Q: I have a P4-3.4 Ghz processor and am trying to compare it to newer processors. To compare: can I double the dual-core speed and quadruple the quad-core speed? i.e. a dual-core 2.0Ghz would be similar to a P4-4.0 Ghz? I'm mainly wondering this for looking at game system requirements. As in, if the game requires dual core 1.7Ghz (i don't think this even exists) then my 3.4 is fine? Thanks for the help!!!
A: No you can't add up the core speeds, it's more like 2 processors working at 2 GHz than one at 4 GHz. The architecture is more important than clock speed. A 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 would be inferior to a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Dual Core. The Core 2 would be more efficient since Intel improved on the IPC and the pipeline length thus making it a lot more effecient than the P4.