Dual cores? ? ?

[judder]

What is the difference between a Core Duo and a P4-dual core processor?
Is a dual core at 1.8 GHz better than a single core at 3.6 GHz?

I just don't understand why a P4 dual core 3.4GHz is £115 and a Core 2 1.86 GHz is £122 (OC prices).

Finally is the Allendale vs Conroe similar to a Celeron vs Pentium comparison?

Cheers.

 

[clv101]

I just don't understand why a P4 dual core 3.4GHz is £115 and a Core 2 1.86 GHz is £122 (OC prices).

I bet you don't understand how the 1.86GHz C2D is faster than the P4 either do you?

Ignore frequency - it's meaningless between different models. Only look at price and benchmarks.

The Allendale vs Conroe is just 2MB or 4MB of cache - very little difference in benchmarks.

 

[judder]

No I don't. I don't understand much at all really. If price is the best indicator of performance is the relationship linear? I mean is a P4 945 dual core (£115) roughly twice as good/fast (or whatever adverb I should use) as a P4 820 dual core (£65)? And does the relationship extend into comparing the Core 2 with P4?

By the way, what do you mean by 'benchmarks'?

I'm so confused. I just want a good processor (AMD or Intel) for my soon to be built PC which will be used for office work, TV, video & sound editing and very simple games. Budget isn't really a problem if I can justify the purchase, but I really don't want to make a mistake. It's so much easier with cars.

 

[The Running Man]

how is it easier with cars?

you decide a budget for what you need - go check lots of reviews etc and then make an informed decision.

why is it different for a cpu/pc etc?

 

[Justintime]

If you don't overclock, an E6400 or a E6600 depending on budget will best most anything from AMD in general for now and anything from the Pentium 4 error..er i mean era.

 

[clv101]

By the way, what do you mean by 'benchmarks'?

This sort of stuff:

Source: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2903&p=1

The C2D is more powerful and consumes less power (less heat) than the P4.

 

[judder]

That looks very helpful stuff as are the other comments above.

I still think it's easier with cars, because stats on paper are one thing, but they can be completely overwritten by a test drive, where an apparently fantastic motor can seem like a real dog and just not suit your driving methods or needs. You can't really test drive different processors quite so easily.

 

[The Running Man]

That looks very helpful stuff as are the other comments above.

I still think it's easier with cars, because stats on paper are one thing, but they can be completely overwritten by a test drive, where an apparently fantastic motor can seem like a real dog and just not suit your driving methods or needs. You can't really test drive different processors quite so easily.

no but if you treat their clock speed as the "spec" and the benchmarks as the "testdrive" then you can easily compare different prosessors with relative ease!

Get Core2Duo!