Buying Dual Core is not a Waste

[DuxSyagrius]

You usually find people on the forums that hate on anything they dont have. I mean, this guy has a 7800GT! Some would say that is overkill. My buddy paid 320 for a 6800GT (AGP). Since he cant upgrade, all he does is hate on the 7800 and claims its not worth upgrading his mobo. Such a shame. I am really looking forward to experimenting with my X2. I really want to see if it is possible to make it act as 2 computers (for the most part at least. i want to try the following:
1. Encode 2 separate movies on two separate HDDs on independent channels.
2. Burn the movies onto DVD simultaneaously.
3. Play a strategy game while encoding a movie
4. Encode two movies at the same time and see if i can burn files to DVD over my network.

I'm sure we will see the "lady of the lake" one day in the forums some where extolling the virtues of dual core to some noob. If I am around, i will be the first to call him on it. Maybe lake-boi doesnt know that dual core patches can almost double FPS at low resolutions and settings on certain games. So, in a sense, dual core CPUs can extend the life of a system by helping to put off the purchase of a new graphics card for awhile. Possibly allowing the user to "skip" a generation. Thus giving it a better price/performance ratio than single core CPUs. I'm wasting my time though.....

 

[zeezee]

Your game is already slowed because it is on a slower core.

This remark is totally incorrect and equally misleading. You don't have slower or faster cores on a dual-core CPU.

Both cores provide the same amount of processing power in a given period of time regardless of how many threads are assigned to each core.

 

[zeezee]

Just an observation... most of the people who say dual-core CPUs are virtually useless don't actually own one.

...or never used one. Most of their remarks are reworked posts from others.

Though replicating from reasonably trusted sorces is mostly safe, it doeswn't always work. Sometimes you can see funny posts in which say a correct opinion for an HT enabled P4 is incorrectly adopted to dual cores (take the slower core discussion above for example).

For some reason, this common hostility against dual cores exists everywhere. I have a dual xeon for four years and by far, it is the most comfortable PC I've ever had.

 

[kumana1]

hella-d, in your sig it says 2.45v

is that your vcore??

 

[Heyyou27]

Speaking of graphics cards, who in thier right mind would choose a $300 7800GT over a $189 6800GS? So you can get more marks on a synthetic benchmark? So you can enable 2X more AA on BF2 that you arent even going to notice cuz you are too busy getting FRAGGED? I woudnt buy a 7800GT for that....

Who pays an extra $100 for that extra 1GB on RAM so they can load a BF2 map 2 minutes faster? I wouldnt. But I would pay more for an extra GB for I can enable maximum sized armies on Rome total war.

Considering the 300$ card is noticably faster in games like Battlefield2.
Also an extra 100$ for 1 GB of ram so you can make it in the round before it ends? Doesn't sound too bad to me.

 

[purelithium]

A lot of people say that.

 

[lakedude]

Hi, Lady of the Lake here.

I'm sorry to have caused confusion. A dual core is fine if a user actually needs one, I've never said different, look at my first post in this thread. I agreed with the OP that if someone is doing several things at once that a dual is not a waste.

What is a waste is that not everybody understands what system balance is and far too many "gamers" blow their budget on fancy CPUs and RAM and don't have anything left for a video card which is the most important part of a game system.

My point is that my non-dual system is fine for what I use it for and in my case a dual would be a waste.

BTW I've got several complete systems counting a laptop and some old junk. If I want to encode a movie I set one of the systems up and let it fly. 2 of the systems are fairly modern so either can encode movies or both can at the same time if there are several to copy.

 

[purelithium]

Yeah, they're kind of addicting, eh? Mmmm... triple core xbox360..... mmmm

 

[shovel]

Just bought a 64 3800+ X2 last night. (Had a 64 3200+ single core before)

Very happy with the results, everything runs smooth as. Yes I play games, but I also do a lot of video work & number crunching. It's so nice not to lose your PC for 3-4 hours when doing video conversions and the like.

 

[DuxSyagrius]

Lake Guru,

I'm sure everyone got your point. But your post to lithium was kinda aggressive. While it wasnt "FLAME-A-LICIOUS" It came across as one of those "I-WANNA-PICK-A-FIGHT" posts.

You are right, in general, the X2 has the lowest price/performance ratio. The 7800is definitely a good buy at 289-299 and would benefit a gamer in more ways than an X2 but its still $300. The bottom line is that people dont buy X2s, DDR600, and X1900XTXs cuz they are good values. They buy them to show off, to do something thier other computer couldnt, and for the experience. I think SLI is dumb. You may not. thats fine. I'm sure we would meet in the middle anyways.

I used to use a render farm to get things done. At one time I had 4 AMD XP systems pushing frames. It was cool but VERY hot in the den. While I dont need that kind of power anymore, I still want to see if the X2 is where its at. I wil have weeks on benchmark analysis ahead of me and that is the funnest part of owning a computer (besides playing games of course)

 

[lakedude]

Dux check out this thread:

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=172866&highlight=

I'm usually a dual core hater because many people spend too much of their budget on the CPU and skimp on their video card and then wonder why they don't have game. In your case a dual is perfect since you are not talking about gaming and since you tend to do many things at once. The guys have already steered you straight. If you need to game in addition to the tasks you mentioned you better save up for a new video card too.

You see your prediction has already come true!

PS I agree that SLI is not usually the way to go unless you have way too much money.

 

[DuxSyagrius]

Well said Lakeguy.

 

[SidVicious]

X2 3800+ owner here, and I mostly use my 'rig for gaming.

I exclusively play MMO games such as SOE Planetside (FPS) and CCP EvE-Online (space based RPG), being based on older graphic engines, their dependance on a powerfull GPU is'nt as critical as the more recent "Hit of the month" games.

