To what extent does Source use quads?

Pate · 15 Aug 2011 at 13:46

Looking at building one of my brothers an ultra cheap pc. Will a Q6600 be sufficient for 1920x1200 CS-S or should I be looking at a higher clocked Dual?

Just wondering as I've found source to run quite slow, especially on 64 player maps/zombies etc.

Thanks

Also, to what extent will a GTS 320mb limit counter strike source? He only wants to play that game.

MeddlE · 15 Aug 2011 at 13:50

While the source engine appears to utilize quad cores it certainly isn't held back by a fast dual core.

James J · 15 Aug 2011 at 13:55

Not sure on the graphics card situation, depends if he wants to use AA and AF or not. It should be able to run CSS at medium settings (possibly max, hard to say).

A second hand 4870 or something would destroy it though and those can be had for £30-40 second hand now.

spookywillow · 15 Aug 2011 at 14:05

a q6600 will kill it, i had one a couple of years ago and was usually maxed out at 299fps with a 4850 on 30 man servers.

Rroff · 15 Aug 2011 at 14:07

Depends on the game a bit - msot of them will max 2 cores but only lightly load any additional cores - but 4 cores will be a lot smoother than 2 cores even tho there might not be a huge difference in raw fps (depending on the game) - some games like left 4 dead will make much more useage of additional cores.

Pate · 15 Aug 2011 at 14:37

Thanks.

Hopefully the quad when overclocked to 3ghz will be sufficient. the 320mb GTS seems very light, but it's cost me £15 so I guess it'll do for now