Single Core vs dual Core

[Shooty*]

OK, I'd imagine this has been covered, but i can't find any threads bang on the mark. Neither can I find anything really useful on google.

I've detailed my proposed new rig elsewhere, and some of you have been ood enough to offer advice and comments.

I've today experienced Vista's slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow copying and delete "system". Chr1st, what a botched job!

Anyway: current rig: single core AMD 64 4000+, A8n SLI Deluxe, XFX 7800 GT, 2 gb corsait XMS 3200

Proposed rig: E6750 (for now, maybe the quad core as someone recommended), IP35, BFG OC 320 8800 gts, some crucial ram.

So: Main differences there are DDR2 and dual core from a system POV.

Question: And I know if might sound daft, BUT: it is often said that a single core 4000+ could kick 7 shades of s**t out of a dual core S939 4600+.

Will I notice a large performance increase from my current rig with the proposed set up above? Does DDR2 make much difference?

If the answer is a very obvious "Yes, you total numpty!" then I still want to hear it. I'm ignoring the contribution the graphics card will make as I'm pretty clear on that. I just can't find any straight comparisons between S939 single core and S775 dual core anywhere

What I'm getting at is whether I really need to overhaul the whole system, or whether an 8800gts in my current system with 19 inch monitor would suffice.

Cheers.

[aidanjt]

It depends on what you want to do, and what applications you want to run. But generally, dual core is mainstream these days, more and more applications are using SMP programming techniques (games, and graphics drivers especially are becoming more dependant on dual core CPUs), but.. you can still chuck an X2 into your S939 motherboard and get a little more life out of your rig for the time being, if you're not prepared for a complete system overhaul at this time.

[Rob_B]

I went from an single core Opty @ 2.7Ghz to an X2 @ 2.6Ghz, very similar RAM speeds etc lost a few FPS in benchies such as Lost Coast!
Did some benches with both @ 2.6Ghz to & they were pretty equal, general Windows performance is noticabley better though!
Raw mhz wins out for a lot of apps/games but that IS changing & I'd hope Vista offers more benefits that XP does with another core.

If you're going to C2D though it'll destroy a 4000+ !

[danroyle]

i'd go for quad core the e6750 is good but about £115 and if you shop about as i just did i got a B3 Q6600 for £137 brand new simply from looking about

but even with a dual core you will notice a good difference over your current cpu plus if you go intel overclocking potential is great.

[directhex]

it's not just about dual core - core2 is a very powerful cpu, even on single-threaded apps

[V|per]

If the core 2 duo was just a single core ( i know this defeats the point of it's name...) it would wipe the floow with your current cpu, couple that with the fact that it has 2 cores, it will further kick your current cpu's behind in muti threadded apps.

The ram won't bring about a huge increase to system performance, but the extra bandwidth can't hurt, but the main performance increase will come from your cpu.

[excalibur2]

..........just come across this while looking at the cheapest way to upgrade my 2nd computer as it's noisy and boring, and the AGP has blown :-

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...uad-q6600.html

[Phillikon]

Can you still buy Single core?
I think that the only way to get one will be ex stock or something.

Anyway if you can, the Athlon 64's are far better for gaming that the Intel P4 single cores, I am not a fan boy and have used both, to be honest though if you already have Athlon board and memory I would just get a duel core 4800 X2 Athlon this is as far as you can go really as an FX60 is just a waste of money over this.

just my two pennies worth

[Mithrandir]

Can you still buy Single core?
I think that the only way to get one will be ex stock or something.

Anyway if you can, the Athlon 64's are far better for gaming that the Intel P4 single cores, I am not a fan boy and have used both, to be honest though if you already have Athlon board and memory I would just get a duel core 4800 X2 Athlon this is as far as you can go really as an FX60 is just a waste of money over this.

just my two pennies worth

Yup, you can still buy Single core Athlon64. They are cheap as well from £15 in some places. Still a great cpu to use in a budget machine, esp if they overclock very well. (Both my Athlons OC past 2.7ghz on stock volts)

[directhex]

Can you still buy Single core?
I think that the only way to get one will be ex stock or something.

Anyway if you can, the Athlon 64's are far better for gaming that the Intel P4 single cores, I am not a fan boy and have used both, to be honest though if you already have Athlon board and memory I would just get a duel core 4800 X2 Athlon this is as far as you can go really as an FX60 is just a waste of money over this.

just my two pennies worth

p4 is long dead though

[icanhazburger]

Needless to say, when I bought my current system it blew my p4 2ghz with pc133 ram outa the water

[Shooty*]

Yeah, I considered going for the dual core S939 4800+, but that thing is expensive!

Well... less expensive than a full system upgrade, but relatively speaking, performance wise...

[Phillikon]

Yeah, I considered going for the dual core S939 4800+, but that thing is expensive!

Well... less expensive than a full system upgrade, but relatively speaking, performance wise...

I have one of these in a second machine at home, it is a blistering CPU and there is very little it can't handle even now.
I have noticed though that it too is getting harder to get hold of, you can still get the 4000 quite easily though.

[Zak33]

just go back to XP and you'll get the speed you want ...back

I went from S939 Opty at 2.4 to dual core S939 at 2.4 and it was really a good speed/power bump. Gaming was much better.

But Intel Quad is a vast, huge and massive leap from there again. And I now ave a quad and it's so fast it hurts

[pendulum666]

Single core...no market for this now really. Everything is dual core now. You can only buy a few cpus brand new single core now?