Quote: "would a quad core at 2.4ghz run x10 better than a dual at 3.0ghz? "
I don't know for sure but...
4 x 2.4 = 9.6 ghz
2 x 3.0 = 6.0 ghz
not to mention the fact that theoretically the quad core can process twice as much simutaniously than the dual core.
I would bet that the quad is faster.
Here's a
benchmark test if you want to scroll down to the chart that has the quads and duos.
Check out the XEON dual quad (8 cores).
I wish I had seen those before I bought my quad.
The thing is, multiple processor allow you to run more processes simutaniously.
You won't see as much performance increase running a single application as you would running multiple programs.
So, the tests can be biased.
If both machines were only utilizing a single core, then the dual core's single core would theoreticaly be faster at 3.0 than the quad's single core of 2.4
I'm only guessing, because I am no expert, but with all of the programs running in the background nowadays your best bet might be to get as many processing cores as you can.
That total ghz pointed out up above comes into play when all of the cores are being utilized.
