Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz v/s Intel i3 M 370 @ 2.40 GHz,2Cores

[Rachit Ramesh]

So I need to buy a game but in the reqirements it has Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz. I have Intel i3 M 370 @ 2.40 GHz,2Cores. The only thing that bothers me is that my processor has 2 cores. Will I be able to run the game?

 

[Sandstorm3000]

What game are you talking about, the Q6600 is a lot better than your i3-m370. One of the main reasons is it simply has more cores.

 

[Rachit Ramesh]

What game are you talking about, the Q6600 is a lot better than your i3-m370. One of the main reasons is it simply has more cores.

Yeah. That's what I am talking about... Just wanted to confirm because the speed was same. It's an Indie game btw.

 

[rhysiam]

I don't think the Q6600 is actually all that much better than a your i3. The i3 is 3 years newer, much smaller lithography (32nm vs 65nm) with substantially better IPC and although it doesn't have 4 cores, it does have hyperthreading (handling 4 threads) which helps bridge the gap between dual and quad cores in both productivity and gaming (that's why modern dual core i3s can still hold their own in games where the Pentiums really struggle)

Anandtech Bench doesn't have your exact CPU, but it does have the i3 530 which is the same architecture, just clocked a bit higher. You can see the comparison between the i3 530 and the q6600 here: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/118?vs=53

You can see in the benchmarks that in both singlethreaded tasks and gaming the i3 has anywhere from a small to a very significant lead over the q6600. Now your particular i3 is clocked lower, so that would definitely impact on the performance, but for gaming I think you'll find it's in the same league as the q6600, perhaps a little slower, but only a little.

Now if you're wanting to run one of the more recent games that really pushes 4 cores, you might start to have trouble, but there aren't that many games that fall into that category.

 

[spp85]

What game are you planning to buy and with i3 M 370 CPU i dont think any of the latest current games can run smoothly. It may run if you had a decent graphics card but the game play would be jerky and shuttering most time.

 

[Rachit Ramesh]

So I guess I'll have to upgrade it then 😛