prosser speed confusion

[mike ballard]

processor speed confusion

hi everyone i'm a brand new newbie.

i currently own a p4 running at 2.26, i hear all the uproar about the new duel cores. when i check the stats on the dual cores i see thing like running at 1.86 gigs ect. is that not slower than my 2.26 p4? i can't see building or buying if it does not work any faster.

thank you for your time, and i have about 3 months of reading to get up to speed here (not that i will understand most / all / any / of it LOL )

again thanks

 

[^Mike^]

Duel cores are like 2 processors in 1 from what I understand they will be faster.

 

[borat_sagdiyev]

it has a lower clock speed but it does more calculations per second and stuff so the clock speed doesnt really matter.

 

[muz]

it has a lower clock speed but it does more calculations per second and stuff so the clock speed doesnt really matter.

Yeah the clock speed dosent realy matter but some software cannot take advantage of both cores

 

[mammikoura]

well first of all the dual cores have 2 cores, which means that multitasking etc will be faster, since the cpu splits the load on both of the cores.
It does more calculations per clock cycle so it can do more calculations with a lower clock speed. They are definitely faster.

 

[~mr mixx~]

i have to agree that they do have their rewards in multitasking. with two cpu's doing seperate jobs, it takes alot of pressure off of the ram.although with both working together, jobs and tasks take alot less time.

can't wait to move up to the duel core, but i'm not doing enough tasking that requires it right now, because i have my machines so tweaked out...it does'nt need a dual yet.

 

[lhuser]

Two CPUs do multitasking, so that means that more can come in. Also, another reason is their caches. They're bigger, but not to mention, the FSB speeds, which are higher as well.

 

[mike ballard]

thank you for all the input. should have clarifed that i don't do alot of multi tasking but the main program i work with is very much processor baised. it does not used much RAM at all but alot of processor.

so if i understand this a little bit, if you are not multi-tasking then both processors work together on the one task and thus it works that much faster?

 

[mammikoura]

so if i understand this a little bit, if you are not multi-tasking then both processors work together on the one task and thus it works that much faster?

Depends on the program. Some programs can utilize the use of 2 cores, some can't. If it can use 2 cores effectively then it's going to work faster, but if it uses only 1 core then it can't use the full potential of the cpu. But even if the software wouldn't support dual cores, it would help to have one since the other core core could take care of all the other programs. (there is always some stuff running on the background)