Multi-core Processors, Difference between Core 2 Duo and Intel Dual Core

Google returns ~7,340,000 search results for “Intel Core 2 duo Dual Core difference”. None of it gives a complete or satisfied answer after reading. Most of them are forums, where people have discussed about very specific ideas about the topic. So, I thought of giving some kind of detailed but a plain explanation in my first post.

Processor

Lets first see what a processor means in a digital system. In simple tech terms, it is a collection of transistors (in millions or billions) working together embedded on a silicon chip doing a large number of mathematical calculations per timing unit (technically known as frequency of the processor). To do these calculations it consumes some amount of power and dissipates considerable amount of heat.

Multi-core Processors

Performance and speed of a processor is enhanced by increasing the embedded transistor count or increasing the frequency rating. But at higher frequencies this transistor collection consumes a lot of power and dissipate greater amount of heat making them impractical to integrate into a single chip.

A simple automobile analogy is, just doubling the horsepower in car doesn’t double its top speed! Factors like friction, wind resistance make it unfavorable.

As transistors got smaller it became possible to pack more transistors on a single chip. So, to enhance the performance, chip designers decided to be more practical by placing several processors , each operating at lower frequencies on a single chip. Thus Multi-core Processors came into existence.

Intel’s Multi-core Processors

Intel introduced its first dual core processor in 2005 based on Pentium brand named as Pentium D comprising of two dies (silicon chip), each containing a single processing core residing next to each other on a multi-chip module package. It had less efficiency suffering from high heat dissipation problems.

In 2006 it introduced its brand Core 2 processor Core 2 Duo based on Core micro-architecture.

Intel core 2 duo is the non-Pentium brand of processors with high efficiency and performance with a slightly elevated cost.

Pentium Dual core is Pentium brand low cost, relatively low performance dual core processor released by Intel in competition with AMD’s low cost dual core processors.

In terms of features, price and performance at a given frequency, Pentium Dual-Core processors are positioned above Celeron but below Core and Core 2 microprocessors in Intel's product range.

Core 2 Quad processors were also introduced later in the Core 2 series.

AMD’s Multi-core Processors

The well known Intel competitor AMD has also released its Dual-core Processors like Athlon X2 (64Bit).AMD Processors are known for their gaming efficiency due to their native graphics support from ATI.

Price

Intel

AMD

Hope I was able to give you some overview about Multi-core processors and their variants.