help understanding processor speed

[don12345]

I just recently baught a labtop and it is a Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 1.66GHz 2MB Cache 667MHz FSB

does the 2 duo mean that there is 1.66ghz X 2 of ghz, for a total of 3.32 ghz in the processor?

 

[worshipme]

The T5500 is a dual core CPU, which means that on the die there are two cores both running at 1.66GHz. Don't be deceived by all the Ebay listings stating "4x3GHz, 12GHz!!!!!!" It's false. You cannot add up the speeds of the cores. However two cores @ 1.66GHz are obviously faster than a single core running at 1.66GHz.

 

[don12345]

Thanks. Just what i was looking for.

 

[don12345]

Actually i got another questiong to. If I wanted to play a game on my computer and I got the Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 1.66GHz 2MB Cache 667MHz FSB. And it says it needs 2.4ghz to play the game. Would that still run it sence there are two processsors going at 1.66?

 

[worshipme]

Well, that's a tricky one. The game requirements are never very precise in the first place. I would say, yes, but it mainly depends on the rest of your system. It's probably 2.4Ghz for a single core processor though. You could always use this: http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

 

[don12345]

Thanks again.