Page 2 - Pentium 4 vs Core 2 Duo

I am wanting to play some games on my HP pavilion laptop PC. The game I am looking at getting is MotoGP 2008. It says it requires a penitum 4 processor, and recommends a core quad processor. However, my laptop has a Core 2 Duo T5200 1.6ghz. Would this be equivilant to a pentium 4? If a processor is core 2 duo 1.6Ghz, does that mean it has twice the clock speed, so technically it is 3.2ghz??

The Celeron Dual Core is limited to 512KB of L2 Cache and has lower Front Side Bus (FSB) and clock speeds than chips higher up on the list. However, it is a very low priced CPU and apparently a good overclocker. The only Celeron Dual Core currently available is the E1200 (January 2008). It has 512 KB of L2 Cache, a clock speed of 1.60 GHz and an 800 MHz FSB.

The Pentium Dual Core is the next step up. With 1 MB of L2 Cache, these chips are still targeted at the cost-conscious. Slightly more expensive and slightly better performing than the Celeron Dual Core. The Pentium Dual Core models are: E2200, E21xx, T23xx, and T20xx. All have 1 MB of L2 Cache, either a 533 MHz or 800 MHz FSB and clock speeds ranging from 1.46 GHz to 2.20 GHz.

The Core Duo chips are dual core cpu’s that have 2 MB of L2 Cache. This is also a 32-bit architecture (Celeron and most Pentium Dual Cores are 64-bit). The Core Duo processors: T2700, T2600, T2500, T24xx, T23xx, T22xx, T2050, L2500, L2400, L2300 (L=Low voltage), U2500, U2400 (U=Ultra low voltage). All have 2 MB of L2 Cache. FSB is either 533 MHz or 667 MHz and clock speeds range from 1.06 GHz(for the U2400) to 2.33 GHz.

Core 2 Duo cpu’s are aimed at both desktop and mobile computers in the mid-range of the processor market. This line of cpu’s have L2 caches ranging from 2MB to 6MB and clock speeds from 1.06 GHz (again, for the Ultra low voltage U7500) to 3.16 GHz. The extra cache and higher clock and bus speeds make these generally more expensive and faster than the Core Duo’s. Intel claims a 25% performance increase between two similarly clocked Core Duo and Core 2 Duo cpu’s (but real world benchmarks pegs 5%-15% as a more reasonable claim).

Intel also manufactures the even more expensive and capable Xeon and Itanium dual and quad-core processors for the high-end workstation and server market.

Got a Core 2 Duo on my new laptop, very fast. even if you compare a P4 and a Core 2 Duo with half the clock speed, the core 2 duo is faster.