how important is Bus Speed?

Hitime wrote on 9/10/2010, 1:39 AM

I am thinking of building a new computer. I have always thought in terms of processor speed But something deep inside says that Bus Speed is probably just as important for an application like VP. Is that right?

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 9/10/2010, 5:14 AM

bus speed is more important then CPU speed.

But there's a combination of things to consider, just not one thing.

baysidebas wrote on 9/10/2010, 6:57 AM

My first reaction was "just don't let it dip below 50 MPH..."

kkolbo wrote on 9/10/2010, 8:00 AM

My first reaction was "just don't let it dip below 50 MPH..."

Hard to follow that one. Nice.

The new Core i7s keep a lot right on the die reducing the importance of the buss speed compared to past systems. Right now, the current bus feeds my 980X all that it can handle. If not I can turn it up.

Steve Mann wrote on 9/10/2010, 9:05 AM

Bus speed alone says nothing. What's at the other end?

TheHappyFriar wrote on 9/10/2010, 9:07 AM

[/i]Bus speed alone says nothing. What's at the other end? [/i]

hopefully the bus stop. :p

Hitime wrote on 9/11/2010, 4:41 AM

try telling that to transport for London!!

In the past, my over simple rule of thumb for upgrading has been -- do it if I can double processor speed.

If I use this now I would be looking for 4.8. But I am guessing that with the very high bus speeds because of I7 integration an I7 3.02 would give a bigger improvement than I might expect from processor speed extrapolation.

agree?

TheHappyFriar wrote on 9/11/2010, 5:36 AM

as said above, since the AMD 64's, bus speed has been pretty much a non issue.

I'd suggest just look @ some benchmarks to see if the cost is worth it. I'm pretty sure that whatever CPU you have (intel duo based on your profile), you could get a faster one, but if you need a new MB, RAM, powersupply, etc. you could be looking @ $700 vs $200 just for a CPU upgrade.

kkolbo wrote on 9/11/2010, 12:44 PM

In the past, my over simple rule of thumb for upgrading has been -- do it if I can double processor speed.

@Hitime

Run the Render Test 2010 and compare it with other systems. I am willing to bet that your current unit will be double the time or more than what my systems posts, but I am only at 4.27GHz and even at 4.0GHz my system's time should be half of yours. Clock speed is no longer a good indicator.

With more and more included on the one die, data transfer is much faster. DDR 3 memory speeds are much higher. 6 Cores over two cores is night and day.

BTW, the render test times for my system are 4.27GHz , 104 seconds. At 4.0GHz, 112 seconds.