Q6600: So where's the power?

[desktop]

Everyone says that I won't really notice a difference - speed wise - with my Q6600 because I'm not running any video editing or such which takes advantage of the four cores. My question is - is there a way that I can see the power of the Q6600 on my system and what would I need to do in order to see it?

I'm asking this because after blowing my whole income tax on this new system I don't really notice a big difference from my old P4 2.4GHz system.

Thanks.

[spec]

Well, if you're running the Q6600 on stock speeds, it's still running at 2.4 Ghz, same as your old processor. For single threaded apps, you may not be able to see any significant increase in performance. Your windows experience should increase, especially if you have background tasks such as Firewall/Antivirus running and music playing at the same time, while you are typing a word document.
Some games utilize more than 1 core, so it may help there, but there are not many 'real' world apps which use more than 1 core.

Video editing is one of the areas where you'll see a significant performance diff using a Quadcore as there are more 'cpus' doing the work.

In short, before blowing all your income tax or most of it, it's a good idea to check on forums if you need such a powerful processor for the kind of work you are doing.

BTW, what is your primary purpose of your PC, what do you use it max for ?
Also post your complete system specs or add it in your signature, after all you've paid a lot of money for your machine, might as well display it :)

[casecutter]

90%+ of all people with Quad core CPU's will never need the power they offer. THat is a sad painful fact that must be swallowed once you are not happy with your results.

Run some benchmarks. That will atleast show you some power. Otherwise, wait a few more years for regular programs/games to be properly multi-threaded.