I've always understood that a higher clock speed will make a cpu faster, but how much of a difference does the cache and other details of the processor make?
Let's say I have a Q6600 that I've overclocked to 2.83GHZ.
Now I'll compare that Q6600 with a Q9550 which I'll keep at its 2.83GHZ stock speed. The clock speeds are now the same, does the Q9550 come out far ahead of the Q6600 still?
These situations are purely hypothetical, I'm just trying to get an idea of what exactly makes one cpu better than another aside from clock speed.
Answer
The cache makes a significant difference.
When your PC wants to perform a calculation, it needs the data to do it. It stores these in the memory registers, and these are VERY crowded. Too much data, very few registers. So CPUs have cache, incredibly fast memory for quick data retrieval. The more cache you have, the more data your CPU can hold without having to fall back to the much slower RAM (or much slower again, HDD)
So your faster Clock means your CPU has a higher calculations/s, but the larger cache means it doesn't have to wait for the information. Whether it makes a great difference depends on the application to an extent, but in general, more cache is a very good thing indeed.
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