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Core 2 duo vs. Dual-Core processors

TroyTroy Registered User regular
edited October 2007 in Games and Technology
I am relatively computer savvy but for the life of me can not tell the difference between the two processors. My father is trying to buy a computer and wants to know all of his options. He is convinced that there is a difference between the two, and that that the difference is quite drastic. I was wondering if someone could fill me in on what the deal is, and while you're at it what would you recommend.
Thanks.

Troy on
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Posts

  • stigweardstigweard Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Core 2 Duo is a dual core processor.

    stigweard on
  • RohanRohan Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    The difference between a Core 2 Duo processor and... what? What do you mean, dual-core processors? The Core 2 Duo is a dual core processor. The only real alternatives are different, less known members of the Intel processor family and the X2 processors from AMD.

    Rohan on
    ...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.

    Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
  • devoirdevoir Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Brand name versus name of technology.

    devoir on
  • TroyTroy Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    I wish I could cite the add, but its in a Dell add in the paper. It lists one computer as Dual-Core, and the other as having a Core 2 Duo. So to clarify, to either of these a have two processors, or is one (the core 2 Duo) 2 processors squished into one chip.

    My father also questions whether this technology is worth it seeing as he already has a Pentium 4 M.

    Troy on
  • CrashmoCrashmo Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    devoir wrote: »
    Brand name versus name of technology.


    Core 2 Duo is just the name of a dual-core processor.


    Like a Harley is a motorcycle, but not all motorcycles are Harleys. :rotate:

    Crashmo on
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  • RohanRohan Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    A Pentium 4 M is a mobile processor, so he's looking to upgrade? If he wants to upgrade, then sure, the Core 2 Duo is a brilliant choice... I have it myself in this laptop. But he's not going to see a miraculous change in performance... I mean, it's still Windows he'll have to deal with (presumably). If he's going to upgrade anyway, best to go with the Core 2 Duo chip to be safe, because God knows what other chip Dell is advertising. If your father wants simply to upgrade from the Pentium 4 M to a Core 2 Duo, that is switch out the processor, then sorry to say that you can't do that with laptops.

    Rohan on
    ...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.

    Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
  • RzalRzal Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    The Core 2 Duo is a type of dual core processor made by Intel. AMD also makes dual core processors but they are called something else. Check wikipedia they have a more indepth article on dual core architecture. Intel has a page where you can compare core 2 duo vs pentium 4's. I don't have the link handy though.

    Rzal on
  • TroyTroy Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Thanks for all your help. I just won five bucks.

    Troy on
  • NrthstarNrthstar Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    It definately is a dual processor, but I could have sworn there was something special about the way it utilized power. Like it was more energy efficient.

    Nrthstar on
    "Shut up and Die"
  • LewiePLewieP Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Maybe you are thinking that they are the first intel processor in a while that has flat out beat AMD for performance/price for gaming in a long time.

    LewieP on
  • variantvariant Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Nrthstar wrote: »
    It definately is a dual processor, but I could have sworn there was something special about the way it utilized power. Like it was more energy efficient.

    Well its 65nm I believe, that and with the newish...Santa Rosa chips, the computer can turn 1 of the cores off when you're just browsing/chatting, saving alot of power. I have a 14" lappy and the 9cell battery gives me a good 8 hours if I'm just chatting/surfing thanks to the chip.

    variant on
  • postenlpostenl Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Actually it appears that there is a "dual-core" series of intel processors. wikipedia, newegg. It is part of the pentium family I guess. As much as I like the new intel processors since the P4, their naming is really confusing. A lot of people may not realize that there is a core duo processor and a core 2 duo.. core 2 duo just sounds redundant but it is much faster processor.

    postenl on
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  • DelzhandDelzhand Hard to miss. Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Yeah, for example, my laptop is a Core Duo. I had the option at purchase time of upgrading to a Core 2 Duo.

    Delzhand on
  • justinkjustink Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Core 2 Duo and Pentium Dual-Core are two different brands of Intel dual-core processors. The Pentium Dual-Core processors are budget versions of the Core Duo/Core 2 Duo processors. For example, if you look at this list of Dell Inspirons, the Inspiron 530s has an Intel®Pentium® dual-core processor E2140. The Inspiron 530 has an Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E4400.

    The Pentium Dual-Core desktop processors are equivalent to a Core 2 Duo with only 1MB of L2 cache (instead of 2MB). The Pentium Dual-Core laptop processors are equivalent to a Core Duo, also with only 1MB of L2 instead of 2MB.

    You should probably return the five dollars.

    justink on
  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    variant wrote: »
    Nrthstar wrote: »
    It definately is a dual processor, but I could have sworn there was something special about the way it utilized power. Like it was more energy efficient.

    Well its 65nm I believe, that and with the newish...Santa Rosa chips, the computer can turn 1 of the cores off when you're just browsing/chatting, saving alot of power. I have a 14" lappy and the 9cell battery gives me a good 8 hours if I'm just chatting/surfing thanks to the chip.

    I'm kinda sure that the Core2Duo's are more effecient compared to CoreDuo's. I've never actually seen any of the cores 'shut down' when using a CPU utilization tool, but I just dl'd the first one I found, so it's probably not accurate.

