Dual core??? WHAT??

Question

A little info for some-one who missed the dual core lecture.

i have spotted a pc i like the look of to replace the one i am currently using but i am unsure about the processor.

if it says for example AMD Athlon 6400 dual core,
i know i can find the speed lets say in this case it is 2.1Ghz,
does this mean 2 processors each running at 2.1 Ghz. or both running less to produce a total processing power of 2.1 Ghz.

any info on getting round this jargon would be appreciatted

would this chipset be better than buying a 3Ghz single core processor?

Answer 1

No. Dual core is not the same as dual processor and if it's an
advantage (wether dual core or dual processor) really depends
on the application. If the application can benefit from it then a
system with two cores or two processors can be faster than
a higher powered single core chip. However. If it doesn't you
have 1:1 and then the higher powered system of course makes
the race. The difference between dual core and dual processor
isn't easy to explain. Simply spoken it's two processors in one
where the processors share certain components.

Answer 2

Dual core means that inside a single processor there are two distinct processing paths being clocked at the same rate in your example 2.1 Ghz.

That's the basics, try a search on the Intel or AMD web pages for more info.

Answer 3

Two cores at 2.1GHz.