Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2015 December 24

= December 24 =

Difference between generations in microprocessor
Even though heard a lot, but really don't know what does this 4th, 5th and 6th generation after i3,i5 and i7 means. Could anyone explain it..? Also, please give a comparison to i5 6th generation and i7 5th generation.-- Jos   eph   15:11, 24 December 2015 (UTC)


 * If I'm understanding your question correctly, the "generations" refer to Intel's successive microarchitectures. Basically the i3/i5/i7 stuff is Intel's branding for its consumer CPU product line. See Intel Core. Intel sticks with the Core i3/i5/i7 branding even as it periodically cycles out old chips and introduces new ones based on newer microarchitectures. It's kind of like car models: Toyota sells one Camry, but each year a Camry is a different car, and some industry analysts group historical model years into different "generations". (The analogous counterpart to processor microarchitectures might be large-scale redesigns of models, as opposed to the more minor tweaks that usually differentiate model years.) --71.119.131.184 (talk) 15:32, 24 December 2015 (UTC)


 * To be more specific, refer to the sections of Intel Core. Sandy Bridge was called the second generation, ... Broadwell is called the sixth generation.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 23:06, 24 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Notice that's important not to push this analogy too far. Contrary to car models, microchips do not get released regularly once each year. Car manufacturers will make at least some minor design changes to their annual model release, and keep the pace 1 model/year. Microchip manufacturers can stick longer or shorter to their products, making changes as appropriate.--Denidi (talk) 16:14, 24 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Citation needed? Is that not obvious? "Alfred P. Sloan extended the idea of yearly fashion-change from clothing to automobiles in the 1920s." from Model year.--Denidi (talk) 17:16, 24 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Does the efficiency changes with generations..? I mean the performance.-- Jos   eph   05:39, 25 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Yes, but very little now - a few percent per generation of one of the Intel Core processors. Back in my day, the differences from generation to generation were large, for instance 8088 to 80286, to 80386, etc - each was probably 2.5-3 times as fast as the previous one (my rough estimate).  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 06:36, 25 December 2015 (UTC)


 * For instance, if your 8088 system wasn't fast enough, you would buy a 286, which would be a huge improvement. (I generally skipped every other generation - I had a Motorola 6502, an Intel 8088, Intel 386 (skipping 286), a Pentium (skipping 486), a Pentium II, and a Pentium IV (skipping Pentium III). But now it doesn't make sense to buy a sixth-generation i5 because your fifth-generation i5 isn't fast enough.  This year, after the sixth-generation i7s came out, I bought at fourth-generation i7 because they are cheaper and gave a lot more performance for the money.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 06:44, 25 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Even though it's little hard to understand this, thanks a lot for the answers. I'm new to this type of stuff...micro-processing and all.. I need little more help and suggestion from you. I'm trying to buy a laptop. I'm a multimedia student and I need one that I could work with Autodesk Maya and Avid Media Composer smoothly. And I (assume) found two under my budget: HP Pavilion Notebook - 15-ab522TX and HP Pavilion Notebook - 15-p207tx. Can you suggest which is best for me..?-- Jos   eph   07:29, 25 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Your software usage would suggest to me it may be better to concentrate on looking for a decent discreet GPU than the CPU. Or at the very least, look for something with the Iris rather than HD Graphics (although I don't think the Intel OpenGL drivers are particularly good). Nil Einne (talk) 13:51, 25 December 2015 (UTC)
 * p207tx comes with 2GB NVIDIA GeForce 840m and ab522tx comes with 4GB NVIDIA GeForce 940m. So which will be better..?-- Jos   eph   05:05, 26 December 2015 (UTC)