Which processor should i buy? Intel quad core or core 2 duo?

[arunmohan]

Hi, I'm thinking of upgrading my pc. i've got an lga775 p5g41t motherboard. it supports core 2 duo and quad core processor. currently i'm running on pentium 4 630 64bit processor. I usually use it for gaming. I'm thinking of playing farcry 2, assassin's creed, dragon age 2, gta 4 etc. Which processor should i buy? Currently i'm on onboard graphics with shader model 4.0. Can i play above listed games without upgrading my processor and only by adding an extra graphic card? (That way i can save some money.)

 

[13thmonkey]

GPU will give you by far the biggest improvement, pick your budget, pick a card, look for offers on better cards

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-performance-radeon-geforce,review-32274.html

Q8400 would be good too, but only after the GPU.

 

[BlacKHawK3]

^+1 on the GPU but...

You WILL be severely CPU limited in modern games by that Pentium 4 beyond 1280x1024

If you are on a budget I highly recomend a E7500 (the closest thing to value per $ in LGA775) and a HD 5770; if you shop carefully the combo is under $150 and will play any current game quite well (day and night better than P4 and IGP).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116381

 

[arunmohan]

Best answer selected by arunmohan.

 

[KhluR]

FOR GAMING CORE 2 DUO E7500, 7600 Is good but its only 3mb cache speed calculation per sec is almost same an this model nos of core 2 duo equivalent to core i3. BUT CORE 2 DUO E8400 AND E8500 Is better because speed is higher and cache Mb also high equivalent to core i5.

 

[KhluR]

core 2 quad q8300 is 2.50Ghz, 4 cores 4 threads.. better to buy this processor instead of dual core or core i3, i5 for those who have low budget..

 

[KhluR]

good example for u. how u should buy a processor.
dual core power is like having 2brain.
core 2 duo power is like having 4 brain.
core 2 quad power is like having 8 brain.

 

[KhluR]

dual core is like core i3.
core 2 duo is like core i5.
core 2 quad is like core i5, core i7. its depends on a model numbers of each processor.
note: i mean only latest models of dual core or core 2 duo or core 2 quad