CPU requirements old vs new games

[toshiba90111]

I was looking at an "old" game and actually some fairly new ones and I notice on some on the high end game requirements they call for a Core 2 Quad processor.

I was wondering since Core 2 Quad came out around 2007 and in 2012 we have intel 3rd gen "i" series does that typically mean you still need a quad core processor to play those games at high or ultra settings? For instance, would an intel i5 3210m processor, which is dual core and for a laptop, be able to run said games at high or ultra settings? Or would you still need a quad core CPU?

[SauceBoss]

well the reason for this slow enhancement in cpu is usage is mainly because of the fact that 90% of current games are just console ports that are using a much weaker chip then any of those core 2 quad and much weaker then the "I" cpus , so even though there are so many new generations of cpus in the market and the market is getting better and better every year as long as the gaming market is still stuck with a 5 year old consoles the games wont get better because game companies are looking to maximize profits and the real money comes from consoles games and not PC games.
there are a few games that are built for pc and being partially ported to consoles like the witcher 2 ,battlefield 3 the shogun series and max payne 3 and there you can see that the graphics on the pc is so much better and details are so much deeper then the ones on the consoles and those games push even my i7 to the 70% usage and even higher with those intense details maps and characters.

bottom line is that as long as the old generation consoles still live they will bottleneck our graphics level, the day the new console will arrive the graphics and the details will be much more advanced and they will push even the strongest rigs of our days and the coming days to the limit just like it was with the ps3 and xbox 360 when they were released

[toshiba90111]

So does that mean that today's CPUs are just slightly better than the old generation because of the consoles technology not advancing?

[SauceBoss]

That's not what i meant, the CPU and GPU techs are advancing allot every 2 years.
Its the "tick/tock" syndrome, as Intel calls it, Intel says that each 2 cpu generations works like this:
Generation 1 uses a new architecture(lets say sandy bridge) that is completely different in any matter to the old generation except in the die shrink size, generation 2 uses the same architecture only in a smaller die (ivy bridge-22NM and sandy-32NM, Nahelam-45NM and Westmere-32NM).
so every 2 years comes a stronger cpu that blows away everything the old generation had.
the gpu market works relatively the same only there are more variables like DX and Open GL and such but its advancing with every 2 generations producing a new architecture(Nvidia's GTX 4xx+5XX-,AMD's HD 5xxx+6xxx ).
so if the consoles are out almost 6 years now that mean that by now there are at least 3 generations of CPUs and GPUs that blow away the XBOX 360/PS3 hardware without even breaking a sweat.
even current generation fx-4xxx and the intel i3 are much stronger then the cpu that lays in the console.
and even low end gpus like the hd 5430 and intel gt 620 are again stronger then the ones in the consoles so in the hardware aspect pretty much every modern pc has stronger hardware then the one in the consoles .
But because of the fact that the real money of the gaming market lays in the console market because of their high numbers and the acceptability of consoles and also the lower costs to make games for the consoles (using old and less advanced engines that demand smaller resources,and by that aiming for much lower graphics at a significantly lower cost).
so for lower costs and bigger market making games for consoles turns out to be cheaper and better investment so that's what companies do and the pc version is just a poor port from the console's game, and you can see that in games that are bad with resource management and the mouse and keyboard action arent fluent .
so as long as current gen consoles are here the games will be limited by their level of hardware and graphics and that means lower quality games for pc because the best that the consoles can handle is the lowest modern pc can handle.
i just hope the next gen consoles is close so i could get me some high detailed games without waiting 5 years for it to come out(bf3)