Plaease educate me on Quad-Core technology

I would like to purchase Intel's Kentsfield or the quad core system sometime next year.

I have a few questions concerning this technology:

1) How come each core has a lower clock speed than what is the fastest CPU out right now?

2) If I multitask a lot or if I do video editing/encoding, would there be any bottlenecks in other hardwares? Like the processes trying to write to the harddisk at once, etc?

3) Does quad core let me use both 32 bit and 64 operating systems?

Thanks

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Alai

Although "Quad-Core" technology is exciting, there is currently no software that utilizes the multi-threading that can be done with 4 processors in the consumer segment. Although ther server segment is eager for Quad-Core for slightly more obvious reasons, the desktop segment is not really optimized for such an environment.

In fact, if you want to really boost your PC's specs with best in class hardware, your best bet would be to save the money you would spend on Kentsfield and get a Core2Duo with a top graphics card. A computer with a 4 core proc and a decent graphics card will not perform like a 2 core pc with the best video card.

Your best bet is to get the dual core when the prices go down.

I still think that instead of calling kentsfield a quad core processor, it should be called a pair of dual core processors. There are two die's on this thing.

Thats interesting to know. Thanks

There's nowhere I can't reach.