OT: Question about Computers

[joe_collector]

what does a dual core processor mean? does that mean that 2 GHz runs faster than a non-dual core that days it's 2 GHz?

 

It's exactly what it says, there are two processor cores on a dual-core, four on a quad-core, etc. The more physical processor cores on a processor package, the more processing threads it can handle, and the smoother your multi-tasking will be.

 

Here's my Task Manager, and it shows 8 simultaneous threads/processes on one processor.

 

Overkill!!!!!

 

And btw that is two processors.

 

Sure, it's overkill until you want to encode a 2 hour video file to DivX/AC3 in under 16 minutes.

 

And BTW, it's a single CPU.

 

Really what model cpu? What make computer is it and model #?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115201

 

It's a DIY system that I recently upgraded from a C2Q.

[whisp]

what does a dual core processor mean? does that mean that 2 GHz runs faster than a non-dual core that days it's 2 GHz?

 

It's exactly what it says, there are two processor cores on a dual-core, four on a quad-core, etc. The more physical processor cores on a processor package, the more processing threads it can handle, and the smoother your multi-tasking will be.

 

Here's my Task Manager, and it shows 8 simultaneous threads/processes on one processor.

 

Overkill!!!!!

 

And btw that is two processors.

 

Sure, it's overkill until you want to encode a 2 hour video file to DivX/AC3 in under 16 minutes.

 

And BTW, it's a single CPU.

 

Really what model cpu? What make computer is it and model #?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115201

 

It's a DIY system that I recently upgraded from a C2Q.

 

Thats a quad core you are showing in that link.

 

[joe_collector]

what does a dual core processor mean? does that mean that 2 GHz runs faster than a non-dual core that days it's 2 GHz?

 

It's exactly what it says, there are two processor cores on a dual-core, four on a quad-core, etc. The more physical processor cores on a processor package, the more processing threads it can handle, and the smoother your multi-tasking will be.

 

Here's my Task Manager, and it shows 8 simultaneous threads/processes on one processor.

 

Overkill!!!!!

 

And btw that is two processors.

 

Sure, it's overkill until you want to encode a 2 hour video file to DivX/AC3 in under 16 minutes.

 

And BTW, it's a single CPU.

 

Really what model cpu? What make computer is it and model #?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115201

 

It's a DIY system that I recently upgraded from a C2Q.

 

Thats a quad core you are showing in that link.

 

Yes, and capable of handling up to 8 threads.

[whisp]

what does a dual core processor mean? does that mean that 2 GHz runs faster than a non-dual core that days it's 2 GHz?

 

It's exactly what it says, there are two processor cores on a dual-core, four on a quad-core, etc. The more physical processor cores on a processor package, the more processing threads it can handle, and the smoother your multi-tasking will be.

 

Here's my Task Manager, and it shows 8 simultaneous threads/processes on one processor.

 

Overkill!!!!!

 

And btw that is two processors.

 

Sure, it's overkill until you want to encode a 2 hour video file to DivX/AC3 in under 16 minutes.

 

And BTW, it's a single CPU.

 

Really what model cpu? What make computer is it and model #?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115201

 

It's a DIY system that I recently upgraded from a C2Q.

 

Thats a quad core you are showing in that link.

 

Yes, and capable of handling up to 8 threads.

 

First of all you are showing a screenshot of a 8 processor setup. Those 8 little windows in a row are each a processor and not threads so why your window is showing 8 processors when you are running a quad is quite strange. Now for the running of threads you can run multiple threads on one cpu let alone that is just a method of what gets to run first. Just look at your own screenshot with the amount of threads running which it shows 618 threads due to hyper threading technology and multi threading which is a lot more then 8.

 

Are you sure that is a screenshot of your computer

 

Oh and you are at 42 processes.

 

 

 

 

[Shootydog]

what does a dual core processor mean? does that mean that 2 GHz runs faster than a non-dual core that days it's 2 GHz?

 

It's exactly what it says, there are two processor cores on a dual-core, four on a quad-core, etc. The more physical processor cores on a processor package, the more processing threads it can handle, and the smoother your multi-tasking will be.

 

Here's my Task Manager, and it shows 8 simultaneous threads/processes on one processor.

 

Overkill!!!!!

 

And btw that is two processors.

 

Sure, it's overkill until you want to encode a 2 hour video file to DivX/AC3 in under 16 minutes.

 

And BTW, it's a single CPU.

 

Really what model cpu? What make computer is it and model #?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115201

 

It's a DIY system that I recently upgraded from a C2Q.

 

Thats a quad core you are showing in that link.

 

Yes, and capable of handling up to 8 threads.

 

First of all you are showing a screenshot of a 8 processor setup. Those 8 little windows in a row are each a processor and not threads so why your window is showing 8 processors when you are running a quad is quite strange. Now for the running of threads you can run multiple threads on one cpu let alone that is just a method of what gets to run first. Just look at your own screenshot with the amount of threads running which it shows 618 threads due to hyper threading technology and multi threading which is a lot more then 8.

