whats the difference between dual core and non dual core

robnye

i am looking at getting a new family pc..... current one has intermittant crashing, which after a long investigation, i cannot determine what hardware is causing the issue....... so am sick of the site of the insides of the blooming thing.......

my current pc has a P4 3ghz processor with with 2gb ram

i am looking at a pc with a Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 Socket 775 2.2GHz 800FSB with 2gb ram

now i know the dual core means it virtually has 2 cpus, so does that then mean that the procssing speed is also twice..... ie 2.2 * 2 = 4.4ghz
if not, is there a way to calculate what the improvement is moving from a 3ghz to a dual core 2.2ghz?

Marty_J

A program has to be written with support for multi-threading in order to take full advantage of a dual-core processor. So the improvement in speed you'll see depends largely on the program you're running.

Mobeer

You could try some charts like:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-charts-2007,1644-35.html

Pages 14-39 include various comparisons of each processor, including the:
- Pentium IV 630 (fastest version of a 3 GHz Pentium IV)
- Pentium Dual Core E2160 (slightly slower than the E2200)
- Core2Duo E4300 (slightly faster than the E2200)

5bellies_2

robnye wrote: »

i am looking at getting a new family pc..... current one has intermittant crashing, which after a long investigation, i cannot determine what hardware is causing the issue....... so am sick of the site of the insides of the blooming thing.......

my current pc has a P4 3ghz processor with with 2gb ram

i am looking at a pc with a Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 Socket 775 2.2GHz 800FSB with 2gb ram

now i know the dual core means it virtually has 2 cpus, so does that then mean that the procssing speed is also twice..... ie 2.2 * 2 = 4.4ghz
if not, is there a way to calculate what the improvement is moving from a 3ghz to a dual core 2.2ghz?

The idea that two 2.2Ghz processor is 4.4ghz is way off the mark, it's also wrong to think of the current 2.2Ghz to be comparable to your existing 3Ghz purely on speed alone as they have many performance enhancements in them that negate the need for higher clock speed (and higher electric bills!)

But! As previously said, you'll only notice the differences if you actually use them. Surf the net, word process, you'll notice very little difference - if any. Play games, burn video DVDs etc and you'll see the difference.

For example, An AMD 3200 (2Gb memory) I owned burned a 90 minute DVD video in 1hr 40m. The 4200 dual core (also 2Gb) did it in 50mins. The Quad core 2.4Ghz I now have does it in 28mins. But the webpages still open at the same speed, the word processor still opens at the same speed, and it still takes the same time to boot up and shut down.

aliEnRIK

5bellies wrote: »

For example, An AMD 3200 (2Gb memory) I owned burned a 90 minute DVD video in 1hr 40m. The 4200 dual core (also 2Gb) did it in 50mins. The Quad core 2.4Ghz I now have does it in 28mins. But the webpages still open at the same speed, the word processor still opens at the same speed, and it still takes the same time to boot up and shut down.

Are you sure you dont mean RIP as opposed to burn? (Compress or whatever)

My 2.2 Ghz cpu (4 year old) BURNED 4.5 Gig discs in 20 mins, as does my 3Ghz dual core as the drive speeds are set the same

robnye

toms hardware looks good.... will need a little more studying before i fully understand it......

if i have a budget max £300, what would people recommend? (dont need monitor)
i have seen the following

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=59HT&CategorySelectedId=11101&PageMode=1

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151922

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.205-5531.aspx

Igol

For £300 I reccomend that you go to the library and get hold of a copy of Haynes 'Build Your own computer' manual.
Take it home read it and say to yourself 'Nah. it cant be that easy?'
Then realise it really is and that you can probably knock up a quad core if you wanted too.

aliEnRIK

The 'intermittent crashing' of your pc (IF hardware related) is probably the power supply unit
I say this becuse a 3Ghz single cpu is pretty damn good, and will still outperform a 2.2Ghz dual in a lot of cases, as the programs arnt designed to use dual core. Surely (If you havnt already), its worth replacing and trying one for 20 quid or so?
If you do deside to buy a new one then id say buy at LEAST a 2.2Ghz dual core.

robnye

aliEnRIK wrote: »

The 'intermittent crashing' of your pc (IF hardware related) is probably the power supply unit
I say this becuse a 3Ghz single cpu is pretty damn good, and will still outperform a 2.2Ghz dual in a lot of cases, as the programs arnt designed to use dual core. Surely (If you havnt already), its worth replacing and trying one for 20 quid or so?
If you do deside to buy a new one then id say buy at LEAST a 2.2Ghz dual core.

is there any way of testing to see if the power supply is the cause? as nothing i have tried at the moment has indicated it

aliEnRIK

robnye wrote: »

is there any way of testing to see if the power supply is the cause? as nothing i have tried at the moment has indicated it

Without trying a different one I personlly dont know how to
An electrician 'might' be able to, but im afraid I dont know how to

I say its probably that as ive delt with loads of computers and aside from hard drives and dvd drives failing ~ the only other parts were power supplies
Ive not yet had a single motherboard, cpu or RAM chip go bust on me

The other obvious thing to do is remove all the dust and grime trapped on the heatsink underneath the main cpu fan (Which causes overheating)

But im still siding with the PSU unit personally (Just through experience) ~ especially if its 300 Watts or smaller

Failed PSUs can act in a few different ways. But intermittent crashing is certainly one of them. They also tend to be worst when 'cold' (Meaning, they crash less once warmed up)

Simon_M_2

Intermittent crashing is almost always caused by a duff RAM stick. Google memtest, download it and run it on your PC, I am almost certain you will get errors.

If so, take out one of the RAM sticks and run memtest again, if you get errors swap the sticks and run memtest again, this will tell you which stick is duff.