Question about upgrading to dual core

[Gig-O-Ram]

I think the reason I'm thinking about upgrading is because I was thinking that I WOULD see a performance boost in gaming as well as overall system performance. I don't actually do that much with multi-tasking or anything, but I thought it might provide for smoother performance across the board.

[Hitman]

These should I go Dual Core, or stay Single arguments crack me up. Pretty soon you will argue should I go 8 cores or just stay quad? Multi-cores are the future, put it off, or jump right in, either way you will go Dual Core eventually because that will be all you can buy.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Gig-O-Ram

I think the reason I'm thinking about upgrading is because I was thinking that I WOULD see a performance boost in gaming as well as overall system performance. I don't actually do that much with multi-tasking or anything, but I thought it might provide for smoother performance across the board.

We could sit here and tell you that it will be one way or another, but opinions are just that... Our subjective view. So there is really only one way to find out for yourself!

[Quakindude]

I was on the fence for some time about this. I had a A64 3500 and went to a A64 X2 4800. Anytime you can increase your stock speed by 1Ghz is a good enough reason to upgrade for me. But the dial core, I've noticed a considerable difference in Q3 and Q4. My Q3 timedeom went up from 280 something to 399-410. With everything else being the exact same.

I can edit photos in Photo Shop, surf the net and be putting a PP show together and have no performance problems.

Or best yet, ripping/writing a DVD, listening to music and surfing the net...with 2 F@H going, and have no performance problems and no write to DVD problems.

There's a few games out now that take advantage of dual core. Q3 and 4, COD2, Obilvion, Farcry 2 will etc.

Being that it's new tech, you won't see a huge boost unless you multi-task and play the games already coded to take advantage of it. But make no mistakes about it. The future of gaming is based on dual cores.

Me personally, if I were you, I'd wait until the end of November through the early Jan time frame. The X2 prices are gonna drop like Janet Jackson's booby at the super bowl.

Screw the mis-speelings. I'm going to sleep.

[Capper]

Heres the thing...as the DC technology matures, and becomes more mainstream...you are going to see more and more applcations are going to start taking advantage of DC processors.
The DFI NF4 LAN Party is a great board, and you should really need nothing more than the AMD DC patch and latest chipset drivers as i think all the BIOS' for that board going back to last June are fine with DC processors.
As to which one to choose, i think the 3800+ is a great processor, and most every one will hit 2.5 2.6 on that board without issue. If OCing is your goal, look at an Opteron 165, it has a lower multi, but makes up for it with a great overall OC

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Tyreal

Hmm. How does your X2 choke and your singlecore not?

You tell me. I still prefered my single core @ 2.7ghz than my DC @ 2.45ghz.

[Gig-O-Ram]

Originally Posted by Hitman

These should I go Dual Core, or stay Single arguments crack me up. Pretty soon you will argue should I go 8 cores or just stay quad? Multi-cores are the future, put it off, or jump right in, either way you will go Dual Core eventually because that will be all you can buy.

I understand that - but it's not so much a "Should-I-or-shouldn't-I?" thing, as it is "what am I going to have to do with my current system in order to get there?" I was a little surprised that I would need to mess with fixes and patches just to get a new cpu, but I guess nothing can ever be easy as that.

[Blondie]

If you know anyone running the dual core, try using their computer to play a game or two. You might find that this is an upgrade you can wait on.

Prices will come down. Will they do it for Christmas? Probably not. I built a system 2 years ago for my son's gift. The main parts (case, mobo, ram, processor) all went up in price. I try not to plan a Christmas build any more due to this unless I buy parts before Black Friday, no later then the next week after.

Technology will always change. Prices for what's new and great now will go down when the new stuff comes out. I find this is the perfect time to plan a build.

[gvblake22]

Very good advice Blondie; I totally agree. But THIS is a pretty darn good deal. It has the extra L2 cache, so you won't be taking a downgrade there from your San Diego.

Your other option could always be to save up for a more advanced architecture too. Going to something like a Core 2 Duo system would provide two benefits: (1) You get dual core processing and (2) you get a better architecture that will usually out perform K8. The only downside to this is that you would need a new mobo and RAM too...

[Gig-O-Ram]

@ Blondie - I don't actually know anyone with a dual core system, so I think I'll just have to wait until the time comes when I can try it for myself. Our new laptop is running an Intel Core 2 Duo with 1GB of ram, so games might be okay on it, but I think the onboard video might present a problem. And you're right about the prices...I can upgrade to a 7900GTX right now for about $100 less than what I paid for my 7800GT less than a year ago. So even that is not exactly new anymore. I probably won't be planning a new build for at least a few years, so who knows what will be hot at that time?


@ gvblake22 - That is a nice chip, even though I'll admit to not knowing so much about the opterons. I'd say I wish it were faster on stock, but for under $200 for a DC, it is good. Would it be good for gaming?
I've actually been pretty happy with the AMD, even if it is single core, but I think the Intel DC cpus are only going to get better and more popular (even though I could give a damn about popular), and I might give one a try which as you pointed out would mean changing everything else. That's what I did when I built this machine, but since it was Intel to AMD, there was no getting around it.