History

• According to Tom's Hardware, the first dual-core computer processing units (CPUs) appeared in 2005. These units rely on software that can take advantage of their resources, and, at first, no software was written for them. Since then, programmers have worked hard to take advantage of them, and, now, triple- and quad-core processors are common.
  
  

Function

• Instead of adding processor speed, additional cores provide parallel computing power. This translates to better efficiency with computer tasks, increasing speed without resorting to increasing megahertz.
  
  

Performance

• Tom's Hardware ran tests between dual- and quad-core rigs across popular games, and the results were telling. In graphic-intensive titles, such as "Crysis," "Left 4 Dead" and "World At War," the quad-core rigs consistently outperformed the dual-core rigs in regards to frames per second (FPS).
  
  

Potential

• Quad-core processors will outperform dual-core processors in the future. Programmers are optimizing software to take advantage of the four cores, but it takes time to catch up to the technology. Future games will take advantage of this.
  
  

Considerations

• Current titles run very well on both dual-core and quad-core systems. Future titles, with better optimization, will run better on quad-core systems.