Sorry - X2 3800 v 3800

[Curio]

Tired old subject I know...

I was under the impression that the regular 3800 would be faster in most games right now due to the higher clock speed. However, looking at the CPU performance charts over at Tom's it looks like the X2 3800 is faster in every gaming benchmark (by a fairly healthy chunk) apart from Unreal Tourny. I'm about to perform a low-cost upgrade and was planning on a 3800 Orleans, but if the X2 3800 Windsor really is faster in games and more future proof then I may as well spend the extra. Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

 

[Street]

I would have thought the 3800 single core would have been faster in games due to the clock speed as well. Although the X2 might have an advantage as background tasks can be offloaded onto the second core.

I would say go for the X2, slightly more future proof and also you could probably overclock it up to single core 3800 speeds.

 

[ste_bla]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/cpu/charts.html

 

[FreeStream]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/cpu/charts.html

X2 stomps all over the Single Core, well it does in Mutli-threaded apps and CoD2

 

[Curio]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/cpu/charts.html

Well, yeah, that's the exact chart I was on about. It shows the X2 thrashing the single core on COD2 and Q4, edging the single core out on F.E.A.R. and Serious Sam 2, and losing on UT2004 by just a few fps. However, I've just looked on Anandtech and it's a different story - the single core beats the X2 by a few fps in Doom3 and HL2, and beats it quite easily on BF2 and UT2004.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2484&p=10

So which is it? Or are they both about the same and just trade blows in different games?

 

[Hades]

The 3800 is alightly faster than each core of the 3800 X2. So for most games which don't support mutli threading then the X3800 would be the better CPU (e.g. Doom3, HL2). But for games which do support it then the X2 would be better (e.g. Quake4).

Personally I'd get the X2.

 

[pumpman]

I had both in a shuttle and the 3800 single core felt quick at 2.6 but when i wahcked in the x2 @ 2.4 it did feel slower but then i could do more and thats where it showed its differance
if its just for games get the single core
if its for genral stuff and games get the x2

 

[Dureth]

Get the x2 3800 no matter what its for. Most modern games can use a dual core to some extent and everything released in 2007 almost certainly will want one to perform to its best. Source and unreal (2 big game engines for 2007) will both be multi threaded. Games like Alan Wake will REQUIRE a dual-core cpu I believe.