choice of cpu's

[TazN]

hi all it's been awhile since I looked indepth into anything for my pc. The last I looked was 2 years ago when I put my current system together.

I'm looking at getting a new mobo/cpu and ram. However I'm lost as to what cpu would be best.

The system is mainly for running games though I do use it for my 3ds max uni work.I've been looking at dual cores by both amd and intel. From the reviews I've read intel seem to have the upper hand.

I surpose my main question is are the intel quad cores worth the money over the duals for gaming. Also note that I dont overclock my system as I have enough wierd and wonderfully problems as it is.

cpu's I'm looking at are
amd x2 am2 6000+
intel 2 duo conroe 3GHz (though maybe the 2.66GHz)
intel quad Q6600

Thanks for any help and advice you can give. TazN

 

[Clark the White]

In my opinion Quads are just not worth it over duals for gaming, not that many games support dual at the moment anyway, (although most new ones coming out now will) and I recall I read somewhere that the difference at high res between dual and quads can be around 1 fps! so you would not really notice it anyway.

 

[Vir]

if you don't overclock I'd say E6750? Better price/performance then E6850 I think

 

[Kobrakai]

The Q6600 is more future proof. Soon games will start coming out that take advantage of the extra cores and they will then perform far better than the dual cores. For example Crysis, and I heard Steam are releasing a multi-core patch for the source engine soon too.

 

[Talrinys]

The Q6600 is more future proof. Soon games will start coming out that take advantage of the extra cores and they will then perform far better than the dual cores. For example Crysis, and I heard Steam are releasing a multi-core patch for the source engine soon too.

Valve have been saying that for way too long though.

 

[TazN]

Crysis is going to make use of more than dual cores? hmm... well any advice on Intel over amd for the dual cores?
I've allways had amd and the one I'm looking at works out quite abit cheaper than a comparable Intel.

 

[Gunther]

At this moment a q6600 will not give a performance boost over a duo, but depends when will your next upgrade be, 1 year from now or longer if longer quad core will become more and more efficient

 

[Hxc]

Nobody notice that he does 3DS max rendering? The quad will definitely help that.

 

[TazN]

I know quad will help really cut render times on max but I'm not too bothered about it as I have access to uni pc's all with dual cores as well as my own.
No idea when I'll next upgrade my pc, guess that will all be down to getting a job after uni ^_^
Seems like dual core is the best bet for what I'm really going to use it for (gaming). Just to choose between intel or amd. Then get a decent mobo for it.