powerforce:
What will you be using your PC for?

edit: you can have more then 1 processor but that is generally reserved for Servers and scientific workstations costing thousands and thousands of $

k1wi: The biggest issue is that most applications don't multi-thread. That is, they only use a single core. Some exceptions to this include video processing applications and some games (such as Civ V, which will support up to 8 cores).

Where this becomes fraught is, for a given price, the speed of each 'core' on a Quad core will be lower than on a similar priced dual core.

So for applications that only use a single core, you are likely to see lower performance on a quad core machine. Unless you have more than one application running in the background that is using a lot of CPU...

eXDee: Think of it this way, imagine the CPU is more like a group of people working together.
In dual core, imagine its two people working. In quad core, imagine it's four people working together.

As you know, some tasks will work a lot better the more people help out. Such examples of tasks on a computer are video encoding, 3d modeling/rendering, CAD, and games which have been designed to take advantage of the extra cores. These applications are what we call multi-threaded. They are designed to scale to work faster the more cores (or threads) you have.

Some tasks however, can only really be completed by one person at a time - adding more people doesnt really help. This is what we call single-threaded applications. Examples are the majority of programs, including games and other applications which havent been designed with multicore support in mind.

What im trying to explain, is that theres not a linear increase in power with more cores. Unfortunately people seem to think this, and we see "19.2ghz" computers being sold on trademe because people think you can take a 3.2ghz six core CPU and multiply it out.

Keep in mind however, a computer isnt only doing one thing at a time, so system with many cores will handle multitasking better, as each task can get given more power from a core, rather than it having to be split.

So if we take say, a 2.4ghz Quad Core vs a 3.2ghz Dual Core, in single and two threaded applications, the dual will be faster as it has more raw performance. However, in multithreaded applications like video encoding for example, the Quad will be faster.

kiwis: What's the difference between Quad and Dual processors? I'm building a new computer and i'm not sure on the difference here.

nate:

kiwis: What's the difference between Quad and Dual processors? I'm building a new computer and i'm not sure on the difference here.

Dual processors is like your standard relationship. Quad core is like a three-some, it's just better.

nate:

kiwis: What's the difference between Quad and Dual processors? I'm building a new computer and i'm not sure on the difference here.

Dual processors is like your standard relationship. Quad core is like a three-some, it's just better.

Right thanks for the reply, I understand now - so when I'm doing my programming and using DreamWeaver, PhotoShop, Visual Studio as well as having outlook and IE8 open at the same time Quad-Core will be better for me?

For flight Sim Dual core would be fine.

What's the price difference?