>From Dave KD1NA The speed of a computer is dependent on many things, memory size and speed, hard drive capacity and data transfer speed, and finally the power of the CPU.
Now days CPU speed is less important then number of operations per clock pulse. You will find 3 gig clock speed CPU's but the important thing is how many operations a CPU performs during a given period or time. AMD Athalon and 64 bit processors out performed many Pentium 3 and 4 processors of higher clock speed because they performed more steps per clock pulse. Intel's answer was the multi core CPUs. The bottom line is the newer (and lower clock speed) CPUs will beat the hell out of the older higher clock speed units. 73 Dave KD1na >From Doug KR2Q I want to hook my K3's up to the latest skimmer software along with computer control of the rig, etc. and of course via the LP-Pan when it is available (soon). My query is about the computer processor and associated elements. Currently, I am reading that the way to go for skimmer (192kc bandwidth - not that I need that), is to use a machine with a 3G processor. But that seems to only account for one element of the system "rating." My current ham radio computer is a fossil on which I run DOS stuff. But my "home" computer (this one) is a Pentium 4, 3.0 Gig. Sounds right, but...... When I look at the new machines (which seem relatively cheap for what you get), I see: Core 2 Quad Q6600 Core 2 Duo Pentiuim Dual Core Celeron Athlon 64 etc. Then I see speeds for each of the above, NONE of which goes up to 3.0 gig. Just because my current processor has the "3.0 gig label," I am assuming that these newer releases are even faster, despite the lower clock rate. For the app's that I'm looking at, DOES CLOCK RATE RULE or does this other stuff count too? I also see big variables on the L2 Cache: 2MB, 4MB, 8MB - relatively speaking, how important are these compared to the other factors? And then there is the Front Side Bus speed: 800, 1333. Weird that the Core 2 Quad (which sounds like "the best" to me) has a FSB of 1066 (not the fastest). And finally, there is the clock speed, which for most of the above is 2.2, 2.33, 2.66 gig (again, not reaching 3.0). How do I put all this together? Again, for MY apps, which figure of merit is most important? Or do I just multiply them all together? :-) Reminder: "CPU gurus" only need respond. I prefer direct replies, but I assume that this topic might be of wide interest to the Elecraft group...YOUR CHOICE if you respond to the list or just to me. THANKS A TON! de Doug KR2Q "Expert on DRGs, not CPUs" _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com