ForzaItalia4

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I will be gaming mostly, one of my dilemmas are I don't know if I need to dual core or not. If I do go dual, I'll be getting a 3800+ as I will not be overclocking much and it seems like a great buy for the price. If I go single core I'll get a 3200+ most likely. With the 3800+ x2 being $297, there is a huge gap bewtween that and the 3200+ which is about $150. Is there a good reason for me to get dual core? With that extra 150 I can put it towards more ram or my gfx card. Thanks for the help.
 

Caboose-1

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I will be gaming mostly, one of my dilemmas are I don't know if I need to dual core or not. If I do go dual, I'll be getting a 3800+ as I will not be overclocking much and it seems like a great buy for the price. If I go single core I'll get a 3200+ most likely. With the 3800+ x2 being $297, there is a huge gap bewtween that and the 3200+ which is about $150. Is there a good reason for me to get dual core? With that extra 150 I can put it towards more ram or my gfx card. Thanks for the help.
Absolutely go dual core. We are not far from dual core optimized games and applications.
 
Dual cores may not be utilized by many games or programs, but the industry is heading in that direction. Both AMD and Intel will be scaling back on their single core CPUs and put most of their production capacity towards dual cores.

If you play games then there are a few games that do take advantage of dual cores such as:

Doom 3
Quake 4
Oblivion
FarCry
Age of Empires III
Call of Duty 2
F.E.A.R.
Serious Sam

Just to name a few. Any games based on the Doom/Quake engine should be able to take advantage of dual cores. The Gamebryo engine (Age of Empires III, and Oblivion) does seem to support dual core, but not very well. The Athlon 64 3200+ and Athlon 64 X2 3800+ are both clocked at 2.0GHz, but the X2 3800+ only offers about 10% increase in performance.

The small increase for the Gambryo engine is probably due to the fact that is meant to be able to easily port games to different platforms namely XboX 360 and Playstation 3.
 

Raviolissimo

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i just got dual core and so far have been using that system for back-ups. it's taking a while to get the software installed.

never seen files copy so fast. it's like it sucks them off the single core computers (Asus P4C800 or P5GD2) i'm backing up. i just pick groups of folders in 5 GB chunks and drag the icon over to the folder on the 175 dual core system and it copies. like backing up a 100 MB folder.

i got a 175. newegg had the 0550 UPMW steppings in stock about 4 weeks ago & that's what i got.

totally worth it.
 

JonathanDeane

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6 months ago I would have said "Dont bother with Dual core just yet...." well the yet has come ! Now with the price difference being so little the reasons for not going dual core are fadeing fast ! I myself am waiting for parts to arive in the mail for my first dual core build although im going with the P4 805D becouse Conroe and AM2 are comming so I want to save money untill then lol

Edit: Damn it UPS !!! Hurry up your killing me !!! lol
 

ForzaItalia4

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The question is though is there a real reason to go dual core since I'm going to be mostly gaming? I can't see myself doing much besides gaming and surfing the web on my computer, so is there really a reason for me to get a dual core? will it add a significant improvement in games? Because I know processing doesn't have much to do with games in comparison to a good to an excellent graphics card. My question is I can save 150 by getting a 3200+ instead of a 3800x2, and that can be spent toward the x1900xt. Should I do that instead of go dual core since games won't really benefit from dual core? Or should I go dual core because it'll offer a huge increase in games. someone said only 10%, and that's not worth $150 to me.
 

Heyyou27

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Doom 3
Quake 4
Oblivion
FarCry
Age of Empires III
Call of Duty 2
F.E.A.R.
Serious Sam
From benchmarks we can tell that Dual core support on Oblivion is weak. I own F.E.A.R. and can tell you there is no benefit of owning a dual core vs. a single core for it, Age of Empires and Far Cry also don't offer much in the dual core arena.
 

Tattysnuc

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I've not really seen any benefit from going dual core.... just less overhead to overclock.

I would suggest that boying a dual core SHOULD be based on when you plan to upgrade again, and when your gfx card needs replacing. After all, the biggest difference in games is down to the GPU not CPU from what I've gleened.
 

cisco

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I would definately go dual core. You will get more use in the future out of it. Everything from operating systems, video games, and applications over the next year will really start to take advantage of the dual processors.
 

ForzaItalia4

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I would definately go dual core. You will get more use in the future out of it. Everything from operating systems, video games, and applications over the next year will really start to take advantage of the dual processors.

so what you're saying is get the 3800x2 and x1800xt instead of a 3200+ and x1900xt?

of course ill be doing other things besides gaming like surfing the web, burning a disc or two, but thats really it, lol.
 

yourmothersanastronaut

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Yes. There isn't really that much difference between the x1800 and the x1900, but there is a huge difference between single and dual core.

BTW, the 3800+ is a really good overclocker on a decent motherboard (anything by EPox, Abit, and especially DFI).

Online gaming sees a huge benefit from dual cores. Think about it. You have the game, antivirus, antispyware, a firewall, an IM client, maybe a music player, and dozens of other processes in the backgrounds. Dual cores make gaming better because of all the other stuff you are forced to run to keep your computer safe and functional - look at it that way.
 

ak47is1337

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Right now, a superclocked single core will defeat a lower-clocked dual core. Dual core is far more future proof though, so it really depends if you upgrading later or not.
I'd wait for Conroe, for actually buying one or for getting cheap ass 9xx Intel's as well as X2 AMD's.
 

ForzaItalia4

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Yes. There isn't really that much difference between the x1800 and the x1900

Really? Well in Tom's latest Oblivion test article it has this to say:

"Because Oblivion uses so many shader effects, a Radeon X1900 XTX should improve game play dramatically - ATI tripled the number of pixel shaders in this card when compared to its X1800 predecessor."

