This may seem extremely n00besque, bear with me :P I've asked before whether a 3GHz DC would be better than a SC of the same clock speed, but would a DC running at 2.5GHz be faster than a SC running at 3GHz? Would a DC double 2.5GHz to 5GHz?

[Macmac508]

Yep thats right. Its doubled. Or Quadrupled if you get a quad core.

A lot of the core 2 duos at the moment you will find rated a lot lower than some of the old pentiums also. This doesnt mean they're slower. A 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo will well out perform a 3Ghz Dual Core Pentium. Its not just about the frequency but the architechture of the chip.

Thats also why Core 2 Duos own AMD x64s at the moment, although they maybe rated higher in GHz the Core 2 is more effiecient and will run faster.

[Carbon]

Yep thats right. Its doubled. Or Quadrupled if you get a quad core.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Dual core does not double the clock speed, it only gives you two cores to work with at the same clock speed.

You are correct about the architecture though. A C2D simply works better than a P4, that's how it's designed, and clock speed differences won't matter nearly as much. You can also overclock C2Ds to well beyond P4 speeds.

[Macmac508]

Okk, yeahh my bad.

I think what i was getting at was that it is a similar effect to having two processors working at similar clock speeds. Although these cannont always be put to good effect. Didnt really think before i answered that question.

[Klunk]

@ Carbon
You're half right. You can use software to force-mount other CPU-demanding software onto both cores; whereas Windows XP/Vista is set to devide the tasks between the two cores.
So your half right, and so is Macmac.
=P

[Carbon]

Using two cores for separate tasks != the same clock speed for both cores. Total mhz is a product of the fsb and that's independent of how many cores you have. Really, clock speed should be generally ignored in this case.

[Klunk]

I agree. My shit-ass 4200+ is going to explode. (2.2GHz increased to 3GHz) =D

[naza911]

The Dual core will only be faster if the application supports dual core, so nearly all of the new application, saying that you still will get better performance out of the dual core