is there a way in general to detect processor speed?

this would perhaps make it where you could automatically alter detail levels in a game so it would run smoothly on any processor..

thanks in advance for every answer

The CPUID instruction passes back info from the CPU like Manufacturer, Model, Features, etc.

The RDTSC instruction can be used in conjunction with the HighPerformanceCounter to time the CPU and give you a pretty accurate calculation of CPU speed.

You can lookup the CPUID instruction as well as the RDTSC instruction on various programming sites.

Here is a link to the Intel package that claims to do both.
http://developer.intel.com/support/processors/procid/cpuid/cpuinfo.htm

Keeb