The central processing unit (CPU or processor) of your computer is by far one of the most determining factors of its performance. Without a fast processor, the rest of your hardware will overwhelm it with more tasks than it can muster. In the mid-90s, when the desktop PC market was accelerating significantly, processors would only have one core.
SummaryA quick warningWhy cores matterWhy clock speed mattersMaking a decisionSo which one should you choose?Today's modern processor is an architectural marvel, with several different channels for distributing and temporarily storing tasks. They are smarter, faster and more dynamic. But the new processors have raised new questions among the public. In particular, there is a battle that will probably never end:the struggle between the amount of cores a processor has and its clock speed.
Here we go through the issue of CPU core count vs. clock speed and let you know which is more important.
Before you begin, be aware that the answer may not be as satisfying as you hoped. This is meant to be a comparison of when you can choose processors with more cores versus processors with faster clock speeds. There isn't one that is necessarily better or worse, but processors that will fit well in one use case or another.
Manufacturers have carefully crafted their processor models to ensure that they stack up well against the competition and deliver a solid product that will make their consumers happy. This means achieving a realistic yet harmonious balance between cores, clock speed, and price.
The fastest out-of-the-box clock speeds on CPUs hover around 5GHz, and most operating systems are now 64-bit, so those are massive numbers. All of this means that CPUs can process single-threaded applications very, very quickly. Gaming is a major place where higher clock speeds are often more important than core count, as many games won't use many cores. This is changing but still holds today.
As with most hardware choices, it all depends on your use case and budget. For example:there are laptops that can cost up to $10,000. But, if you need as much power as can be crammed into a laptop form factor (say you're a traveling engineer running simulations on, say, the efficiency of offshore oil rigs), it would be a great choice for you. There are desktops that can do so much more, but desktops are much harder to move.
The use case for more cores depends on your workload. If you run many different virtual machines or render movies, you will absolutely benefit from an extreme multi-core processor. These workloads are heavily multi-threaded, and a Threadripper processor would absolutely speed these things up.
Scientists and researchers creating world-saving models would also benefit from extremely high core counts. This is because these workloads often use a lot of small jobs that can cover cores very well, and when you can run your simulations in two days versus a week and a half, you will definitely notice the difference.
The use case for a higher clock speed is much more common. Gamers, developers, and content creators absolutely benefit from faster clock speeds. This generally means that the shorter running, less multi-threaded tasks that most of us run will complete faster, making the CPU run faster.
Since most CPUs today are multi-core, you might want to go for clock speed. This will likely happen naturally, as most processor manufacturers will offer faster, fewer processors in a much more affordable range for consumers. Only if you have a more specialized use case will you benefit from the highly multi-core high-end processors. A solid choice for most people is six or eight cores which go around 4.8 – 5.0 GHz. This is common in AMD and Intel Core Ryzen series processors.
However, if you are the more specialized user, AMD Threadripper is absolutely the only choice. They're much more expensive, as is the platform (CPUs are $1400-4000 and motherboards are $500-600), but when you need (or want) multi-core performance, this is the only choice.
I hope that's a helpful breakdown of CPU core counts versus clock speeds. You may also want to know how to select a good CPU or CPU cooler and how it differs from a GPU.
