64 4000+ versus 64 X2 4200+ for gaming

[saguy]

I will not be upgrading my socket 939 system (see sig) for at least another year apart for my CPU. I only use my PC for gaming I do not multitask. I am seriously considering replacing my 64 3200 for a 64 4000 to last me another year. Whatever CPU I get I will be over clocking by at least 400 MHz.

I have been put off upgrading to dual core in that it will be more expensive and not worth it as I will most likely be undertaking a major upgrade in a year. The way I see it multi core has not brought much improvement to gaming. Even when games have stated that they support dual core the advantages have been minimal. The only reason newer dual core CPU's have improved game performance is due to evolutionary improved design and features and not because there are 2 cores.

Would I be better off with a 64 4000+ (£62) rather than a 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (£105) considering the 4000 has a higher clock speed and more cache and is almost half the price?

I do not have much faith that games in the near future will fully optimize dual core.

 

[saguy]

As I have said I never multitask so for £60 the 64 4000+ looks like the way to go for the next year. The next logical question - will I see a noticeable performance boost over my existing 64 3200+ (clocked to 2340 MHz) to a 64 4000+ (clocked to 2800 MHz and more) plus the advantages of the larger cache. Or would I be better off just waiting for the next big upgrade in a year’s time. Until then this PC will have to try and cope with Crysis, Vanguard, Alan Wake and other new games to be released this year.

My 64 3200+ is one of the early ones and 2340 is the maximum stable overclock I can get on air.

 

[saguy]

Depends if your current CPU can run the games you want at the speeds you like, most modern games are GPU dependant.

I recall seeing benchmarks with my card using different CPU's and there was sometimes a fair performance increase from faster CPU so I suspect my CPU may be a slight bottleneck. I cannot remember which games they were using for the benchmark. I will try searching again for some benchmarks. I know games like EQ2 are CPU dependent and I am not sure about Vanguard.

 

[saguy]

Out of interest is the 360 using both cores or are the games still single threaded.