For ps photo work only, is it UNnecessary to get the core 2 duo chip? as opposed to the core duo only?

thanx!

spphoto

I just installed a new Mac Pro 8 Core (Dual Quad Cores) at 3 ghz w/4GB of RAM and 1.5TB of internal SATA storage.

It rocks on CS3. Lightroom is also much faster especially when doing batch RAW conversions.

Bud James
North Wales, PA

"Core 2" is the second generation of Intels "Core" architecture (similar to the previous "Pentium" name). Core 2 parts are faster, use less power and offer better multi-core performance than the previous Core chips. If you are buying a new system it's worthwhile to get the Core 2 chips.

The phrase "duo" means there are two cores in a single chip. If you are buying a system with only one chip you most definitely will benefit from a "Core 2 duo" system as photoshop takes advantage of multiple cores.

This is a bit of a complicated question which I tried to research before orfering my new computer late last fall. The answer is less straightforward than it may appear. Core Duo and Core 2 Duo both feature 2 processors on one core. But, the architecture and performance characteristics of these processors are not the same, and they come in a range of clock speeds, the Core Duo having a maximum of 3 GHz and the Core 2 Duo 2.93 GHz. Tests done with Core 2 Duo and Core Duo on Photoshop indicate little performance difference, but the Core Duo - for example a processor such as the Intel Xeon 5160 - lends itself to quad-core upgrading (i.e. 2 processors on two cores yielding a total of 4 processors) whereas the Core 2 Duo (Intel E6800) I think I read does not. However, I have also read that the Core Duo is said not to support 64 bit computing, whereas the Core 2 Duo does. But not many applications - and not Photoshop - support 64 bit computing - yet. Quite a few comparisons and speed tests have been implemented with the various models of these generic processor types on a number of computer technically-oriented websites. You can do a Google search and read the various results. Overall one gets the general impression that performance rates accross a range of processing functions appear to give the Core 2 Duo a small speed advantage, but not clearly so for digital imaging in particular.

The Xeons, wile being Core chips, are not the same as the Core chips used in consumer systems. They are more like Core 1.5 as they are truly designed to be multi-core where the consumer Core chips were more of a hack to be sorta competitive with AMD who at the time had a lead in the multi-core market.

Intels next chip (code-named Penryn) will be the Core 3 and will launch in around 6-months. At that time all new chips will be of that new architecture, Xeons included. Even better there will be no memory bottlenecks and 8-core systems will actually be worth something.

If anyone thinks this is confusing, it was worse before the Core naming came about and Intel was just using numbers like BMW does.

For more detailed information comparing what we have in the "here and now", you may wish to see this:

PC Gaming Photoshop CS2

which comes from:
PC Gaming Home

This one is interesting for Mac owners using Windows XP, but does not include Photoshop in the tests:
Anandtech