I noticed that theres some confusion over dual core processors; when looking at PC specs some places claim that a dual core is like two processors with the written speed others claim it's two at half of the shown clock speed. i.e

**Intel Core 2 Duo T5200 - 1.6GHz (x2).**

does this mean 2x1.6GHz or 2x800MHz?

In this case, the 2x indicates that each of two cores is running at 1.6GHz--thus, dual core. As another example, you may see 4x which is called "quad core."

how can i comapre the dualcore processor speed with single core?

any there any comparision chart avialble?

suppose one example we will take, i want to execute one operation for my normal Intel 3.4GHz processor i r will take 30 seconds, how much the Duel core processor will take for same operation execution?

so core 2 duo is jst a brand name for the dual core technology?

Yep, you're right. That's Intel's special way of talking about their dual-core product.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0GHz. What does the 3800+ mean and does each individual processor run at 2.0GHz or is the combination of the two processors together run at 2.0GHz

3800+ means that they (AMD) guarantee that this processor will give same performances like the processor from the past generation with the same core would give at 3800 MHz. But i don't know what means 2.0 GHz, probably that is the speed from both cores.

I want to buy a Laptop with 1 GB RAM and 160 GB HDD. There are two models available one with Dual Core and another with Core 2 Duo.which one should i prefer.Also there is a price margin on which i want to cut the cost also.Is there any Problem with Dual Core technology.???

As described above, there isn't actually a difference between "dual core" and "core duo." These are the same, except that one is intel's own name for their dual core technology.

What's different between Two Processors with SMP capability and Dual Core Processor?

yer same question as the lad above. i just bought a laptop with a 2GHz dual core processor? does that mean that effectively i have bought a 4GHz single core processor? they should run at the same speed?

What is difference between Intel dual core 2 processor and AMD 64 bit processor which is more efficient?

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0GHz. My actual recorded speed shows as 954. I have games that will not run, stating that I need at least 1.5. Is there a way to get the dual core out of cool or low power to reflect the higher needed speed to run certain games?

My friends System Config is intel dual core 1.6 Ghz with 512 DDR2 RAM and 945 chipset motherboard of jetways & i'v Intel Pentium 3.0Ghz with 512 DDR1 RAM and Intel 101 GGC Motherboard. and as above said Intel dual core 1.6 ghz is equal to 3.2 Ghz , as per this calculation my friends system must be run faster than mine. But it's not so

What's the difference between the Intel duo core 2 and Intel dual-core processor? One is Intel's own branded version, I understand, but why do they also have a 'non-branded' version i.e. just dual-core? Is it not as good...?

Intel duo core 2 is apparently 40% faster than a normal Intel Dual Core, but personally i see no difference, if not Worse. I recently bought Intel Duo Core 2 2.2 which it said gave the power of 6.4Ghz, but it really really does not. It is probably just me not setting up my dual cores accordingly, but my laptop (1.73Ghz, NOT dual core) seems to run things smoother.

So don't be made into thinking OOH!! Intel DUO core 2 Must pwn, well, it doesn't

hi I M NaVin & I have amd turion 64 x2 1.6ghz processor ..

it means 1.6Ghz is total speed and each core work with 800Mhz......

what tasks would you be able to handle with a dual processor? i mean to say, what use do these have for a simple programmer?

I want to know that Dual core or Core 2 duo or X2 technology means dual processors?

for e.g: Core 2 Dual 1.9ghz or

Dual core 2 1.9ghz or

Core X2 1.9ghz will give a Processor speed of 1.9*2= 3.8ghz

Am I right? will i get 3.8ghz speed?

what exactly is a core and a die? Is chip a processor?

Is Cpu a chip or an integration of many chips?

Is the Mobile AMD Sempron 3600+ processor a dual core?

No, the Mobile AMD Sempron 3600+ is not a dual core processor. It is a fairly good one though, and should still run pretty fast!

Is a 1.66 GHz dual core CPU more powerful than say, a 2.0 GHz single core?

is dual core 1.6 ghz is faster than dual core 3.0 ghz and why?

Quick share of some basic information...

A dual core processor is NOT twice as fast as a single core PC, nor is it as fast as a dual processor system, it falls somewhere in the middle.

