Dual Core vs Quad Core

What is right for you?

In modern computers processors there is this concept of "cores". A core is simply a processor on the chip. So a Dual core is 2 processors on a single chip while a quad core would be 4.

More cores is better right? This may not be true. Most applications are not optimized to take advantage of multiple cores. Instead they tend to run on a single processor and handle all the work there.

So why would I even want a dual core? Just because a single application does not optimize for multiple cores does not mean that the OS will not. At any given time there are likely dozens of applications running on a persons machine. There is code essential to the running of the OS, Virus Scanners, Firewalls, Messenger Clients, and whatever else you need. The OS will distribute these applications across the cores to balance the load.

So why isn't quad core the best way to go? Well the other major factor you have to consider is clock speed. The faster the clock speed the faster each single processor is at doing what it needs to do. So if an application is taking up 100% of a single processors power currently adding more cores will not speed up how that application runs. Instead you will need more clock speed.

My general rule of thumb is Dual cores with higher clock speeds are better for people running fewer applications at the same time, especially applications that are likely to peg out a processor. Quad core is great for those among us who are running a bunch of applications at once that have a tendancy to peg out a processor.

This is not to say that you will never see perf gains with a slower core quad over a faster dual core but the perf gains will come from being able to balance the load of the system across more procs. Also you probably fall more into the lots of applications category then you thought.