 

Are you sure that is a screenshot of your computer

 

Oh and you are at 42 processes.

 

 

 

 

You both need to brush up on your tech before arguing on the boards about it...but JC is correct for the most part.

 

"Nehalem also brings Hyper-Threading (HT) back from the dead. With HT enabled, a processor with four physical cores is viewed by the operating system as having eight logical cores. A core usually processes the pieces of the different threads one after another, however an HT-enabled core can process two threads in a simultaneous manner. While Hyper-Threading did not perform particularly well on the Pentium 4, Nehalem's architecture was designed to remove many of the processing bottlenecks. Depending on the workload, and how effectively multi-threaded an application is, the performance increases could be 20% or higher."

 

Quoted from...

 

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/11390-intel-core-i7-nehalem-920-940-965-xe-processor-review.html

 

[whisp]

K that fine but its still a quad core which is only 4 processors using hyper threading. As to the 8 processes that is not correct. Also you have to be careful when talking about threads and hyper threading and such. It really inst 2 and such liek even that guy in that article is saying. Threading is a process of selection of what gets accesdes first and it is so quick that is why he shows so many .

 

 

I stand corrected about his window though since I thought they got rid of the hyper threading so I learned something I am going to go read up to see if they are going to be doing hyper threading on the new 6 cores coming out.

[joe_collector]

You both need to brush up on your tech before arguing on the boards about it...but JC is correct for the most part.

 

I hardly need to "brush up on my tech", as I was being purposely obtuse to play him along a bit. HT means that I have 4 physical cores and 8 logical ones, capable of handling 8 threads simultaneously.

 

It's not rocket science, but it was fun trying to make Whisp's head explode.

[whisp]

You both need to brush up on your tech before arguing on the boards about it...but JC is correct for the most part.

 

I hardly need to "brush up on my tech", as I was being purposely obtuse to play him along a bit. HT means that I have 4 physical cores and 8 logical ones, capable of handling 8 threads simultaneously.

 

It's not rocket science, but it was fun trying to make Whisp's head explode.

 

My head didn't explode . And I learned something which is cool.

 

Btw you could have just said your core does hyperthreading instead of being a jerk since that link you gave doesn't list hyperthreading in its specifications and I dont claim to know every core on the market..

 

Thank for admiting you where being a jerk as usual though.

 

 

[Shootydog]

You both need to brush up on your tech before arguing on the boards about it...but JC is correct for the most part.

 

I hardly need to "brush up on my tech", as I was being purposely obtuse to play him along a bit. HT means that I have 4 physical cores and 8 logical ones, capable of handling 8 threads simultaneously.

 

It's not rocket science, but it was fun trying to make Whisp's head explode.

 

Yeah well it ain't basic math either and I sometimes have a hard time getting my head around some of the higher tech stuff. I work for a software company and when I escalate something over my head and I listen to some of the explanations....thats when my head asplodes with teh knowledge that I don't know *spoon* compared to some....or most people.

 

I wish I was 17 again and knew what I know now.

[joe_collector]

Thank for admiting you where being a jerk as usual though.

 

No malice intended, it was just my riddle/brain-teaser for the night.

[The Less Blob]

yeah, i dunno if i need all that pop on a laptop, but if they were having a great sale i guess i'd go for it. like i said, when we get a new desktop at some point this year, that is what's going to have the real juice, mainly for my wife. i am a simple caveman lawyer and ebay comic seller. my needs are limited. (until I wind up needing to carry around images from a 500,000 page document production on my laptop and need to run twisted database searches on them, in which case I'll probably regret getting a lower end laptop.

[The Less Blob]

Video card doesn't really matter if you are not playing games.

____________

 

Well, I do like games, I jusat don't have the time usually and I like simple ones. I have a PS II which I haven't even set up since we moved 2 years ago. Is getting a mid level upgrade on, let's say, what Dell offers worthwhile? I know I got top of the line (for Dell) on the desktop 5 years ago, which has perhaps helped keep this thing up to speed in the modern era.

[The Less Blob]

Hmmm, it seems that with some of these deals from Dell if you buy a good laptop they'll throw in a mini for $50 (which will cost more like $200 once it is adequately juiced up).

 

A good enough laptop might avoid the need to buy a new desktop in the future...

[joeypost]

Do a google search for Dell + Coupons.

 

Dell has Internet sales for certain items that only last from 4 to 24 hours. Some of the deals are sick and you can save considerably off the regular web-site.

[moonlite]

Wow there is a lot of geekspeek in this thread.

 

Got my daughter a simple Toshiba for Christmas two years ago. You can get a little better one than she has for 500 or less. Perfect for what you need, but make sure if it has vista, it has 2 gb memory. Not much to change to change it out but better to get it from the start.

Toshiba has a good rating and from what I have seen are good for what you need. Come with wireless so you can hook up to upstairs computer (exactly what we do).

 

 

 

[The Less Blob]

yes, i've been thinking about that toshiba that gets advertised in multiple places for $499.99...the drawback might be it only has a 2-3 hour battery.

 

we shall see, thanks for all the information folks