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Quad Core? Dual Core?

N

Nitro1

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2009
303
0
My roommate and i have had this argument for years. I have read the Apple website and they say that if you have a quad core and you are not always using all four cores it will shut down the cores you are not using and speed up the ones still being used. So here is my question. If i get the new mac pro with the 2.93Ghz quad core then that means the max that each core can go is .73Ghz. Is that correct????? Or is it possible that the cores can each go the max 2.93Ggz?????
Because if the max that one core can go is .73Ghz than it makes more sense to get a dual core with the same kind of spec's on the overall processor.

Help please.

I hope this maxes sense.
 
Each core runs at 2.93GHz. Some processors can "turbo boost", that is shut down some cores and run the remaining at higher than the stated (2.93GHz) clock speed if there is only a single task to perform at full speed. Many Macs will also slow down the cores to less than the stated speed if there is nothing to do to save power. BTW, the same is true for PCs.
 
Badger^2 said:
What are you doing that you need a Dual Core 2.93 Macpro?
Click to expand...

I am just looking right now. I am going to be doing a large amount of Pro tools recording and editing. I might go with a iMac i7 that is why i am asking. Now why is it that Apple does not market the processor at like 9Ghz instead of the 2.93Ghz or at least not specify as to why each core is not specifically the 2.93Ghz.
 
Nitro1 said:
My roommate and i have had this argument for years. I have read the Apple website and they say that if you have a quad core and you are not always using all four cores it will shut down the cores you are not using and speed up the ones still being used. So here is my question. If i get the new mac pro with the 2.93Ghz quad core then that means the max that each core can go is .73Ghz. Is that correct????? Or is it possible that the cores can each go the max 2.93Ggz?????
Because if the max that one core can go is .73Ghz than it makes more sense to get a dual core with the same kind of spec's on the overall processor.

Help please.

I hope this maxes sense.
Click to expand...



Nope its not correct but i lol.
 
flopticalcube said:
Each core runs at 2.93GHz. Some processors can "turbo boost", that is shut down some cores and run the remaining at higher than the stated (2.93GHz) clock speed if there is only a single task to perform at full speed. Many Macs will also slow down the cores to less than the stated speed if there is nothing to do to save power. BTW, the same is true for PCs.
Click to expand...

Do you know of a official document that i can read and show to my roommate so we can both have it better explained in our brains.
THank you
 
Nehalem based processors have the turbo boost feature. This includes Core i5, Core i7 and the Xeon 3500 and 5500 processors used in the Mac Pro.

http://www.intel.com/technology/turboboost/

The 2.93GHz processor found in the quad Mac Pro can boost to 3.06GHz, or 3.2GHz when only one core is running. The ones in the 8 core can do 3.2Ghz or 3.33GHz with one core running (they have a better thermal overhead). All turbo boost ratings can be found on Wikipedia.
 
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