2.6 GHZ VS 2.9GHZ

[tcoll150]

I am debating whether this is worth the upgrade. How much of a differnce can I expect in launching apps, importing final cut pro projects, and multitasking windows etc. Any way you can quantify it would helf. Thanks so much!

 

[fs454]

It's going to be mostly negligible in most situations, but exporting / transcoding footage you're going to see anywhere from a 10-20% improvement. I went with it because I wanted the biggest improvement I could make over the Late 2013 model I was coming from. Every bit helps IMO, especially when dealing with 4K content on the regular.

Now, if this upgrade is preventing you from getting the Pro 460, go with the Pro 460 first before considering the CPU.

 

[tcoll150]

It's going to be mostly negligible in most situations, but exporting / transcoding footage you're going to see anywhere from a 10-20% improvement. I went with it because I wanted the biggest improvement I could make over the Late 2013 model I was coming from. Every bit helps IMO, especially when dealing with 4K content on the regular.

Now, if this upgrade is preventing you from getting the Pro 460, go with the Pro 460 first before considering the CPU.

Im coming from a 2010 baseline 13 inch so I imagine that increase will be great. Other than editing, any difference in opening apps or anything basic? What would you suggest I do?

 

[maratus]

My recommendation is to stick with 2.6GHz for lower temps under load and to reduce the chance of thermal / power throttling. I'd specifically order a base CPU with maxed out GPU and SSD (1TB or 2TB) if I were to order one.

 

[dk808]

My recommendation is to stick with 2.6GHz for lower temps under load and to reduce the chance of thermal / power throttling. I'd specifically order a base CPU with maxed out GPU and SSD (1TB or 2TB) if I were to order one.

That's what I did except I went with 1tb ssd

 

[tcoll150]

My recommendation is to stick with 2.6GHz for lower temps under load and to reduce the chance of thermal / power throttling. I'd specifically order a base CPU with maxed out GPU and SSD (1TB or 2TB) if I were to order one.

Does Thermal throttling slow it down if it happens to have more GHZ?

 

[maratus]

Does Thermal throttling slow it down if it happens to have more GHZ?

It depends on a particular situation (ambient temperature, exact CPU load, application specifics, iGPU or dGPU active, etc), but yes, a higher-end model may drop its actual frequency below a lower-end CPU that doesn't throttle under the same scenario. Although it's only true for very high loads where thermal limit (~103C) is reached by the higher-end CPU. In the majority of lower intensity loads it'll maintain proportionally higher turbo-boost frequencies (+0.3GHz actually, just like it's base difference) and perform up to 11.5% better. But then again, a lower intensity load often means that processor performance is not as important or there's a different bottleneck present like RAM bandwidth.

Another feature to consider is a new TDP control implemented by Apple. Once CPU reaches its thermal limit, it'll significantly drop the frequency to adjust it's TDP from 45W down to 35W for a short period of time (1-2 minutes?), which helps to speed up the cool down and maintain lower temperatures and improve overall system stability and long-term reliability. This was not the case before and I couldn't verify it myself. If it's true, however, it may result in a more significant performance drop compared to the 2.6GHz model. Kudos to duervo for pointing this out.

 

[duervo]

Does Thermal throttling slow it down if it happens to have more GHZ?

Yes, the CPU will drop down to 35W once it's been running at ~100 C for a little while. The reduced power draw will result in slightly slower performance.

For that reason, I would just get the 2.6 with the 460 if it were me, as it's unlikely you will be running at max speed long enough to really make that much of difference, and for routine tasks the difference most likely won't be noticeable. For these laptops, money is better spent elsewhere before putting it towards maxing out the CPU.

 

[tcoll150]

It depends on a particular situation (ambient temperature, exact CPU load, application specifics, iGPU or dGPU active, etc), but yes, a higher-end model may drop its actual frequency below a lower-end CPU that doesn't throttle under the same scenario. Although it's only true for very high loads where thermal limit (~103C) is reached by the higher-end CPU. In the majority of lower intensity loads it'll maintain proportionally higher turbo-boost frequencies (+0.3GHz actually, just like it's base difference) and perform up to 11.5% better. But then again, a lower intensity load often means that processor performance is not as important or there's a different bottleneck present like RAM bandwidth.

Another feature to consider is a new TDP control implemented by Apple. Once CPU reaches its thermal limit, it'll significantly drop the frequency to adjust it's TDP from 45W down to 35W for a short period of time (1-2 minutes?), which helps to speed up the cool down and maintain lower temperatures and improve overall system stability and long-term reliability. This was not the case before and I couldn't verify it myself. If it's true, however, it may result in a more significant performance drop compared to the 2.6GHz model. Kudos to duervo for pointing this out.

It's nice to hear on here somebody who knows what they're talking about. I really wonder what purpose of the higher clock speed is then really? Is it only beneficial if you're doing a very intensive task after it's cooled down it will be faster?
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Yes, the CPU will drop down to 35W once it's been running at ~100 C for a little while. The reduced power draw will result in slightly slower performance.

For that reason, I would just get the 2.6 with the 460 if it were me, as it's unlikely you will be running at max speed long enough to really make that much of difference, and for routine tasks the difference most likely won't be noticeable. For these laptops, money is better spent elsewhere before putting it towards maxing out the CPU.

Thanks.