Does overclocking really replace a $1000 dollar chip?

[OLpal]

From what i can tell reading so many article & test results; most software won't take advatage of quad core yet & seems they all have less frame or speed [time] improvement after around 3.6 ghz
So another question would does a puhed hard Q6600 @ 3.6ghz outperform a E8400 eased in @ 3.6ghz with both being tested with 32 bit software written to utilize dual core processors !!
????????????????????????

Anybody got a surefire answer to this realworld Seat of the Pants Question ?????

Thanks ; OlPal

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: OLpal
From what i can tell reading so many article & test results; most software won't take advatage of quad core yet & seems they all have less frame or speed [time] improvement after around 3.6 ghz
So another question would does a puhed hard Q6600 @ 3.6ghz outperform a E8400 eased in @ 3.6ghz with both being tested with 32 bit software written to utilize dual core processors !!
????????????????????????

Anybody got a surefire answer to this realworld Seat of the Pants Question ?????

Thanks ; OlPal

the answer is that, software isn't written to utilize any # of cores, such as 2,3,4,5,6...
software is either single threaded or multi threaded.

a dual core and quad core cpu will perform single threaded task the same assuming their core speeds and architecture was the same.
a dual core and quad core cpu will perform light multi threaded tasks the same.
a dual core will under perform compared to a quad core cpu in task that is highly taxing on the cpu and multi threaded.

 

[OLpal]

Thanks for the info Louisss & helping me to understand !!

I was basing my assumption on tests that had stated games like Crysis was one of a few to take advantage of quad cores... & that some companys were going to write new code for their software to to take advantage of 64 bit & quad core processore !!

Part of my question was on performance as the quad [aiui] is not a true quad processor but 2 dual cores running independenly whereas the E8400 has a faster ghz C2D processor !!
Am i wrong in my thinking ??? when they are runnuing single threaded software !!
I'm just trying to understand, not trying to be the village clown !!

Thanks again;; OlPal

 

[Sheninat0r]

You shouldn't compare the Q6600 and the QX9650 as they have different architectures. A better comparison would be the Q6600 versus the QX6850, in which case the Q6600 can be as fast as a stock QX6850 but a QX6850 can clock even higher than the Q6600.