How fast are dual-core processors?

Q Are dual-core processors twice as fast as a single-core processor that works at the same speed?

James Freeman

A Sadly, a dual-core processor is not quite twice as fast as a single core, nor is a quad-core four times as fast.

The reason for this is that even though there is the potential to perform twice as many calculations a second, it is not possible to do so.

There needs to be a certain amount of discussion between the processors to make sure they do not try to work on the same piece of information at the same time, as this can create problems.

Not all software can take advantage of multiple processors, although the extra processor is not wasted because Windows will use it for something else, such as background security scans.

When buying software you can consider a dual-core processor faster than a 2GHz Pentium 4 even though its speed in gigahertz may be slower.

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