On the other hand, both games take a huge chunk of CPU time in "target rich environnements", especially when running multiple sessions at the same time, that's where having two CPU cores really shine as they allow silk smooth multitasking.

On top of that, I keep two instances of the Folding @ Home client running to mop up any free CPU cycles.

Back when I was using my Mobile Barton @ 2.6GHz, I could'nt run F@H in the background without suffering from occasional and unpredictable performance drops which always seemed to happen at the most innoportune times whenever F@H felt like interfering.

Unfortunately, MMOs are not very well suited to be used as hardware benchmarking tools due to their unpredictable and unreproductible content.

One would need to get two (almost) identical avatars in the same zone, doing the same thing, each being run on the two (or more) test 'rigs and would have to be familliar enough with that particular virtual world to findi a decently busy area.

Now that I tasted the fluid multitasking having a Dual Core CPU allows, I'll never go back to single core processing.

 

[DuxSyagrius]

Your mobo comes highly recommended. Whats the deal with the low clock speeds on your RAM? I was thinking of getting the XMS 4000 series RAM. What can you tell me about yours? How is that 9700 doing these days!

 

[SidVicious]

After doing some testing and benchmarking, I found out that staying close to my RAM stock speed gave me the best bandwidth and sustained stability compared to a higher operating frequency with higher timings.

Shoving more voltage into my RAM did'nt allow 24/7 operation under constant 100% load with tight timings due to heat the memory generated, F@H trashed WUs and I juged that it was counterproductive to lose points because of it.

As I pointed out in my previous post, that good 'ol 9700 is doing a great job with those older 3D engines, I will consider upgrading the mobo and GPU after the developers decide to give EvE-Online a facelift.

Even though there is nothing really impressive about my 'rig when you compare it to record shattering hardware that is dedicated to running a few minutes at a time in order to "win" benchmarks, I am very proud of saying that I am able to run mine 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 100% stable under 100% load.

Some users want their computers to be 100m sprinters, I want mine to be a marathon runner.

 

[DuxSyagrius]

Well said. I am hoping for the same. I want to see what I can get buy with on air cooling so i dont think I will be getting anywhere up to 2.7 ghz. I guessed that was going to be your answer about the RAM. Its so funny cuz all i ever hear about is all this RAM hitting 250,275, 330 mhz! But no mention ov voltage and the heat that goes with it. At least you are wise enough to forego a few mhz in exchange for stability. There are so many pretenders here on the forums. Who are they trying to impress? Cheers.

 

[SidVicious]

There are so many pretenders here on the forums. Who are they trying to impress?

Some say that there is something Freudian about it, related to compensating for a perceived size deficiendy of certain organs, ask Wingding, our resident Forum Pervert, he knows a lot about what goes on below the belt :lol:

Joke aside, only a minority overclock for the bragging rights, most do it out of genuine curiosity, as a personal test of their competence or in order to get the most computing power out of their hardware.

There is nothing wrong with being proud of your technical achievement and letting others know about it or engaging in a friendly contest, the community as a whole benefit from what I ultimately see as a quest for knowledge.

 

[DuxSyagrius]

Indeed. To the genuine traveler on the OC road, I say good on you. But there are many out there who simply spout what they read on tech sites, what they hear from people they have never met and quote endless numbers and the virtues of stuff they have never seen, tested, or will ever own. There are some here that I can tell know what they are talking about and I can tell they know thier stuff. There are others who almost seem to cut and paste stuff from off the net. It can be misleading to the novice who cant distinguish between whats the extraordinary (not everyone is going to be able to unlock all of the pipelines on a x800GTO) to the blatantly inane (I got my sempron 2800 up to 2.7 ghz -yeah, who couples a sempron with a mobo capable of a 340 mhz FSB). Some people on here can be quite authoritative at times when what they are really doing is giving an opinion. I always try to point out when I am giving an opinion. A good case was one poster trying to tell everyone that the Opteron was multiplier unlocked up and down. madness.

 

[purelithium]

There is nothing wrong with being proud of your technical achievement and letting others know about it or engaging in a friendly contest, the community as a whole benefit from what I ultimately see as a quest for knowledge.

I agree, but there are a huge amount of people who use that fact to belittle others.

 

[DuxSyagrius]

I wouldnt say most. The people you speak of are just douche faced rectal maggots. They are in the minority. I like the ones who argue for the sake of arguing. They are the best.

 

[SidVicious]

I agree, but there are a huge amount of people who use that fact to belittle others.

Such is human nature, no matter what hobby/sport/interest you look at, there always will be some wannabes buying their way in by purchasing the very best things that money can buy, same goes for those who will go sputtering about, spewing around exagerations and/or lies like they were experienced experts pontificating to the clueless masses.

Fortunately the vast majority of the human population consist of well tought, respectfull and kind individuals who are willing to help by sharing their experiences and knowledge, we just don't notice them because of the attention whores.

This is especially true in an online community, which goes far beyond the posters and include all the passive lurkers who read in silence.

 

[DuxSyagrius]

Pardon me while I sound stereotypical and say, "canadians are the well behaved northern cousins to the americans" Eloquently put Sid.

 

[purelithium]

*laugh* Not all of us are like Sid.

 

[infyrno917]

OK... the high 3dmark scores are not the reason for buying a dual core chip. the scores an a single core may be higher while running one app; however, dual core system scores do not significantly drop when your virus scan kicks on... thats allstates stand, whats yours?

 

[lakedude]

My game system does not have virus scan so tell me again why in my case I need dual core? No firewall, no virus scan,no internet connection, network card disabled for faster boot, no crap running in the background ever (other than whatever windows is doing).

I'm not bashing dual core for those people who need it, I just don't see why I need it.