CPU speed

[paulcheung]

Hi guys,
I am kind lost in this CPU Naming and speed thing. first time it is very simple, a higher speed cpu is faster than a slower one. but it look like is not so any more.
It the dual core processor run twice as fast as the single core processor in the same speed (GHZ)?. For example. is the duo core 1.66 ghz intel processor as fast as the 3.2GHZ single core pentium 4 processors? is the operating system or software take the advantage of the dual or 4 or 6 core processors? Does the price of these new 6 or so core justify?
Thank you.
Paul

 

[porterjw]

With today's technology, the actual clock speed (Ghz) of a CPU isn't as importance as how the actual chip is built. In the days of single-core chips, yes, the higher speed meant a better CPU. However, as dual/quad cores became more prevalent, you could get a lot more done with less speed since you had multiple cores each processing data. Internal architecture is also something that keeps advancing. As the size of transistors keeps getting smaller, more and more can be fit onto a single chip, meaning the processing power increases without any speed increase.

A straight "1.6 Ghz dual core will outperform a 2.8 Ghz single core' or 'my 1.6 Ghz dual core performs equally to a 3.2 Ghz single core' comparison really can't be 100% accurate solely because of all the different speeds/architectures/instruction sets of various CPU's. *However*, generally true Dual Core CPUs will outperform their single-core counterparts running at a higher speed.

 

[paulcheung]

Thank you.

Thank you, I guess it has alot to do with the operating system and the software too, if they can take the advantage of the multi-core ans the the multi-thread computing.
Best regards.
Paul.