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What do they mean by quad-core?

C

cowls192

Lurker
When the phone spec says "1.9 GHz quad-core" does it mean:
(1) There are 4 cores with each of them maximum of 1.9 GHz
(2) There are 4 cores, and the maximum speed for ALL 4 cores combined is 1.9 GHz
OR
(3) something else?

I had hard time finding a simple answer to this...

Thanks for reading.
 
1.9GHz is the maximum frequency the processor can run at. Sometimes its the max for all cores together, sometimes the max for just one core, depends on the processor's design. Anyway, you're unlikely to actually get the max frequency very often as mostly the CPU's governor is set to either maximize battery life or some compromise between battery life and performance.
 
well hell... I thought it was...
4 cores.. each can run up to 1.9ghz

they tend to run at the lowest needed...and fewest cores.
only go full out if the tasks are many/heavy. don't need a sledge hammer to kill a fly.
 
El Presidente said:
That was my understanding too. 1.9GHz is the maximum they can runt at individually, but when all are running at full tilt, clock speed is reduced slightly?
Click to expand...
I'd have thought that heat dissipation would be limitation. If it gets too hot it will reduce the clock speed ("thermal throttling"). Some phones produce higher benchmark scores when run in a freezer because of this - anandtech have some examples in their reviews.

I can't think of anything else that would limit the speed you can run all 4 at, but there won't be many circumstances when you'll need all 4 flat out for long.
 
As i'm looking at my galaxy s4, i keep thinking "I spent more money on this smartphone than my laptop!! And my smartphone is faster than my laptop!!"

I'm also taking IT classes and learning that CPU speed doesn't really count since other components, (RAM, internal memory, system bus) are all WAY TOO slow for CPU. Sometimes i think iPhone is faster in those areas since their screen scrolls like 60fps.

Sometimes i wish my galaxy s4 was as responsive as my $60 Tracfone... ;-)
 
Aparently the s4 is very laggy so far though. And i think they havent got the "octo-core" functioning how it was intended to yet.

Bit off topic sorry but i find 4.2 "laggy" in general. Im on the quad-core s3 and ive tried a touchwiz-based 4.2.2 firmware and some AOSP and settled on AOKP 4.2.2 rom and all of them have seemed really laggy until i disabled the animation, window etc scaling in Developer Options. I havent played around enough with an s4 but id suggest everyone who finds it sluggish and doesnt want to modify it, activates Developer Options and does that :thumbup:
 
cowls192 said:
As i'm looking at my galaxy s4, i keep thinking "I spent more money on this smartphone than my laptop!! And my smartphone is faster than my laptop!!"

I'm also taking IT classes and learning that CPU speed doesn't really count since other components, (RAM, internal memory, system bus) are all WAY TOO slow for CPU. Sometimes i think iPhone is faster in those areas since their screen scrolls like 60fps.

Sometimes i wish my galaxy s4 was as responsive as my $60 Tracfone... ;-)
Click to expand...

it is good you are learning more about it.. but I am afraid you still don't have the full picture.

you mention the slow parts.. "bottlenecks" of a system.
but it also depends on what the user wants to have fast.

examples are sports cars.. and the type of race / track you want to compete on. different things become more or less important.
Different type engines.. not just size.
different type tires
different type shocks
brakes
endurance
gas consumption

so.. just because your phone does something fast.. does not mean it is faster or more powerful than your PC!
 
dan330 said:
so.. just because your phone does something fast.. does not mean it is faster or more powerful than your PC!
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, i forgot to mention that when i open Gmail from the Internet app and turn on "desktop view" mode, it becomes almost unbrowsable. I really hope that this is a software issue, not a hardware issue, because other sites in desktop view load up just fine....
 
cowls192 said:
As i'm looking at my galaxy s4, i keep thinking "I spent more money on this smartphone than my laptop!! And my smartphone is faster than my laptop!!"
Click to expand...

I'm looking at my Chinese KIRF Galaxy Note "replica". i keep thinking "I spent much less money on this smartphone than my Apple Macbook!! And my smartphone does so much less than my laptop!!" :D
 
cowls192 said:
As i'm looking at my galaxy s4, i keep thinking "I spent more money on this smartphone than my laptop!! And my smartphone is faster than my laptop!!"

I'm also taking IT classes and learning that CPU speed doesn't really count since other components, (RAM, internal memory, system bus) are all WAY TOO slow for CPU. Sometimes i think iPhone is faster in those areas since their screen scrolls like 60fps.

Sometimes i wish my galaxy s4 was as responsive as my $60 Tracfone... ;-)
Click to expand...

The S4 is faster than your laptop? You need a new one if its that slow. The dual core 1.2Ghz on the S2 was almost powerful as the 1st gen Atom, with the quad core S3 probably level of the second gen 1.6Ghz Atom. That said, the octa core on the S4 is just 2 sets of quads, so its not that much powerful than the S3, maybe an overclocked second gen single core Atom at best. If your laptop is slower than that, you need a new one.

funkylogik said:
Aparently the s4 is very laggy so far though. And i think they havent got the "octo-core" functioning how it was intended to yet.

Bit off topic sorry but i find 4.2 "laggy" in general. Im on the quad-core s3 and ive tried a touchwiz-based 4.2.2 firmware and some AOSP and settled on AOKP 4.2.2 rom and all of them have seemed really laggy until i disabled the animation, window etc scaling in Developer Options. I havent played around enough with an s4 but id suggest everyone who finds it sluggish and doesnt want to modify it, activates Developer Options and does that :thumbup:
Click to expand...

I think people who say the S4 or S3 is laggy mainly because of the settings and the way Samsung has set it. For example, a lot of people were complaining of the lag when pressing the home button, that it takes a second before it takes you to home screen because it waits for the double press to see if you want to activate S-Voice. Animations are also set to 1.0 or 1.5 out of the box, when the HTC One and stock Android (AFAIK) are set to 0.5, so animations seem slower. Some people just don't bother with the settings.
 
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