To Quad Core or to not Quad Core.....that is the dilemna!

[Voltage]

I have ordered a quad core Kentsfield and im starting to have doubts to whether its worth it after looking more and more into the reviews.

There doesnt seem to really be any huge difference between them in terms of FPS (which is what is most important to me).

So basically im thinking about getting a Dual Core and a good H20 solution and still have £££ left over. Then when the quads have truly come into their own get one.

Or alternatively get the quad and have a cpu that will last me quite a while

 

[Jonny L]

I would stick with the quad core, especially since Valve have recently said that their games will soon run better on quad core.

I think this is the article:

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2006/11/02/Multi_core_in_the_Source_Engin/1.html

Jonny

 

[trojan698]

I'd wait for native quad core if I were you, only then will we probably see a marked improvement gaming wise.

 

[Amigan]

Hi
i would forget quad core for gaming in the near future.

how many games currently support more than 1 thread ?

give it a least 12mths before multi threaded games start to appear.

since now consoles are also multi core the games will be designed from the start as a multithreaded, rather than just as an afterthought.

regards.

 

[Euro_Hunter]

Can't see how Quad core justifys the £650-700 price tag IMO at the moment.

You've seen the reviews ,not much difference at all between them and the higher end Duals.
I would wait until apps. & games actually benefit from the Quads and by then there will be even faster CPU's available.

 

[Muzzz]

im just going to get a cheap c2d then get something good next year.
spend my money good memory & mobo

 

[pastymuncher]

IMO it's a waste of money at the moment. There's not that many games that make use of dual core let alone quad core.

 

[Jonny L]

I still think it is a nice bit of future proofing and if it is already ordered, also you'll have a bigger e-penis than anyone else round here

Jonny

 

[maddness]

go for it

what were you planning to get instead?

 

[Euro_Hunter]

I still think it is a nice bit of future proofing and if it is already ordered, also you'll have a bigger e-penis than anyone else round here

Jonny

I doubt you will be future proofing mate by the time apps & games can make use of it the qx6700 will be old hat.

 

[Reality|Bites]

It's not future proof at all lol.

I remember the same quote when the A64 and X2 were released.

You don't see many 64bit apps or games do you, and you sure as hell don't have that many multi-threaded apps/games to justify the cost do you lol.

 

[taz488]

imo games need to catch up, make something that will stretch dual core for god sake, then think about quad core.

 

[thefishdude]

if its mainly for gaming then dont bother save your money stick with a good conroe 2 core and a top end gfx card. i belive you will see a far better improvemnt in fps that way. and if you do want quadcore then wait a while no games will really make use of it for long while yet. not all games make use of dual core yet.

 

[Jonny L]

I doubt you will be future proofing mate by the time apps & games can make use of it the qx6700 will be old hat.

If you read the article it states that quad core will be better for gaming than dual, I really don't think that this cpu will be old hat by mid next year, it may not be the biggest and baddest, but it will be up there.

Jonny

 

[FrankJH]

If you read the article it states that quad core will be better for gaming than dual, I really don't think that this cpu will be old hat by mid next year, it may not be the biggest and baddest, but it will be up there.

Jonny

Very true - but the point is will the investment be worth it . IE by the time quad or multi core games will be available to buy cheaper and potentially more powerful CPU's will be on the market, so the initial purchasers will lose out even worse than say DX10 graphics card users investing now for increased DX9 performance.

Just my opinion mind

By this time next year there should be games and applications which use dual / multi cored cpu's more effectively

 

[Gommsta]

I've looked at this too and have been tempted by quad core, but as some have said, dual core is going to be plenty good enough for the foreseeable.
What games properly use both cores now? I can think of very few.
Once we get both intel and AMD with native quad then i'll probably change.

 

[Jonny L]

What you are saying is very true, its just my opinion that if it is already ordered, let it be, but if you really don't want it you can just cancel and get a cheap conroe. I myself am waiting till the end of the usefulness of dx9 (about a years time or so) till I do a big upgrade, just gonna get a 7600gt for now and bide my time. I think that amd quad core should be extremely good.

Jonny

 

[laxity]

Games just don't scale well due to their behaviour. Two cores will help, 3 cores... possibly IF the coders can find a use for the extra core. 4 cores and above? Pointless.

Don't get me wrong, quad core is nice for other tasks like video encoding etc, but for gaming its just silly. I have a dual socket dual core opteron (total 4 cores) at work. It is lightening quick with general applications that use all 4 cores, but for games all that compute power is wasted. You just won't see more FPS if that's what your after.

As for future proof... I doubt it. Faster single threaded cores will appear on cpus and make this quad seem slow in comparison on games.

My advice... buy a dual core and spend the money you save on something else like faster drives or something.

 

[Jonny L]

But as I have said, if you read the article, valve has said that the games they will be bringing out mid next year or so will work better with quad core than with dual core.

Jonny

 

[White_hell]

get it keep it

sure games arent going to benfit now and many games wonts benfit from next year but they will sooner or later

vavle has comfirmed that they will use multi core

and Supreme Commander and Crysis are both Multi Core as well

( your definatly will need it for those 2 )

and this is a rumour but aparently Command and conquer 3 will use Multi core

and not to mention Quake 4 works better with Quad core

so there is games that will support it but not many

keep it, it will do you good

im still got a 3200+ Athlon
and that works fine with me but ive also ordered a quad core

so that will last me for about a good 3-4 years (i dont upgrade processors often)