Gaming Performance using Oblivion

At Low Quality defaults in Oblivion (800 x 480 resolution), we finally see a performance difference between Core Duo and Core 2 Duo. In our Bruma benchmark the performance advantage is 16.1%, while the dungeon benchmark drops down to 10.5%. Given the number of NPCs present in towns, it appears the CPU has plenty of work to keep it busy.

Gaming Performance - Oblivion

Gaming Performance - Oblivion

Changing the settings to high quality results in a significant drop in frame rate and equalizes performance between the two CPUs. For all intents and purposes, unless you've got a laptop with a very high end GPU (or pair of GPUs), Core 2 Duo is no faster than Core Duo for gaming.

Gaming Performance using F.E.A.R. & Rise of Legends Power Consumption
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  • IntelUser2000 - Saturday, August 5, 2006 - link

    quote:

    It was interesting to compare the numbers in this review with the previous Core 2 Duo desktop review where 2MB vs 4MB L2 cache was examined (although at 1,83GHz/1066)

    http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?...">http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?...

    Its not a perfect comparison but from what I can gather, there are significant improvements performance wise coming from the core, even in the non-FP/SSE related benchmarks. A favorite argument among some people is that the extra cache makes all the difference, I hope this will shut them up! (tho I really doubt it)


    Correct. Lots of the benchmarks show 10% advantage for Core 2 Duo over Core Duo. The only 10% advantage 4MB L2 over 2MB L2 is in a single app.
  • bob661 - Thursday, August 3, 2006 - link

    Video makes ALL the difference in the world.
  • monsoon - Thursday, August 3, 2006 - link

    I'm in the market for a mini PC to do video trancode, and I was considering the MEROM chip to compare to YONAH...

    ...in the end, given the right graphic card ( add ATI X1400 series or higher here ) with hardware embedded transcode features, i guess the YONAH fits my bill just right.

    And i get to pay 100$ or 200$ less than the same computer with a MEROM which could not offer me better on the video side...

    What do you think ?
  • bob661 - Thursday, August 3, 2006 - link

    I would get the best video you can get with the cash saved from getting the Memron.
  • Tiamat - Thursday, August 3, 2006 - link

    Whats the difference between the Intel Core Duo T2300E* and the Intel Core Duo T2300E?

    I see a difference in price, but not specs. The page in the article does not address the asterisk...
  • Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, August 3, 2006 - link

    The asterisk means that the CPU lacks support for Intel Virtualization Technology (VT). I had the note on Page 3 but I forgot to include it on Page 2 :) Thanks for the heads up :)

    Take care,
    Anand

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