3D GAME SHOOTOUT: 17" MacBook Pro Core Duo versus 17" MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo Posted January 5th, 2007, Rob-ART Morgan, mad scientist We originally compared a 15" Core 2 Duo to a 17" Core Duo MacBook Pro since that's all we could get our hands on. However, when it came to our game tests at 1440x900, the 17" was at a disadvantage since the 15" was optimized for that resolution. So we are replacing those graphs with the ones below showing two 17" MacBook Pros both with the Mobility Radeon X1600 GPU, both with two matching 1GB memory modules, and both with a 7200rpm boot drive. The only obvious difference is the processors -- one has a 2.16GHz Core Duo and the other a 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo. Legend of Graphs (and configuration of test units) MBP C2D 2.33 = 17" MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz with 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (matched 1GB pairs), ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 (256M GDDR3) GPU, and Hitachi 100GB 7200rpm internal hard drive MBP CD 2.16 = 17" MacBook Pro Core Duo 2.16GHz with 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (matched 1GB pairs), ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 (256M GDDR3) GPU, and Seagate 100GB 7200RPM internal hard drive We ran at both the native 1680x1050 resolution as well as a less demanding widescreen setting, 1280x800. INSIGHTS The MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo's advantage over the Core Duo version ranged from 5% to 48% depending on what 3D Game and what resolution. The faster core clock speed should provide an 8% advantage, so everything beyond that is "gravy." Of the 3D Games we tested, the one that benefited the most from the Core 2 Duo was Doom 3 -- especially at the native 1680x1050 setting. Neither CPU clock speed nor larger L2 cache explains the gain. However, 3D games tend to become GPU bound as the resolution goes up. Doom 3's advantage on the MBP C2D increased from 10% to 48% when we increased the resolution from 1280x800 to 1680x1050. If, indeed, Doom 3 was becoming GPU bound, the next paragraph explains the C2D's advantage. The Mobility Radeon X1600 in both units "idles" at 311MHz core clock speed and 297MHz memory clock speed when non-OpenGL apps are running or nothing is active. But when you launch a 3D Game like Doom 3 and run a live game sequence or timed demo, the core clock and memory clock speeds ramp up in both models of 17" MacBook Pro. We used Graphiccelerator to measure the core frequencies before, during, and after running Doom 3. Both at "Idle" Active OpenGL MBP CD Active OpenGL MBP C2D Core Clock 311MHz 423MHz 472MHz Memory Clock 297MHz 450MHz 477MHz So you see, the Core 2 Duo model's GPU ramps up to higher frequencies than the Core Duo model. That's going to help when the app is GPU bound. And it appears to explain the 48% advantage we measured while running Doom 3 at the native 1680x1050 resolution. WHERE TO BUY A MACBOOK or MACBOOK PRO Apple Online Store has the MacBook Pro with free shipping. Check the SPECIAL DEALS section for factory refubished MacBook Pros. (Click Apple display ads or text links and you help support Bare Feats.) For noise suppression, nothing beats ear covering headphones like the Bose Quiet Comfort 2. For ear "fobs," we use the Bose In-Ear Headphones when listening to our iPod -- Help support Bare Feats by ordering your Bose headphones from Sharper Image. Has Bare Feats helped you? How about helping Bare Feats?