Quote Originally Posted by [XC] hipno650 View Post
core 2 quads had up to 12MB of L2 Cache.... are they faster then a SB CPU single threaded? not even close.... more cache is always nice but won't make or break a CPU in any performance. also the 1100T has 512kb of L2 cache that double the i7's... and is it faster single threaded..... nope.

also we have no idea as to the cache speeds of bulldozer as well. the caches on Core i7 especially SB are SMOKING fast compared to anything else.

cache size can tell us next to nothing about any type of performance without seeing any other numbers. if we knew what bulldozer was capable of with a certain amount of cache we could make some guesses as to the increase in performance adding more cache would have but until then....

I do really like the whole "module" thinking as opposed to cores though as it seems that the sharing of resources more efficient. but how much more efficient?
wow u must be a genius, looks like no1 thought of that before... of course the 12MB of l2 cache for the core2quad Q9550 is slower than todays memory, and then u have the architecture. That lecturing was so not necessary

What we do know is the memory in Zambezi will be something special, not just that its very high density stuff but also very fast. As of what i read earlier the L2 cache will be working in the same speed as each module (3.5GHz?) and also induvidualy together with its designated module. Each module will have its own L3 cache but also be shared between modules, wich inceases the speed and lower latency. The 1.1V L3 cache will be working at 2.4+GHZ with induvidual frequency depending on load. I dont think Zambezi will have no trouble competing in pure memory speed with SB. But as u wrote,

The power gating will very much interesting to hear about with all these states.