Windows 7 Processor Speeds General Inquiry

[Maikeru]

I was complaining here about a month ago, about the fact that ZoneAlarm Pro's minimum system requirements called for a 2GHz or faster processor. It still does, and I'm upset about that, but it got me wondering about other software's requirements, so I decided to look up some pro and consumer releases to see how ridiculous ZoneAlarm's requirements really were.

As it turns out, quite a few programs require a 2GHz or faster processor, including iTunes of all things. Some Adobe products require a 4GHz processor. So I got to thinking: "My PC's aren't that old, and most programs run fine on them."

I'm wondering if that's because my slowest currently active PC uses a Pentium 6300 Core 2 Processor (1.86 and 1.87 GHz) with 2GB of RAM, running 32 bit Windows. My other machine has an AMD Phenom Quad Core, about the same speed, with 4GB of RAM to run 64 bit Windows.

So, my questions are these: When a software company lists a 2 GHz or faster processor, are they referring to single core? Dual core? Does dual core or quad core somehow manage to run at higher speeds than their numbers suggest? I know that you can't just add the speed of each core together.

I mean, theoretically, I shouldn't be capable of running iTunes on two of my PC's, which seems ridiculous. Especially since I do run iTunes.

I hope you don't mind my posting these questions. I figured some accurate answers would benefit lots of people, not just me.

 

[drizz]

with reference to your phenom, i just found a nice little tweak that lets your phenom breath. It's called TLB fix, haven't researched what tlb is but i found out when i got slow down on Dragon age, point is after this fix the whole os runs alot faster/smoother so it realy makes a differance it was first done in relation to phenom 9500 when ms put a "fix" due to crash reports which throtled the processor, Amd fixed the problem but ms left the "fix" in, it's all here The New Rebels Haven Forum!!: Programs to Disable TLB Patch for Phenom 9500/9600 Series i realise this may not be exactly what you were after but it will transform your phenom and i just want to let others have that wow moment
ps recomended speeds are for single core,as most suport program wise is for single / dual. But with Win7 and err the other sides new os multi core support and 64 bit support is pickin up pace , hope this helps .