So I'd say there's a pretty significant difference between the two, although they're both awesome cards.
 

yourmothersanastronaut

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"Because Oblivion uses so many shader effects, a Radeon X1900 XTX should improve game play dramatically - ATI tripled the number of pixel shaders in this card when compared to its X1800 predecessor."

So I'd say there's a pretty significant difference between the two, although they're both awesome cards.

Should doesn't dictate that it does. It might. I don't know; I own neither one of the cards nor the game. But changing something on the card doesn't necessarily translate to a huge performance gain. Example: The 7800 GTX vs the 7800 GT. The GT has a lower clock speed and 4 fewer pixel shaders, but it performs just a few FPS below the much more expensive card. Major changes on the card doesn't necessarily translate to major changes on the screen.
 

ForzaItalia4

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"Because Oblivion uses so many shader effects, a Radeon X1900 XTX should improve game play dramatically - ATI tripled the number of pixel shaders in this card when compared to its X1800 predecessor."

So I'd say there's a pretty significant difference between the two, although they're both awesome cards.

Should doesn't dictate that it does. It might. I don't know; I own neither one of the cards nor the game. But changing something on the card doesn't necessarily translate to a huge performance gain. Example: The 7800 GTX vs the 7800 GT. The GT has a lower clock speed and 4 fewer pixel shaders, but it performs just a few FPS below the much more expensive card. Major changes on the card doesn't necessarily translate to major changes on the screen.

should what, improve performance? that wasn't even my point. the point was the card has 3x the pixel shaders compared to the x1800 series, not that it SHOULD improve, heh. I'm saying the x1900xt owns the x1800xt and will own it further in future games, just like a dual processor owns a single processor in applications, and possibly future games, although they don't even show promise at the moment for gaming. Now still my question is, is there a real point in spending an extra $150 when I can spend it towards ram or my graphics card which will improve what I do, or should I go dual because it's gonna improve gaming alot?
 

JonathanDeane

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Well one thing to say for Dual core and gameing... sometimes late at night and im playing a game my virus scanner will start (as scheduled) and my frame rate and everything else goes to hell... I kind of hope that having dual cores and more ram will ease that some what ? or at least make it not so shocking lol
 

yourmothersanastronaut

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It will make it better. When you game, you're never just running a game. You're running Windows, its processes, your applications, and then the game. Having a dual core processor will help that a lot. Everyone's a mulittasker in their own way.
 

pat

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I would go single core, get the best video card you can afford.

Dual core is nice, but great fluid graphic is better in game especially. You could always upgrade the CPU later if you feel the need. the video card will most likely be up to the task for a while ..
 

frenchy

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I went with the Duel core and I'm happy with it. At the same time I won't say not to buy a single core. Depends on what you do...

I usually have a zillion things open on my desktop so I really appreciate the duel core.

If I was a hardcore gamer, I would probably go with a high end single core for "todays" games... But as people are saying, the next generation of games will probably support multi-threading so the duel core will have the advantage then.. What games and when will support multi-threading is probably a big unknown.... So take that into consideration...

Frenchy
 

shinigamiX

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I'd say getting a slightly cheaper cpu and a much better gpu would be be more relevant in gaming. And it's not like you time how fast your cds burn pr anything. Unless you'd like to join my CDSpeedBurner Club. We rip pret-ty fast, man.
 

FITCamaro

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Instead of just asking the same fing question over and over despite people answering the question, why don't you just wait another month, save up another $150, and get both a dual core and an X1900XT.

You will want the dual core in the next 6 months and you will want the X1900 as well.

Can you game well now with a single core and a good video card. Yes. Will you game as well in 6 months. No. So unless you work on a 6 month upgrade schedule get the dual core and the X1900.
 

ForzaItalia4

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Instead of just asking the same fing question over and over despite people answering the question, why don't you just wait another month, save up another $150, and get both a dual core and an X1900XT.

You will want the dual core in the next 6 months and you will want the X1900 as well.

Can you game well now with a single core and a good video card. Yes. Will you game as well in 6 months. No. So unless you work on a 6 month upgrade schedule get the dual core and the X1900.

I've been saving for four months, i don't need ot save any longer for a $150 upgrade that I wouldn't need, hence me asking the same question over looking for a real answer besides "SURLY YOU MULTI TASK DOOD I MULTI TASK THAT MUST MEEN U MULTI TASK TOO LOLZ!!11". So how about you read my posts, read the other posts, and start making sense, smartass.

I still don't see why I should get dual core if I am going for pure gaming, as others have said, and there doesn't seem to be any real bonus in getting a dual core for gaming, besides future games supporting the multi threading, and still no evidence on how much it will support or what kind of bonus it will provide, so why will I want the dual core in 6 months? Sure, it'd be cool to run everything + a game, but since I don't need it and i tend to close everything before I run a game anyways, I don't see why I should get it if there's no significant bonus.

Now if you want to send me $150 then I'll gladly purchase the dual core, if not, keep your rude comments to yourself. thanks.

p.s. thanks for all of the suggestions, i think i'll go single since processing doesn't benefit gaming (as far as I see) even close to a better GPU from a good GPU.
 

ForzaItalia4

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If you can get a dual core and a 7900GT (for example), then you'll be dumb if you go for the single core.

In a few months (at earliest, probably) games will REQUIRE dual core CPU to run. Mark my words. If you can get the dual core with a high end card, DO IT.

Where do you get this kind of information that games will require dual core? I've never seen or heard anything like that. Most people are oblivious to real specs about computers, gamers alike, are developers really going to say spend 300 dollars on this processor or else you can't play this game? I doubt that unless you really have information on that.