SMP is a term that many of you need to get familiar with, it stands for Symmetric Multiprocessing. This is technology software requires in order to utilize a dual core processor. Most apps these days are coded to support SMP, but still many do not, if your application or game isn't SMP supported you will only benefit from one core of your dualcore setup.

Dualcore processing is key for multi-tasking, the memory bus pipeline can only support so much traffic, the dualcore uses 2 pipelines, thus essentially twice the possible work at once. You still have limits such as cache, bus speed, RAM, and shared hardware that prevent this from truly being twice the speed of a single core.

If you have a 2.4GHZ dualcore CPU, that is a "comparable" rating, it is not two cores running at 1.2GHZ it is also NOT the equivalent of a 4.8GHZ, it is simply what it says, a dualcore 2.4GHZ processor (Yeah I know, its confusing)

In the most basic terms, if your playing a game that needs a fast CPU, stay with the fastest single core you can get, x32 VS x64 is a totally different argument.

If your someone that does a lot of multi-tasking work, or an maybe using an application that does a lot of things at once, like photoshop, you will see a good benefit to using dualcore. Maybe you just like to run teamspeak while listening to music on itunes while posting on your blog and killing aliens on halo, that would be a case for dualcore. If you run only the game, or only crunch numbers, or only browse the web, single minded tasking, that's single core world.

Is a 2.4 dualcore faster than a 3.0GHZ singlecore? It depends on what you do with it, for multi-tasking? Yeah it would be, for HALO3 pwnage? Probably not...

A key point that gets overlooked is a 3.4ghz processor doesn't have to be 3.4ghz clockspeed. The advertised speed is always a "rating".

A 3.2ghz CPU can get factory overclocked to 3.4 and sold as a 3.4ghz processor, its done all the time. This is helpful for understanding dual-core processors, the combined cores have a speed rating of whatever it says, 2.2, 2.4, 2.8, etc, etc.

If you see a 3.4ghz dual-core processor, each core could clock at 2.8 or 3.0 but the combined clock of the processor is rated at 3.4ghz

That's all the numbers mean, don't confuse thinking your dual-core 3.4 is a 6.8ghz or 2 1.7ghz's that would be dual-cpu not dual-core.

****SIMPLY STATED****

DUAL CORE PROCESSORS

If you have a dual core that uses 2ghz,

it is not equal to 4ghz on a single core.

It is two processors that allow for multitasking.

A game with a processor requirement with 3ghz

would run slowly.

The only benefit of them is multitasking or running many programs...

Alright so... I've read everything and the last few posts were very informative thank you very much, though i have a n00b question i suppose. I have a 2.0ghz Intel Duo core, but in my system information is reads as two processors, both -

x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping5 GenuineIntel~1995MHz

I'm just curious as to why it states two processors when it's not duo cpu, Also - As you stated with SMP is there any 3rd party software that will allow all applications and games to make full use of the duo?

thx2u for reading/answering if you decided to do so.

My laptop is 'AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-53 (2CPUs, ~ 1.7GHz'

I copied and pasted this from my system information and this it what it said it was.

Does it mean that my laptop has 2 CPUs running at 1.7GHz or 2 CPUs running at 835MHz and it's just telling me the total clockspeed?

Question: i've been searching online and i see stuff like Intel Pentium D 925 (dual Core) and then something on another computer that says AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6GHz (Dual-Core)

what does the X2 too mean. Is there a difference!?!?

I want know whether Pentium D and Pentium Dual Core is the same or is it different? Whether Pentium D 3.0 GHz is better vis a vis Pentium Dual Core 1.6 GHz?

Is Pentium D is same as Pentium Dual Core? Out of 3.0 GHz Pentium D & 1.6 GHz Dual Core processor, Which one is better & Why?

Hi,

My son wishes to purchase a laptop for running Football Manager 2008. The specifications required are:

Recommended – AMD or Intel Dual Core 2.2 GHz processor.

The laptop I found has a AMD Turion MK-38(2.2G)CPU fitted. Does this laptop meet the requirements? It is hard to tell as there is no way to compare them directly.

Ant help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Season Greetings to all.

I have an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0GHz;but my actual recorded speed shows as 954.

