Dual core processor speed question

[Phil Airtime]

Sorry for the boring question. I'm looking at computers to replace my current system, whose spec is in my signature. I only want it out of here because it's big, beige, noisy and about as aesthetically pleasing as a skip in the corner of the room. It makes such a god awful racket, it's like having a bloody cement mixer in here; it actually affects the quality of my work and I'm forever having to replace worn out parts like the PSU and CD drive.

Anyway, most of the systems I see are something like this: http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(24422)Lenovo-ThinkCenter-A55-Tower-Intel-Dual-Core.aspx (I know it's pictured with a screen, but it doesn't come with one!)

The processor for that system is down as "Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140 / 1.6 GHz". If it's dual-core, does that make it an effective speed of 3.2 GHz? I only ask because I find it odd that they're selling brand new systems that appear slower than my current AMD Sempron 2.0 GHz of a few years' vintage. I've not shopped for computers for a long time, so my knowledge is a little out of date!

[[h2o]]

You can't judge processor speed from clock-frequency alone.
There are a lot of other factors that must be considered. I have no numbers,but I can almostcertainly guarantee you that a new Dual Core processor will be faster than the one you have.

[LaRoza]

The actual speed of a processor, that Intel has historically hyped, are not the sole factor in determining the quality of a processor.

With dual-cores, you don't add the speeds together, it doesn't work that way.

It can be difficult to compare processors without extensives tests.

That processor looks good, and is most likely better than your old one.

[BDNiner]

It will definately be faster than your current system. my AMD X2 vastly out performs my P4. so much so that i may switch my computers around so that the AMD is my linux box and the P4 is my windows machine.

[Dixon Bainbridge]

Dual cores don't run at the same time, AFAIK, they switch the load between the cores very quickly. Its not true parallell processing, but a way of reducing cache lag. The upshot is it makes things faster :)