Dual core for gaming?

underclocker · 19 Jul 2006 at 10:59

Hi All
I currently have a AMD 64 3700 and wanted to know if Im going to see any great improvement in game play (BF2 mainly) if I upgrade to a dual core chip. Does the second core really improve gaming or is it mainly for running more than one application.

sorry if this is a silly question
cheers

fenderbass86 · 19 Jul 2006 at 11:00

Stick with what you hav for now and get a dual core next year. Dual core is useful for multi-tasking, but multi-threaded games will start to appear properly next year.

deadeyedic30 · 19 Jul 2006 at 11:02

You may see a slight improvement as the workload of all the background programs is split, but that would be all. BF2 to my knowledge is not setup for dual core.

underclocker · 19 Jul 2006 at 11:04

Im going to wait for the prices to settle down but my mate recons his dual core processor (AMD 3800) is much better than mine "as games like BF2 are designed for dual cores". Personally I can see no difference, and think he is talking rubish

dale1uk · 19 Jul 2006 at 11:13

a lot of the time a dual core will offer worse performace in games than a sigle core as there not coded for it. Hold on to what you've got and clock it if you havn't already done so and then hold out till dual core threaded games come out next year. If you want better performance in bf2 then get 2gig of ram and a good graphics card (if you havn't already done that)

Ohh, and yes your mate is talking rubbish

Stelly · 19 Jul 2006 at 11:15

Even though you will notice a difference in gaming, I think that you should save a little untill next year then buy

I have also heard that BF2 doesnt run too well with dual core...

Stelly

dale1uk · 19 Jul 2006 at 11:16

Stelly said:
Even though you will notice a difference in gaming

Stelly

Really???? I was under the impression a top end single core is still the best for gaming over a cheaper dual core.

Stelly · 19 Jul 2006 at 11:18

dale1uk said:
Really???? I was under the impression a top end single core is still the best for gaming over a cheaper dual core.

Yer suppose it is... I suppose it depends what the game is sending to the CPU... and yes if you looking at it like that I guess it is...

Stelly

NathanE · 19 Jul 2006 at 11:23

dale1uk said:
a lot of the time a dual core will offer worse performace in games than a sigle core as there not coded for it.

Now that's rubbish.

The Old Man · 19 Jul 2006 at 11:27

Bag yourself a copy of PC Format. There's a large feature in it on dual core Conroe chips but more relevant is an article on how to get your dual core cpu working properly in Windows to improve the performance in games and how to fix a bug in Windows which effects dual core cpu's (Windows XP was never designed for dual core cpu's). The bugfix is written by AMD but apparently works just as well for Intel dual core CPU's. An article I'll be keeping for when I take the plunge.

Stelly · 19 Jul 2006 at 11:28

NathanE said:
Now that's rubbish.

I agree BUT I have heard that BF2 runs worse on duel core

Stelly

dale1uk · 19 Jul 2006 at 11:35

I've read a lot of reports on some games, like bf2, that dont like dual core cpus and will run better with a good single core. I'm not talking about high end dual core cpu's like conroes or opty 165/170s but rather the cheaper entry level ones. Maybe i should re-phrase it from a lot of the time to some of the time.

Stelly · 19 Jul 2006 at 11:52

dale1uk said:
I've read a lot of reports on some games, like bf2, that dont like dual core cpus and will run better with a good single core. I'm not talking about high end dual core cpu's like conroes or opty 165/170s but rather the cheaper entry level ones. Maybe i should re-phrase it from a lot of the time to some of the time.

This is true... but this is due to coding problems with BF2 alone, I will be playing it tonight on my Conroe Extreme so I will tell you what it plays like

Stelly

Gibbs · 19 Jul 2006 at 11:55

What happens if you assign 1 core to the game on its own, with all background programs on the other core?

dale1uk · 19 Jul 2006 at 12:00

Stelly said:
This is true... but this is due to coding problems with BF2 alone, I will be playing it tonight on my Conroe Extreme so I will tell you what it plays like

Stelly

Lol, somehow I suspect even the worst coded game will run like #### off a stick with your new set-up

Toytown · 19 Jul 2006 at 12:02

Windows XP was never designed for dual core cpu's

Another load of rubbish, Windows XP is designed for dual core cpu's, just as much as it is for single core cpus. Its based of the NT5 (windows 2000) code, which was designed to handle dual core cpu's from start (Same as NT4 before it)

The Old Man · 19 Jul 2006 at 12:20

I thought that was dual cpu's not dual core cpu's?

killer_uk · 19 Jul 2006 at 12:22

As far as I understand both versions of XP (Home and Pro) support dual core CPUs. Only Xp pro supports DUAL cpus.

Stelly · 19 Jul 2006 at 12:29

Toytown said:
Another load of rubbish, Windows XP is designed for dual core cpu's, just as much as it is for single core cpus. Its based of the NT5 (windows 2000) code, which was designed to handle dual core cpu's from start (Same as NT4 before it)

I agree even Microsoft knows that workstations can have multiple CPUs!

Stelly

The Old Man · 19 Jul 2006 at 12:30

Ok slight confusion, I didn't mean Windows XP didn't support dual core CPU's but apparently as they weren't designed for dual core and none were around at the time a bug is present in the operating system. I'll dig out my copy of PCF and try and quote it accurately.