I have games that will not run, stating that I need at least 1.5. Is there a way to get the higher speed needed to run certain games? I have read somewhere that they run in a cool or low power mode. Help is needed. thanx, joe

I have a time pc with a Celeron processor 2.4

I have recently upgraded the RAM to 1 gig and the hard drive is 200gig

I am trying to edit some Digital video (mini DV) using windows movie make and also with Roxio media but the film is dropping so many frames that the quality is very poor and not worth continuing with. I have contacted a local repair shop and they have offered to upgrade by putting in a new motherboard and 2 x dual core processors 64 bit and a higher spec graphics card. total cost around £300

Will this do the trick and is the price about right??

I am interested in the relationship between FSB , RAM and Dual Core processor speeds. Does anyone have a link or information on these and advice on the most efficient use of ram speed ( 667 v 800 v 133 ) with Intel Dual core processors . After all there is little point in spending more and inducing bottlenecks.

Hello my self abhishek here. i have an AMD sempron

with 2400+ and i am getting total speed of 1.67Ghz speed. i thought that i would get a speed of 2.4Ghz speed as mentioned on processor. in fact my vendor said the same thing to me. can u make me clear what does 2400+ means with sempron processor.

i just bought a computer with an Intel 3.0Ghz processor (Intel® Core™2 Extreme quad-core processor), 4Gb ram, Windows Vista, 1TB HDD, dual mVidia 8800GTX graphics cards with 768MB ram each. I would like to know if my computer was worth the money of $2750 and if the processor speed can reach 6.0GHZ.

ok

hopefully a simple enough question

since an intel core2 duo processor that is 2.2ghz costs more than an AMD athlon 64X2 thats speed is let's just say 2.6ghz

what is the better brand

and is there a speed difference in how it is calculated?

ok here this the new unreal 2007 recommends you have a dual core processor that is clocked at 2.4GHZ

so yes if the game supports it then dual core will be an advantage

Which is better:

- a Pentium 4 3.0 GHZ

- Intel Pentium dual core E2180

Also is the Pentium 4 single core or dual or quad?

Thanks

So I Ordered a Laptop Recently

1.46Ghz Dual Core

2gb RAM

Would This be good For such things as

websurfing, IMing, and other Things at the same time?

because what I've gathered is Dual core is good for multi tasking. and for on the side, What type of Games would i Be able to play?

I know there's a few, but to what extent?

Hi

I want to play Sim City Societies on my laptop which requires the following system requirements:

Windows XP SP2, or Windows Vista, 1.7 GHz Intel CPU, or AMD XP 2100 processor, 512 MB RAM memory, 2.1 GB free hard disk drive space, 128 MB video card, DVD drive, DirectX 9.0-compatible video card. (Windows Vista requires a 2.4 GHz processor or equivalent and 1 GB RAM)

my laptop has the following spec:

Operating System Windows Vista™ Home Premium

Processor Intel Pentium Dual Core

Processor Bus 533MHz

Processor Cache 1MB

Processor Model Number T2330

Processor Speed 1.6GHz

Is it going to work with the Intel dual core processor being 1.6ghz, and are the graphics requirements ok?

I'm quite new to this so any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Cheers

I want go for Intel Dula core 1.8GHz,2 GB RAM,250GB hard disk. Will I be able to run mechanicals/ws like auto cad, hypermesh, ansys etc?

is a 2.2ghz processor better than a 2.0ghz processor?

i don't think duo core processors speed up the computer because all the applications which are used right now are such that they execute only on single processor, but not on multi processor i.e.. they are only multi threaded applications. For the application to make use full power of duo core processor the application has to be multi threaded which can run on multi cores.

hope u get it :)

For music production/writing music would a dual core processor be more beneficial than a single core processor? Would the dual core be able to better handle the processing of multiple sounds/synths/effects. I am finding with my single core that it can struggle to handle the work load. Is this all processor related or is it the ram that causes this problem?

It could be a shortage of RAM and a slow processor both.

Aside from that, the *software* needs to be able to utilize a dual core processor for it to take advantage of running tasks simultaneously. If the music software you are using is not **multi-threaded** it will only utilize ONE core. In this case a single core fast processor is better than a dual core, because only "half" of the dual core's total processing power will be used, whereas 100% of the single core processor will be used.

So check your music software. If it is NOT multi-threaded either add RAM (see if it's low when everything is open and you're using your software), or get a faster CPU. OR... note that other things might be slowing your computer down, including a fragmented disk, low disk space, a junked up registry or spyware/adware. There is an article here on wisegeek about what to check if your system is running slow. You might eliminate those possibilities before buying upgrades.