    Malkor on
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  • stigweardstigweard Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    The Core 2 Duo has 4MB cache, not 2.

    stigweard on
  • jb7jb7 Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    stigweard wrote: »
    The Core 2 Duo has 4MB cache, not 2.

    That depends which model you are talking about. For example, the E4300 has 2MB cache. Where as the E660 has a 4MB cache.

    jb7 on
  • justinkjustink Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    stigweard wrote: »
    The Core 2 Duo has 4MB cache, not 2.

    The Pentium Dual-Core desktop processors are based on the Core 2 Duo E4300 which only has 2MB of L2 cache.

    justink on
  • EvanderEvander Disappointed Father Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Hey guys, let's confuse everything by bringing up the Pentium-D!

    Evander on
  • HadjiQuestHadjiQuest Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Are the Athlon 64 X2s really that bad?

    I mean, they're like half the damn price of the Core 2 Duos. Plus, AMD has promised the slot architecture will be forwards compatible with tripple core and quad core processors in the future.

    I need to build a new PC before the end of October, and I'm still trying to decide which avenue to go down.

    HadjiQuest on
  • EvanderEvander Disappointed Father Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    half the price of WHICH duos?

    I have an E4400, and I was able to get it for a better price than comperable X2s.



    Don't just look at the clock speed. That means almost nothing when comparing chips from two different lines, let alone companies.

    Evander on
  • RookRook Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    I think AMDs socket plans are pretty bizarre, there is a lot of talk about AM2, AM2+ and AM3 with some chips being forward and some backwards compatible between the slot types.

    Personally, I still feel that intel is the way to go, (as is nVidia) at the moment. AMD financially is not doing great, and both intel and nVidia seem to be doing a lot of work with game developers and getting the game optimised to run best on their hardware.

    Rook on
  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    An E4400 compares best against an Athlon X2 4800 or 5000. Once you get to the E6xxx AMD doesn't compete so much. All of the future AMD plans I've seen involve multiple CPUs on a mobo...

    Malkor on
    14271f3c-c765-4e74-92b1-49d7612675f2.jpg
  • HadjiQuestHadjiQuest Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Core Duo 2 E4300 - $117
    Athlon 64 X2 4200 - $72

    Edit:
    E4400 - $125
    4800+ - $110

    That's still a big enough difference on my budget.

    HadjiQuest on
  • DehumanizedDehumanized Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    HadjiQuest wrote: »
    Are the Athlon 64 X2s really that bad?

    I mean, they're like half the damn price of the Core 2 Duos. Plus, AMD has promised the slot architecture will be forwards compatible with tripple core and quad core processors in the future.

    I need to build a new PC before the end of October, and I'm still trying to decide which avenue to go down.

    I wouldn't say AMD's offerings are bad, they just don't compete with Intel if you plan on spending more than $200 on the processor (possibly even if you're planning on spending more than $150), at all.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/07/16/cpu_charts_2007/page18.html

    If you look at that, as well as the rest of the article, it certainly seems to imply that AMD is simply lagging behind a bit.

    Dehumanized on
  • HadjiQuestHadjiQuest Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    That's not too bad then.

    I'm going for budget over power, really. As long as I can keep up still. I don't need to be on the bleeding edge, but I'd like to be able to play new games on medium settings for the next year or two. Stories about tripple core and quad core offerings in the next year using the same socket type continue to lead me in that direction, as I know there'll be some upgradabillity. Something that my current PC lacked, as I built it about a year before PCI-Express hit.

    It's still held out for 4 or 5 years, and I could keep up with games until some point in 2006. It was also built on a lower-spec, uber cheap AMD CPU. I guess maybe I'm just brand loyal now.

    HadjiQuest on
  • robcat09robcat09 Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I'm replying to this because it is the closest post I can find related to my question without starting a new thread.

    I currently have a Pentium 4 3.4GHz processor. Under Vista, in the 'Performance' tab, my processor is rated at '4.3'. My graphics card (8800gts) is rated at '5.9'.

    It seems as though the processor would be a big-ol' bottleneck according to those numbers. I'd like to get the processor number up a bit without investing in a new motherboard.

    My current motherboard only supports dual-core at 800Mhz speed, so I could get a dual-core 2.0GHz processor (like this one).

    My question is: can anyone tell me what kind of perfomance gain I should expect, going from a 3.4 P4 to a 2GHz dual-core processor? I don't want to spend the $100 if the difference will be negligible.

    robcat09 on
  • ThandorThandor __BANNED USERS regular
    edited October 2007
    Core 2 duos are 64bit dual-core are not necessarily. A dual core intel is 32 bit unless branded "core 2 duo"

    Thandor on
  • ResIpsaLoquiturResIpsaLoquitur Not a grammar nazi, just alt-write. Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Check out the website below, which ranks CPUs based on a fair number of different tests:

    http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html

    I went ahead and did a comparison between a Pentium 4 3.4ghz processor on the list and the Core 2 Duo E4300 (a 1.8ghz dual-core), using 3DMark06's CPU test. The difference is fairly significant.

