Cpu doubling good?

[Naph]

I have, at this very moment:

256mb Video GFX card 7600GS (SLI Enabled)
2g Ram
2.22Ghz 3500+ AMD CPU
A8N-SE SLI Motherboard

And I want to know if getting a 2.02Ghz CPU AM2 (Dual Core) would improve my performance... Let's say I get 15fps average optimal in Oblivion, would it be any different? :cheese:

It's almost like I'm doubling my CPU Ghz remember. Plus it's for only $50

 

[The Brick]

Won't do a thing for most games, including oblivion.

 

[Llama]

Get a E6750 and fan, then over clock it to about 3ghz.

 

[skarrob]

Yeah maybe he would need new mother board to Llama

 

[Cole]

It's almost like I'm doubling my CPU Ghz remember. Plus it's for only $50

No it's nothing like that. It's only like that for applications that can take advantage of dual cores. Very Very few applications/games do that today.
Now if you got a dual core whose cores ran faster than you're current processor i'd tell you to go for it.

For most games and most applications you'd be lossing 200mhz on you're processor speed.

 

[giant384]

save your money for something better. i would also say go get a e6750 because thats one of the best bang for buck processors and its a great performer. doing that though would lead to you needing the new cpu,ram,and a new motherboard and that could cost upwards of $400.

 

[Asus]

Don't go for a dual core CPU that is clocked lower than yours unless everything you do uses both CPUs. If you do upgrade, go for a faster CPU when if you move to dual/quad core.

Like I had a 2GHz single (3000+) CPU and went to a 2.4GHz dual core.

 

[Naph]

No it's nothing like that. It's only like that for applications that can take advantage of dual cores. Very Very few applications/games do that today.
Now if you got a dual core whose cores ran faster than you're current processor i'd tell you to go for it.

For most games and most applications you'd be lossing 200mhz on you're processor speed.

How do I tell if it can run with dual?

 

[Asus]

How do I tell if it can run with dual?

Either run the application and look at the task manager graphs to see if both get more than 50% usage OR look up the application on the web.
SMP is a common term used when talking about supporting more than 1 CPU/Core.

This is an older thread but has a few games listed that are SMP compatible. A lot of SMP compatible games that are not listed in this thread.

 

[DreamThrall]

Well you should see a little bit of a performance improvement from 1 to 2 cores, since everything else on your computer that runs on the background will run on one core and your games will have a core all their own. Plus, your computer won't be completely unusable when you're doing things like CD burning or mp3 encoding, etc.

 

[Krynn72]

Well you should see a little bit of a performance improvement from 1 to 2 cores, since everything else on your computer that runs on the background will run on one core and your games will have a core all their own. Plus, your computer won't be completely unusable when you're doing things like CD burning or mp3 encoding, etc.

How easy is it to set this up? Im thinking of getting a quad core this holiday season, and I know it will be worth it for rendering... but for standard use I want to put a bunch of apps on different cores. Like photoshop on one, and Maya on two or something, then the third be for other processes. Is that possible?

 

[DreamThrall]

Well from what I understand, the OS should automatically load balance. However, you can force certain apps to use a specific core or combination of cores. Just google for XP (or Vista) and CPU affinity. Also... I know XP has a 2 processor limit... does that count for cores too? Anyone know how/if XP handles quad core?

EDIT: Look like you're safe: http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/bl...core-processors-will-windows-xp-support-both/
EDIT2: about affinity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Processor_affinity
more: http://weblogs.asp.net/cszurgot/arc...atability-switch-on-vista-start-affinity.aspx

 

[function9]

Also... I know XP has a 2 processor limit... does that count for cores too? Anyone know how/if XP handles quad core?

MS does their licensing on a per socket basis. So, like XP Home could support n-cores as long as it's one physical processor/socket. XP Pro, n-cores upto 2 physical processors/sockets, etc.

 

[Naph]

20Mhz less isn't so bad, I most probably won't tell.
Until my job at Crazies works out, I'll by a lot more...
SLI doesn't cut it for me, I'll be buying a 512+Mb no doubt.

 

[giant384]

MS does their licensing on a per socket basis. So, like XP Home could support n-cores as long as it's one physical processor/socket. XP Pro, n-cores upto 2 physical processors/sockets, etc.

in other words xp can support up to as many cores on on chip if it is able to be placed in the socket it is designed for.