I would like to settle something which i've been doing a lot of research on.

I would like to find out which of these two processors are more powerful. I've been told that any dual core processor could easily outperform any single core processor. Well the links below are both intels specs on probably the best pentium 4 processor and the other is a link to one of the lower end dual core processors.

ark.intel.com/products/28024/Intel-Core2-Duo-Processor-E4300-%282M-Cache-1_80-GHz-800-MHz-FSB%29

ark.intel.com/products/27485/Intel-Pentium-4-Processor-661-supporting-HT-Technology-%282M-Cache-3_60-GHz-800-MHz-FSB%29

So the specs seem to favour that the single core should easily outperform this particular dual core. So I would like to know , is there more than meets the eye? Is there more to processing power than FSB , Clock SPEED and cache? Ideally I would like to have two identical computers with only these two chips being the difference and try benchmarking them by measuring thier FPS during a game that these systems can handle. If anyone knows of any such work , that would be awesome if you can provide that. Thanks.Any NEWER generation CPU is going to outperform a previous generation, unless you purposely underclock the newer one. What I mean is- Any 386 will outperform any 286, any 486 will outperform any 386, any Pentium will outperform a 486, any Pentium 2 will outperform a Pentium, etc.

I have no reason to think this is any different with regards to Pentium 4 and the latter generations, such as the core duo. (core duo is different from Dual Core, by the way, although in what way specifically I don't know).

-clock speed is meaningless across processor generations. you can compare the clock speeds of Pentium 4 chips to Pentium 4 chips, because their internals are largely the same so different clock speeds will have more impact. But you can't compare clock speeds of a 386 to a 486 or a Pentium 4 to a Core Duo, simply because the INTERNAL organs work so much differently that the comparison is meaningless. One analogy I like to use is tire sizes; newer generations of machines are 'larger tires' and so they don't need to turn quite as much (clock speed) to get the same work done (distance).

i would just add that software , especially games , take advantage of multicore processors to perform faster and smoother and no matter how "good" a single core is , it will lag behind.The Pentiums specs would suggest that it has a higher output however I've used a few Pentiums before and they have seemed to be a lot worse than the intels ive used. Ive also heard that pentiums work better for gaming but the only way to really find out the best one for you is to try them? But i would go with intel.The Pentiums specs would suggest that it has a higher output however I've used a few Pentiums before and they have seemed to be a lot worse than the intels ive used. Ive also heard that pentiums work better for gaming but the only way to really find out the best one for you is to try them? But i would go with intel.Quote from: rvisa55 on December 10, 2011, 10:12:49 AM

The Pentiums specs would suggest that it has a higher output however I've used a few Pentiums before and they have seemed to be a lot worse than the intels ive used. Ive also heard that pentiums work better for gaming but the only way to really find out the best one for you is to try them? But i would go with intel.