Intel Core i7 Processor

Yep. For the avg. consumer, and actually most people, the core i7 is simply an refinement on the Pentium IV. Many applications today are still not dual-core optimized.

 

Even Windows 7, which is supposedly optimized for quad-core processers, cannot use all 4 cores. I tested one of my quad-core systems using the benchmarking tool used to determine your Windows Experience Index. I enabled all 4 cores, got a score of 7.1. I disabled 2 (disabled multiple cores) in the BIOS, and still got a score of 7.1.

Clearly, the test is only stressing 2/4 cores, at the very most. Maybe just 1 ...

Too bad with Intel processors you cannot disable a certain processor, you can only disable a certain core, since it's basically two core 2 duos.

 

Well, a multi-core CPU is a single processor. Hence, you cannot disable the whole thing, unless you've got another processor inside (I haven't had one before, so I'm not sure if you can in fact disable a processor).

 

Core 2 Quad = 2 Core 2 Duos = 2 Cores = 4 Processors

I can disable 1 core = 2 processors.

 

I believe you have it backwards.

Core 2 Quad = 2 Core 2 Duo's (2 CPUs) = 4 cores = 1 (physical) processor

 

Yea, that's more like it. Thanks for the clarification.