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Dual Core vs Quad Core

Hmmm

I'm getting my e8600 and i'm sure mine or bradleys pc's will not struggle running far cry 2 compared to a quad core!

I love my quad but how many things do you need run in the background whilst gaming as well? Certainly won't be like you need to close everything just so a game will be playable on a dual :)
 
Like others have said if you got the money for a quad buy it i did and although maybe some games don't make use of all four cores there are some that do now and many more will in future.
 
Both arguments have merits
Dual core cpus are currently better for todays games most of which are optimized to make use of current dual core cpu's however there are as mentioned a few games out there that do scale well on quad core cpu's
Newer games due out will slowly but surely start to make use of all four cores of current and future quad core cpu's.
It comes down too two things

1 Current games you are playing and plan to play

If current games you are using and games you plan to get in the future scale better with a dual core then this would most likely be the best option, if you intend to get games in the future that will scale better with the quad core and are willing to take a small hit performance with current games then a quad core would be the best option

2 how often you look to upgrade your system

If you upgrade your system on a regular basis and can afford too then going with a dual core cpu till the games you play require or work better with a quad core then Dual core would be the answer.
If like me upgrading the system is few and far between then you would probably be better getting the quad core now so that when your games require the extra performance it gives you will already be set
 
Buy a quad-core CPU. That way your new motherboard-based RAID setup won't chew up CPU cycles used by your dual-threaded game.

Plus you can download Linux distros, scan for viruses and transcode all your home videos whilst fragging away. The chances of you doing any of these things at once are slim to Versace model, but at least you'd know that if you ever did...
 
mrthingyx said:
Plus you can download Linux distros, scan for viruses and transcode all your home videos whilst fragging away. The chances of you doing any of these things at once are slim to Versace model, but at least you'd know that if you ever did...
Click to expand...
Haha mrthingyx I love you man! :)

That has gotta be the weakest selling point of a quad core I have ever heard! :D

And besides, seriously we are blokes, we are not woman who can multitask several things at once! :o

Once I'm super-tasking [fraggin] it's even hard to reach away from the game to take a gulp of beer let-alone check up how my downloads/encoding is doing! :p
 
sir-les-mp said:
Both arguments have merits
Dual core cpus are currently better for todays games most of which are optimized to make use of current dual core cpu's however there are as mentioned a few games out there that do scale well on quad core cpu's
Newer games due out will slowly but surely start to make use of all four cores of current and future quad core cpu's.
It comes down too two things

1 Current games you are playing and plan to play

If current games you are using and games you plan to get in the future scale better with a dual core then this would most likely be the best option, if you intend to get games in the future that will scale better with the quad core and are willing to take a small hit performance with current games then a quad core would be the best option

2 how often you look to upgrade your system

If you upgrade your system on a regular basis and can afford too then going with a dual core cpu till the games you play require or work better with a quad core then Dual core would be the answer.
If like me upgrading the system is few and far between then you would probably be better getting the quad core now so that when your games require the extra performance it gives you will already be set
Click to expand...



That makes sense. If i didnt expect to upgrade in 6 months i may have just brought a fast quad (def not q6600).
 
Having had many, many quads, and many many wolfies...currently there's absolutely no noticeable difference between the two in general windows use and gaming. With more games like Farcry 2 (still have yet to try it to see differences between 2/4 cores ) coming out perhaps I will make the final move to quad again rather than just playing.

So yeah, if you don't plan on upgrading for awhile then go for a quad...but make sure it's a Yorkie! Otherwise grab a wolfdale
 
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"if you don't plan on upgrading for awhile"

I suppose there are people who buy a CPU that don't upgrade often, I'm guessing they are few and far between on these forums though! :D

Most people I have built systems for go with a dual-core with the exception of one guy who was upgrading from a non HT socket 478 Pentium 4, suffice to say he won't be upgrading again for at least four years so he went with a quad! :cool:
 
Big.Wayne said:
I suppose there are people who buy a CPU that don't upgrade often
Click to expand...

I am one the last cpu upgrade i did was when the AMD X2 4400+ came out
i only upgraded to PCI-E mobo around this time last year
and this year ive finally upgraded to an 8800 GTS 320Mb.

if i had the pennies (£500-£600) i would overhaul the system fully with a Quad core DDR2 and possibly one of the new ATI graphics cards

but by the time i do have do have funds availeable i'll then be looking at which way to go as both Intels i7 cpus should be out as well as the new AMD Phenoms or what ever they are called this time round.

After that lot it will take approx 4 years or so before wife allows me to upgrade that large again. She still P***** at me paying £200+ for a Lian-Li A20 case and i got that 4-5 months ago now
 
I think there are quite a lot of people on here that don't upgrade very often i upgrade once every two - two and a half years and that was the reason i went for the quad as i think in a years time we will see more games support and benefit from a quad then a dual.
 
Just had a quick look at cpu usage in Far Cry 2.

At one point, 62, 68, 78, 71.

And that's on a Q6600 at 3200mhz.

So "sarcasm guy" a few posts above might have to review his 25% useage theory.
 
MooMoo444 said:
Awesome, nice to see quad owners getting some love :D
Click to expand...

:)

Well it does say at the end of the manual:


"Choose the Far Cry 2 experience you want:

Good: Intel Core 2 Duo processor-based PC

Better: Intel Core 2 Quad processor-based PC

Best: Intel Core 2 Extreme processor-based PC"


Most people here will have there quads clocked to equal or better than extreme speeds.

As I said to the OP, IMO, Quad is the way to go now.
 
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