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There are many types of CPUs, like Pentium, Atom, core 2 duo, core iX (X = 3,5, ....), But I always don't look at them this way! I always look at their speed which in GHZ unit and then compare them with each other. For example when some CPU is in type of 'X' with 2 GHZ of speed and another one is in type of 'Y' with 2.2 GHZ of speed, I say the second one ('Y') has better speed and also better performance.

Is it a correct way?

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  • There are plenty of CPU comparison on internet, type "CPU BENCHMARK" in google box to have a look. If you have a specific application to run. compare against the requirement of the applications behaviors, multi-thread ? cache optimize ? computation or 3D intensive ?
    – user218473
    Nov 2, 2013 at 11:01

1 Answer 1

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That's a simplistic way. All others thing being equal, speed is indeed a valid metric but generally, there are many other factors to consider when comparing CPUs including but not limited to:

  • number of cores
  • number of threads
  • number and size of low level caches
  • embedded GPU
  • instruction set, supported extensions
  • 32 / 64 bit support
  • TDP
  • max memory supported
  • memory bandwidth

Not to mention price ...

There is no single method to compare CPU performance, the best choice depends to the load that will be applied to the system. If you can do it, the best way is to run the target program(s) on the tested systems and compare performance.

When this isn't doable, you can use published benchmark results as an approximation.

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  • So for example when you want to say your opinion about one CPU what do you do step by step?
    – abbasi
    Nov 2, 2013 at 13:55
  • @abbasi Run a benchmark. That's the only reliable way of determining CPU performance.
    – gronostaj
    Nov 2, 2013 at 15:04

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