CPU questions from a noob

[bocooler90]

Hello, I am trying to get smart on buying a new laptop. I don't know very much about computers ( I didn't even know what a CPU was until yesterday) I don't understand how to compare CPUs.

Some CPU's say they have "turbo boost or max turbo". Is this hype or will my processor really run at the advertised turbo speed?

When a CPU says it has "3 MB L3 cache" what does that mean?

How do I compare processors when they have different speeds, different number of cores, different caches and options like turbo boost. For example, how would I figure out which is better:
3.0GHz CPU (3MB L3 Cache) vs 2.50GHz CPU (2MB L2 cache) with 3.10GHz Max Turbo

How would I figure out which is better: 2.2GHz single core vs 1.4GHz dual core

Is there a good site for noobs and CPUs? I'm finding sites, but they are mostly too advanced for me :S Thanks for the help!

 

[Dangman]

Hello, I am trying to get smart on buying a new laptop. I don't know very much about computers ( I didn't even know what a CPU was until yesterday) I don't understand how to compare CPUs.

Some CPU's say they have "turbo boost or max turbo". Is this hype or will my processor really run at the advertised turbo speed?

That turbo speed is only attainable if you're just doing like one thing. If you're doing multiple things at the same time with the PC, you will not get that turbo speed.

When a CPU says it has "3 MB L3 cache" what does that mean?

It's an extra feature that helps the performance of the CPU. Generally the larger it is, the better the performance of the PC will be .

How do I compare processors when they have different speeds, different number of cores, different caches and options like turbo boost. For example, how would I figure out which is better:
3.0GHz CPU (3MB L3 Cache) vs 2.50GHz CPU (2MB L2 cache) with 3.10GHz Max Turbo

How would I figure out which is better: 2.2GHz single core vs 1.4GHz dual core

You generally cannot compare based on specs alone as the CPU architecture or design also heavily influences performance of a CPU. As such, one CPU clocked at 3.2Ghz may actually be slower than the CPU clocked at 2.2GHz if that lower clocked CPU has the better CPU archecture. You really only can see the difference by reading actual hardware reviews. The only time where you can compare specs without reading reviews is if the CPUs are from the same family/architecture of CPUs and that there's quantifiable and known performance difference clock for clock between the different cores. So for example, while the Core i3-3120M is of the Ivy Bridge core and the Core i3-2330M is of the Sandy Bridge core, they both fall under the same family of CPUs, Sandy Bridge. In addition, the performance difference between the Ivy Bridge core and Sandy bridge cores is only about 3% to 5%. As such you can actually compare those CPUs based on specs alone. On the other hand, you can't compare AMD and Intel CPUs on specs alone due to the vastly different CPUs family/architectures

Is there a good site for noobs and CPUs? I'm finding sites, but they are mostly too advanced for me :S Thanks for the help!

Not really. A lot of them require you to know a little something about CPUs or know how research them effectively. I generally use Bit-tech.net, HardOCP.com, Anandtech, and Xbitlabs for CPU reviews.