Use a benchmarking program.
Here is a list:
3DMark2001se
Most people don't use this program anymore because it's quite outdated, but if you really want the most benchmark utilities you can get then it would be a good program to get. Gamers benchmark. Mediumly recommended.
3DMark03
A program that a lot of people still use. Gamers benchmark. Highly recommended.
3DMark05
A program that only gives good scores if you have very up to date components. Still useful. Gamers benchmark. Mediumly recommended.
PCMark04
Fairly useful benchmarking utility. Mediumly recommended.
PCMark05
An updated PCMark. Mediumly recommended.
SiSoftware Sandra
Very useful benchmarking utility. Able to bench nearly all of you components separately. Highly recommended.
Super Pi
In case the name didn't give it away, this is a program that calculates 4,294,960,000 digits of pi. The benchmark comes in the form of a number (in seconds, perhaps minutes) that shows how long it took your computer to calculate those digits of pi. The simple score readout makes it very easy to compare scores. Highly recommended.
Aquamark3
An excellent gamers bechmark. Fun to watch (at least the first couple times) and very fun UI. Highly recommended.
Clock speed is only a useful comparison of speed when two processors share the same architecture. AMD and Intel processors have different internal architectures. At various points in time, one manufacturer had a more efficient architecture than the other, thus providing better performance at a lower clock speed. As of Q2 of 2009, Intel currently offers more efficient processors.
That means that your processor in your PC really has two processors and each speed shows the speed of it's "core"
A quad core is one component (computer chip) consisting of multiple cores (computer processors). Processors were originally developed only using one core. If you wanted to do multiprocessing you needed to have two processors in your computer which meant having a special motherboard that could support multiple processors. The new processors (referred to as Multi-Core processors) are simply a single chip with two or more processors.
Dual core processors can be most simply explained as having two processors that can each work on different tasks, making a PC more responsive and giving it more power and speed especially whilst multi-tasking. Wisegeek and Webopedia have more information on this system.
*Which* two methods?
Those processors that require two diffrent voltages (one for external opertatoins and another for internal operatoins) are called Dual-Voltage Processors. Other processors are called single-voltage processors.... You know dat's right! :D
A single core processor is just that... one processing core. A dual core processor is actually two processing cores on one chip. It is like having two processors in your system, but it is faster than two individual processors.
Yes, these are called micro-processors. If you have a dual-core CPU, it means you have two micro-processors running in your CPU rather than just one.
Yes, these are called micro-processors. If you have a dual-core CPU, it means you have two micro-processors running in your CPU rather than just one.
Most everyday office/home computers have one processor. However, more recent processors are coming with two, four, and soon even eight cores, or smaller processors in processors.
Yes & no. If they are both single-core (one processor) than yes, the 2.0GHz is clocked at a higher speed. But in the case of multi-core processors it varies...such as: A 3.0GHz single-core CPU is "equivalent" to at 1.5GHz dual-core (two processors) CPU. Or a 1.5GHz Quad-core (four processors) CPU is faster than a 1.5GHz dual-core CPU because it'd be 1.3GHz x 4 processors versus 1.5GHz x 2 processors.
If you are writing a compare and contrast essay on the dominant computer chips, a good thesis statement would be "An analysis of the performance of Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processors, based on factors such as cache memory, clock speed and host-bus speed, will demonstrate the similarities and differences between the two dominant chips."