Confusion: pentium 4 vs. Core 2 duo gaming

If there is a game (company of heroes) that requires a cpu that is a Pentium 4/Athlon XP or better with a cpu speed of 1.8 ghz or more and I have a Core 2 Duo 1.6 ghz, will the cpu requirements to run this game be met?

 

yes. it might actually do a simple check and tell you that your processor is short .2 ghz, but it won't prevent you from running the game and your processor is MUCH faster than any pentium 4.

 

So if they want a pentium 4 or Athlon 64 wouldn't they be single core and I have a Core 2 Duo so wouldn't it be like I had a single core processor at 2.2ghz?

 

more. overall, your core 2 duo is probably twice as fast (or more) as some of the faster pentium 4 / athlon 64 processors. you have two processing cores and each core is way better than the p4 / a64.

even if you disabled one of the cores and you had a 1.6ghz core 2 "solo", you would still be considerably faster than a 1.6ghz p4. you would probably be more like a 3ghz+ pentium 4 or so.

 

Allright so the system requirements test will state that I would be .2 ghz behind, but actually I'll be way ahead in processing speed?

 

Megahertz and gigahertz do not matter much nowadays in the world of dual core/ quad core processors. It happened to consumers when Intel used megahertz and gigahertz as a marketing tool. The Pentium 4 is based on an older architecture, while the Core 2 is based on a newer and efficient architecture. In short, Core 2 is faster despite the clock speed myth.

 

yes and yes.

i have found a few games (battlefield 2142) that just do a simple clock speed check. most games probably won't bother you about it. some games might be smart enough to recognize "core 2 duo" and tell you that you are set on the processor.

 

Core 2 Duos are faster per GHz.

 

ghz aren't totally out the window. its still a measurement of speed, sort of. you can use ghz to compare speeds between processors of the same generation: between two athlons 64's, or between two core 2 duo's. that sort of thing. its actually always been that way, which is why amd would name their processors to match the clock equivalent of a p4.

athlon 2400+ might only be 2 ghz but it would be as powerful as a 2.4ghz p4.