Understanding Multicore CPU's

[Carlosinfl]

OK - finally got around to getting a Q6600 for my PC and a T7300 for my laptop. They are both great chips but I guess I don't understand how this works. Lets take my Q6600 for example. This has 4 cores and the chip runs at 2.4GHz. Does that mean that I divide 2400MHz by 4 and that equals the amount of speed each core is capable of does each individual core itself have 2.4GHz of processing power?

 

[tiraides]

Each core runs at 2.4GHz.

However, the key to determining the processor's performance is whether or not the software is optimized (or rather, designed) to utilize multiple cores.