[SOLVED] Base clock speed question

[LookingForInfo]

Hello. I want to buy a laptop for music production.
Most specs are the same.

However, one has base clock speed of 1.3ghz, turbo boost of 3.9ghz.
The other has base clock speed of 1.8ghz and turbo boost of 4.9ghz.

From what I understand, turbo boost is not important for music production as it will rarely come into use, if at all.

However, 1.3ghz base clock speed sounds very low. Even 1 8ghz sounds low.
I bought an i3, same brand, same ram... About 5 years ago. It was in the same price range at the time (maybe it was a bit cheaper), but it's base clock speed was over 2ghz.

Acckrding to benchmark cpu tests, the laptop with 1.3ghz base clock speed performs better than 1.8ghz base clock speed.

I understand turbo boost speed may not be of great significance, but how can the laptop with only 1.3ghz base speed have a relatively high rating?

Both cpus are i7 10th generation

Kind regards

 

[abvolt]

I agree with you the base clocks on both seen way too low, can you give us a little more details on the laptops your looking at and any price point. Some of the lower cost laptops I've been looking at most base clocks starts at about 2.4 - 2.8

 

[Gam3r01]

Why are you concerned about base clocks? The laptop will only operate at those speeds under zero load.
They have no impact on how the processor is going to perform when you are actually using the system.
If anything, a lower idle speed is better for battery life.

Laptops are different than desktop environments, they will have significantly lower base clocks to preserve battery life and keep temps down. That is the point of turbo boost, to dynamically change the clock speeds to whatever they need to be at. Its a gradient, not base vs max.

Also, if these are the same laptops as your other thread, you really should keep it to one question.

 

[Karadjgne]

There's 3 speeds to a cpu.

1. Idle, which is most normally less than @ 5% usage and no user input for a stated time limit.
2. Base speed which is whatever intel/amd have set and tested for TDP value, and usually has a maximum tolerance of @ 30% cpu usage. Can be set to 100% usage in bios by disable turbo functions.
3. Boost (turbo), which is normal operating performance mode, as set and approved by intel/amd through bios.

Not sure where you got the information that a faster cpu does nothing for sound production, by which I mean physically it doesn't affect playback, sound reproduction, but it does affect transfer speeds, recording, rendering, format changes, save speeds, download speeds, burning speeds etc which considerably affects the sounds value to your time.

You can bet any money you choose, but I guarantee that Lucasfilm, Disney, Pixar studios are not working with computers at 1.8GHz for sound production.

With a laptop, base speed is what's normally used when it's under battery power, turbo functions will be enabled when plugged into power. The base speeds will use something like 15w, but when plugged in will boost to 25w or better.

 

[LookingForInfo]

Thanks for the replies.
Firstly, I opened a new topic because two other topics had been merged. Two of the laptops were the same as this thread, two others were not. To avoid confusion I opened this thread. This will be my last thread about these laptops, 😊

I hear you say base clock speed is not important. However, I heard others say in a different conversation that turbo boost speed is not important, as music production is unlikely to require this turbo boost speed. If this is true, doesn't that mean the laptop will be working at base clock speed?

 

[Gam3r01]

Thanks for the replies.
Firstly, I opened a new topic because two other topics had been merged. Two of the laptops were the same as this thread, two others were not. To avoid confusion I opened this thread. This will be my last thread about these laptops, 😊

I hear you say base clock speed is not important. However, I heard others say in a different conversation that turbo boost speed is not important, as music production is unlikely to require this turbo boost speed. If this is true, doesn't that mean the laptop will be working at base clock speed?

The laptop will work at whatever (typically fastest) speed it needs to to complete the task.
If I had to guess, the other information was either regarding the fact that music production probably wont stress the processor enough to reach max turbo speeds, or that the small difference in max speeds wont impact your ability to work.

They did not mean that turbo speeds are worthless.

 

[LookingForInfo]

There's 3 speeds to a cpu.

1. Idle, which is most normally less than @ 5% usage and no user input for a stated time limit.
2. Base speed which is whatever intel/amd have set and tested for TDP value, and usually has a maximum tolerance of @ 30% cpu usage. Can be set to 100% usage in bios by disable turbo functions.
3. Boost (turbo), which is normal operating performance mode, as set and approved by intel/amd through bios.

Not sure where you got the information that a faster cpu does nothing for sound production, by which I mean physically it doesn't affect playback, sound reproduction, but it does affect transfer speeds, recording, rendering, format changes, save speeds, download speeds, burning speeds etc which considerably affects the sounds value to your time.

How about latency? I don't want any latency between playing notes with my midi controller, and the resulting sound.

 

[LookingForInfo]

The laptop will work at whatever (typically fastest) speed it needs to to complete the task.
If I had to guess, the other information was either regarding the fact that music production probably wont stress the processor enough to reach max turbo speeds, or that the small difference in max speeds wont impact your ability to work.

They did not mean that turbo speeds are worthless.

They were saying that most music production software uses multiple cores/threads, and that turbo boost is only activated for single core/thread activities.
If this is the case, doesn't this mean that when using these music production programs, e.g. FL Studio, that the laptop will be operating at base clock speed, I.e. 1.3ghz?

 

[Gam3r01]

They were saying that most music production software uses multiple cores/threads, and that turbo boost is only activated for single core/thread activities.
If this is the case, doesn't this mean that when using these music production programs, e.g. FL Studio, that the laptop will be operating at base clock speed, I.e. 1.3ghz?

I went an looked at your other thread, and no that is not what it means.
In an environment with a single thread running, that processor will hit 4.9GHz with proper cooling.
If you are running software on multiple cores, you will still hit an elevated speed, just not the maximum at 4.9GHz.
Its impossible to say for sure what the frequency will be, but 1.3GHz is the lowest it can be. If I had to guess, which it is just a guess, you would probably end up somewhere in the 3GHz+ range during work.

The different minimum specs will not have an impact on your work.
The different max speeds could in certain work conditions, but they will both run somewhere in the middle.

The best you can do is ignore clock speeds and just simply look at performance benchmarks.

 

[LookingForInfo]

Thank you for your response.
Do you know how these speeds will affect latency when playing a midi keyboard to control virtual instruments /vsts?

 

[Gam3r01]

The clock speeds of the processor shouldnt have a direct relation to external device latency.
That latency would come from other factors.

 

[LookingForInfo]

Thank you very much for your help 😊