Processor and recommendations

When I read the processor recommendation for a game it says 3.0 Ghz. But are all processors the same? Is a 3.0 Ghz single core processor as fast as a duel core processor? If not, what kind of processor do they consider when writing the recommendation?

Thanks!

 

They usually write what kind of proeceesor and if they write only 3GHZ they mean a sningle core CPU so a dual cpu on 1,5 GHZ should do it. It is however mostly the GPU that is the bottleneck for newer games not the CPU

 

Hold up, there's a couple things wrong with that sentence.
1) They don't always put single core speed (though this usually in newer games), sometimes the recommended dual core.
2) 1.5x2 != 3. A dual core CPU is ONLY ~= 2x as fast single core if the program supports multi-threading. Otherwise you can only use a single 1.5GHz core, so the higher clocked one wins.
3) Unfortunately, most companies still use the antiquated P4 as the minimum requirement. Now, you need to convert that into whatever CPU you have. For example, if you have a recent AMD CPU, you should multiply your clockspeed by about 1.5 to get the equivalent P4 speed. Now with the C2D CPUs, you need to multiply by about 2 to get the equivalent P4.

At least you got the part about the GPU almost always being the bottleneck right. The thing is though, some games use the CPU more heavily, Supreme Commander for instance.

 

So on a 3. Ghz duel core, each core runs at 3. and not 1.5 for a total of 3.? Also, a 3. Ghz duel core is equivalent to a 6. Ghz single if the program was programmed with multi-threading?

Good information and thanks.

 

Yes, a 3GHz dual core CPU has 2 brains, each working at 3 GHz.
Not quite, CPUs will usually see an improvement in the range of 75% if the program supports the 2 brains. But, it's also really difficult to get a CPU to 6GHz, that's basically the reason that the industry went multicore, it's more cost-effective and easier to make in the hardware.

 

Not really. Core 2 Duo's cores are more efficient/hz than the Pentium 4. My E4500 is running at 2.2ghz, but each core is the equivalent of a 4.0 Pentium 4. The frequencies only mean anything when comparing 2 processors of the same architecture. For exemple, a Pentium III at 1ghz is better than a Pentium 4 at 1ghz I believe (that's why the Pentium M are actually based on the Pentium 3 architecture )

 

yeah that sounds about right.

a core 2 chip running at 2ghz with only one core enabled would still be faster than the fastest pentium 4. with two cores enabled and being used, its leagues faster.

suffice it to say that any modern normal core 2 based cpu is plenty for any modern game. about 2ghz and up and you are fine. and yes, each core is running at 2ghz.

 

Even if a program is multithreaded, there is no guarantee that you will get 75%-100% speed gains ona multicore. It gets very complex when you start talking multithreaded/multicore to figure out gains in speed. But in general, you should see a non-insignificant gain at worst out of a multicore rig with a multithreaded app.

 

Pay attention to the CPU requirements a bit more for RTS games like Supreme Commander and World in Conflict since a low-end dual-core CPU does struggle with the game despite the recommended single-core requirements. Otherwise any dual-core processor with a named core speed of 2Ghz and above is plenty for games released nowadays.