    Edit: I couldn't find the E2180 on the list, so I used the E4300 instead. At newegg, they are out of stock, but as you can see, the price is not too much higher.

    ResIpsaLoquitur on
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  • RookRook Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    robcat09 wrote: »
    I'm replying to this because it is the closest post I can find related to my question without starting a new thread.

    I currently have a Pentium 4 3.4GHz processor. Under Vista, in the 'Performance' tab, my processor is rated at '4.3'. My graphics card (8800gts) is rated at '5.9'.

    It seems as though the processor would be a big-ol' bottleneck according to those numbers. I'd like to get the processor number up a bit without investing in a new motherboard.

    My current motherboard only supports dual-core at 800Mhz speed, so I could get a dual-core 2.0GHz processor (like this one).

    My question is: can anyone tell me what kind of perfomance gain I should expect, going from a 3.4 P4 to a 2GHz dual-core processor? I don't want to spend the $100 if the difference will be negligible.

    You'd probably best list what motherboard you have, as there's a fairly large chance that it won't support Core-2-Duos

    Rook on
  • acidlacedpenguinacidlacedpenguin Institutionalized Safe in jail.Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I just wanted to add that the Pentium Dual Cores or E21X0s overclock like monsters.

    acidlacedpenguin on
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  • robcat09robcat09 Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Check out the website below, which ranks CPUs based on a fair number of different tests:

    http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html

    I went ahead and did a comparison between a Pentium 4 3.4ghz processor on the list and the Core 2 Duo E4300 (a 1.8ghz dual-core), using 3DMark06's CPU test. The difference is fairly significant.

    Edit: I couldn't find the E2180 on the list, so I used the E4300 instead. At newegg, they are out of stock, but as you can see, the price is not too much higher.

    Thank you - that site was perfect for comparing the two processors. I am now confident that the upgrade would be worthwhile! :-)

    Thanks.

    robcat09 on
  • SheepSheep Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited October 2007
    I think there may be some confusion in architecture.

    Dual Core systems generally mean mother boards with two separate processors, similar to the old G3s, G4s, and G5s offered by Apple. Requires multi slotted mother boards.

    Core Duo is a multi core setup, but they are not separate, but exist on the same die.

    EDIT

    LTTP.

    Sheep on
  • robcat09robcat09 Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Your help is requested once again, kind sirs.

    newegg delivered my new CPU ridiculously fast. When I install it, the system does not boot. No errors, no beeps. Fans go, HD's go, the video card fan turns on, but nothing on the display. No bios.

    any ideas what could be causing this? I've cleared the CMOS and have the latest bios installed.

    System:
    Asus P5wd2 - http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=184&l4=0&model=550&modelmenu=1
    This page states that the mobo supports dual-core.
    2gigs of RAM
    Radeo 8800GTS
    450w PSU

    robcat09 on
  • robcat09robcat09 Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Sleep wrote: »
    I think there may be some confusion in architecture.

    Dual Core systems generally mean mother boards with two separate processors, similar to the old G3s, G4s, and G5s offered by Apple. Requires multi slotted mother boards.

    Core Duo is a multi core setup, but they are not separate, but exist on the same die.

    EDIT

    LTTP.

    No, I don't think that is correct. The 'Dual-Core' that came in the mail today is not two separate processors. Looks just like a P4, LGA775 .

    robcat09 on
  • RookRook Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    robcat09 wrote: »
    Sleep wrote: »
    I think there may be some confusion in architecture.

    Dual Core systems generally mean mother boards with two separate processors, similar to the old G3s, G4s, and G5s offered by Apple. Requires multi slotted mother boards.

    Core Duo is a multi core setup, but they are not separate, but exist on the same die.

    EDIT

    LTTP.

    No, I don't think that is correct. The 'Dual-Core' that came in the mail today is not two separate processors. Looks just like a P4, LGA775 .

    Make sure you have the latest bios version. (You'll probably need to put your old chip back in, and flash it.)

    Rook on
  • MarcoMarco Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    What revision is that asus board?

    Marco on
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  • robcat09robcat09 Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Marco wrote: »
    What revision is that asus board?

    rev. 1.02

    you're making me nervous :|

    robcat09 on
  • MarcoMarco Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    robcat09 wrote: »
    Marco wrote: »
    What revision is that asus board?

    rev. 1.02

    you're making me nervous :|

    As far as I know rev 1.03g is needed for core 2 duos and their off shoots. Contact Asus support for their take on it.

    Marco on
    wMFVt.jpg
  • Nova_CNova_C I have the need The need for speedRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Sleep wrote: »
    I think there may be some confusion in architecture.

    Dual Core systems generally mean mother boards with two separate processors, similar to the old G3s, G4s, and G5s offered by Apple. Requires multi slotted mother boards.

    Core Duo is a multi core setup, but they are not separate, but exist on the same die.

    EDIT

    LTTP.

    That's incorrect. Dual core or multi-core refers to two or more cores on a single CPU. I've never in my life heard of multi-cpu setups being referred to as 'dual core' or 'quad core' or whathaveyou.

    Nova_C on
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