.
Any benchmarks to support that claim? Merom slaughters Yonah effortlessly; keeps up with Conroe just fine, save for a couple of percent in some tasks. Architecturally, the Merom IS a Conroe, the Yonah is not. For starters, its got half the cache, and is only a 3 issue core as opposed to 4. There's no use for Merom outside of lappies, but it crushes everything else there.

[Evilsizer]

Any benchmarks to support that claim? Merom slaughters Yonah effortlessly; keeps up with Conroe just fine, save for a couple of percent in some tasks. Architecturally, the Merom IS a Conroe, the Yonah is not. For starters, its got half the cache, and is only a 3 issue core as opposed to 4. There's no use for Merom outside of lappies, but it crushes everything else there.
the no use outside of lappies is not complety true here. im planning a future rig all passive with one and using a "flash mem" for a HD. they do keep up like you say and only put out 34 watts of heat vs 65 watts. i get what your saying as the lappy parts are some $$ even for the slow ones. if you can build a passive rig with near same performance and you didn't oc wouldnt you take it? i know asking you to not oc is like asking you not to breathe/eat:beer:
i see a market outside of lappies but the price for the chips compared to desktop parts is up there. it is a trade off though, just depends if your willing to take that trade off.

[Gautam]

Yeah, let me be more broad and say it's got no use for a high performance PC. It's great for any lower power application.