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Remembers a few years ago when Intel and AMD were locked in a GHz race to the top before people started to realize that a chip’s clock speed isn’t the only thing that affects performance? Well we haven’t quite gotten there yet with ARM-based chips. The fastest ARM-based processors around today run at about 1GHz, but hot on the heels of news that ARM’s new designs for dual core processors could lead to 2.5GHz chips, Nufront has started showing of a prototype of its new ARM Cortex-A9 dual core chip running at 2GHz.

The Nufront chip is capable of handling 1080p HD video playback and supports 2D and 3D graphics acceleration. The 40nm chip supports DDR2 or DDR3 memory.  When the chip is downclocked to run at 1.6GHz, it uses an average TDP of just 2 Watts. It’s scheduled for release by the end of the year, although it will likely hit China before it’s available in the rest of the world.

Netbook News got a chance to check out a prototype at IDF this week. You can check out the video after the break. Nufront says the chip is designed to work in low power netbooks, nettops, or other mobile devices.