To Dual Core or Not.

[Killamus]

Originally Posted by b0b01

Dual core is not supported by most games, so for gaming a single core is better since it will just use one core meaning half the power.

That's funny because most of my games say that a dual core processor is reccomended. Though, not needed.

I would go with a budget Mobo, the chipset don't matter much and the expensive ones usually just have more options on it. You can get mobos for around 70 bucks on AM2.

NEVER Skimp on your motherboard. I am proof of this. People think that motherboards are all shiny, but lets face it. If you have a shitty mother board, then odds are you will have a shitty computer.

I was looking for a new pc lately too, but im pretty poor so im gonna wait for the quads to become more popular and get me a double core cheap at that point.

See ya in a few years. The Extremes from a few years back are still 1K+ in price. And they're dual core.

[Anti-Basic]

Uhhh, what are you on? The dual cores have dropped dramatically. My X2 5200+ was 450 dollars when I bought it and that was just before this past semester..... now its like 200$

[b0b01]

Originally Posted by Killamus

That's funny because most of my games say that a dual core processor is reccomended. Though, not needed.

NEVER Skimp on your motherboard. I am proof of this. People think that motherboards are all shiny, but lets face it. If you have a shitty mother board, then odds are you will have a shitty computer.

See ya in a few years. The Extremes from a few years back are still 1K+ in price. And they're dual core.

Hmm mind giving some arguments you just put in a few statements without any reasoning.

Interesting games must have changed the last few days . New games are usually supported now, but old games aren't. Some have brought out patches some didn't.

What are you a proof of exactly? Define shitty motherboard....
Difference between a $50 and a $150 mobo is about 5-10% performance increase. can do a lot more with that money on other parts.

Why in a few years, in one year the prices of for example his 5200+ will be at least half of what they are now. If the quads get introduced they drop drastically. Prices have nothing to do with extremes, extreme models are usually just made to proof that a brand is currently the best but who cares who has the biggest ....... Its all about the price/performance ratio in the end.

CPU market works staged:
introduction of a new model,
increase limits of the model (usually higher hz)
remodelling the model (example amd made a 65 nm model now where it used to be 90nm)
increase limits of the model (usually higher hz)
Than they make a new model.

Price drops usually happen when a new product or a modified product is marketed.

[Killamus]

Originally Posted by b0b01

Interesting games must have changed the last few days . New games are usually supported now, but old games aren't. Some have brought out patches some didn't.

That's true. A lot of old games don't support dual core. I was talking next-gen,(Gothic, Oblivion, Battlefield2, etc) so I apologize if there was a misunderstanding.

What are you a proof of exactly? Define shitty motherboard....
Difference between a $50 and a $150 mobo is about 5-10% performance increase. can do a lot more with that money on other parts.

I was going to post my motherboard, but newegg took it off. ASRock dual-vista, costed ~60 bucks. I stuck in a PentD, 1 gig of RAM. Around the same preformance as a Dell Optiplex 270N. Took that same memory, and processor, and stuck it in this mobo, with incredibly more speed. GPU was about the same as well. Morrowind ran at around 10-15 more FPS (Which is a lot, because previously it was like at 30-40...) and Oblivion could run. Maybe the GPU did it, but I doubt it, because memory intensive programs (Photoshop, fireworks, etc) loaded a whole crapload of a lot faster.

Why in a few years, in one year the prices of for example his 5200+ will be at least half of what they are now. If the quads get introduced they drop drastically. Prices have nothing to do with extremes, extreme models are usually just made to proof that a brand is currently the best but who cares who has the biggest ....... Its all about the price/performance ratio in the end.

Meh, I still like to look and oggle at them. That's my kinda pr0n right there. Uh, wait. That's my kinda CPU right there. Yea, thats what I ment to say.

What really sucks is that they DID just lower the price of one of the extremes that I wanted to buy, then took it off the market. Bastards.

[Setharnas]

Old games should still run well on a X2 5200+. It's hardly a slow cpu. But seriously, how much processing power do you really need for "Multitasking all regular windows tasks ie office, browsing etc etc. and dual core supporting programs", b0b01? I can do that just fine on my good ol'e xp3200+... What really helped was the 2GB memory upgrade (1GB would have been enough, probably, but photoshop and visual studio are grateful). And as Tintamar was going for onboard graphics anyway...

