Question on performance of Pentium 4 vs Core 2 Quad CPU?

Question

Let's say I have same speed, a 2.4GHz Pentium 4 CPU and a 2.4GHz Core 2 Quad CPU, performance wise, is it the latter the 4 times faster of the former one, assuming all the hardware specs the same and OS can handle multitasking?

Answer 1

No.. the number of cores don't multiply.

Unless an application is specifically coded to take advatage of mutliple cores (multithreaded) then you won't see any difference between running a Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz and  Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz - if you're multitasking a bunch of apps, you see benefits from the Quad.

Compared to an older 2.4Ghz Pentium 4 CPU, even a 1.87Ghz Core 2 Duo is more than twice as fast.  That's because the Core 2 chips have more efficient architecture and perform a lot more work per clock cycle.  So you can't measure just by clockspeed alone.

The best analogy I've found is to consider CPUs like bulldozers, and data like dirt.  The older 2.4Ghz  Pentium 4 chip is like a bulldozer with a 1-ton scoop, cranking along along 24 times per minute.   So every minute it moves 24 tons of dirt/data.  A 3.0Ghz Ghz Pentium 4 has  a faster-moving arm and would move 30 tons per minute.

Now ignoring the number of cores for a moment, the Core 2 chips have a larger scoop- for arguments sake let's say 3-ton capacity.  So while a 1.8Ghz Core 2 cpu has a slower moving arm (only 18 times per minute) it moves 18x3 or 54  tons in the same amount of time, outperforming the higher-clockspeed Pentium 4s.

In addition, you gain the benefit of multiple cores for applications which can take advantage, and lower energy consumption, lower heat output etc.

Here's a CPU comparison chart:

Answer 2

no

core 2's are much more powerful core for core

so you'd SHOULD see at least 8x the difference

your hardware would probably create a bottleneck (which is pretty self explanatory) and hinder your performance anyway

also, you're talking about theoretical

real world is much different...

could be almost no difference to exponential

Answer 3

Compare a 67 Camero with 350hp to a 09 Camero with 350hp.

The 67 while fast has a basic engine, it's body is mostly metal and it's suspension is old.

While the 09 has all the benefits of modern, lightweight material throughout.

Answer 4

The difference is the 2.4 quad is like running 4 "different computers" at that speed, it will run stuff the same speed but just be able to run more stuff, even though it dont stack its still a better performance

Answer 5

no.

This is because a quad core can only use all 4 cores when a program that can use all of them is running. This mean that most of the time you will be using 1 or 2 cores. Also many other things come into effect when comparing these CPU's such as Bus Speed and Cache, in which case the quad will always be better

The Core 2 quad will always be faster but the actual performance increase will not always be clear cut. if a program supports all four cores the Core 2 will blow away the P4. However if it only supports 1 core the performance increase will be big but not be as vast.