Also, Asrock = THE fail. Seriously. When I did my first two MCP's we got completely new computers in do-it-yourself kits for the course - with Asrock boards. By the time the course finished we had two complete failures and stopped counting bluescreens/day ratio (with stop errors clearly pointing to the chipset). (It was more a computer technician course, the only reason I didn't get an A+ certificate as well was that we weren't offered free funding for those, even though we got the books... bah)

And Morrowind is almost completely cpu/chipset limited. Even changing my crappy fx5600 gpu for an 7600gt (damn agp) wouldn't give me more than maybe 5 extra fps there. Oblivion is a different thing altogether. They even started a petition on the bethsoft board to get them to throw out an engine update for the game... Of course the company reacts as any other (with a pretty big ignore list, that is).

[habitat85]

Thanks for more replies on the subject they are helping me a lot


Im guessing GPU = Graphics card?
Im trying to stick with the onboard for now. Maybe in the future add something in but right now I have an ATI in my machine thats adjustable (Shared RAM) in my Bios. I crank it up to its max 128mb and I seem to run great on most games like guild wars. Only game Ive experianced lag is on Rappelz. I have searched for days now trying to find out what the max shared ram on the board I have chosen is. For some reason I swore I seen somewhere it said 512 but I cant find it anywhere now. 2gb - the 512mb shared would still leave me with a gig and a half which isnt bad and Im sure for most games I could get away with running it at 256 and be happy. I emailed Asus days ago and they never responded on it.

Newegg guarentees 3 days shipping so im waiting and planning it out so I'll receive it on one of my days off. I dont want them leaving it on my door steps someone will walk by and take it lol. Plus this will give me time to think it over incase I change my mind on something.

Thanks for all the replies and insightfull info you guys have been giving.

Now to search some more to answer the question thats driving me nuts. (How much shared memory will the onboard video go up to)

[Tintamar]

That was my reply by the way not to get anyone confused lol.

[TheOutkastDev]

Originally Posted by b0b01

Dual core is not supported by most games, so for gaming a single core is better since it will just use one core meaning half the power.

I don't know about you but I have an operating system that runs at the same time when I play games, and it likes to do stuff too.

Games don't make the best use of multiple cores, but they perform better simply because CPU load between standard OS functionality and the game can be distributed across both cores.

[Tintamar]

Asus emailed me back and said there was no onboard graphics with that motherboard. Correct me if Im wrong but isnt that what those 2 black things are that say ATI on them?

[Killamus]

Originally Posted by Tintamar

Asus emailed me back and said there was no onboard graphics with that motherboard. Correct me if Im wrong but isnt that what those 2 black things are that say ATI on them?

Uhm, no, that'd be the north/south bridge.
Mobos with onboard video specifically say "Onboard video: Thischipsethere."
Besides, didn't you notice there was no VGA or DVI slots on the back?

[b0b01]

Originally Posted by TheOutkastDev

I don't know about you but I have an operating system that runs at the same time when I play games, and it likes to do stuff too.

Games don't make the best use of multiple cores, but they perform better simply because CPU load between standard OS functionality and the game can be distributed across both cores.

Well personally i don't multitask a lot while playing games, so the os shouldn't create much cpu load, mostly just ram. But yes of course it's better if you have two cores and one only runs the game, however this is not the case if that core is a lot slower than if you would use a single core.

Old games should still run well on a X2 5200+. It's hardly a slow cpu. But seriously, how much processing power do you really need for "Multitasking all regular windows tasks ie office, browsing etc etc. and dual core supporting programs", b0b01? I can do that just fine on my good ol'e xp3200+... What really helped was the 2GB memory upgrade (1GB would have been enough, probably, but photoshop and visual studio are grateful). And as Tintamar was going for onboard graphics anyway...

Examples are paint shop, lots of browsers, vs, macromedia, mail program. There are lots of programs that use a lot of cpu, and that are used while multitasking. At least for me there are. The thing is you always have to think of what you will use it for. I built a few pc's for people i know that just use windows, browse and use office. No need for though stuff than.

btw i have had a few problems with ASRock too, i try to stay away from them now

Tintamar, whats your mobo than?

[Tintamar]

Originally Posted by b0b01

Tintamar, whats your mobo than?

Not sure what im going to do now. Was checking around and cant find one thats decent with onboard video. So now im tore between getting what I planned and save up for a video card for it or upgrading the computers I have. Really wanted duel core though and the mobo I have in my main machine now wont accept dual core. Maybe I'll toss a AMD 64 4000+ in it and another gig of ram. And get new ram for my baby machine AMD 1500+ lol the server machine which works great for running server on it. I dont know if I can make myself buy pc2700 ram for it. I cringe thinking about spending money on that. Starting to cringe at pc3200 too after drouling over pc2-6400.

*sigh* what to do.

[Courageous]

If the dual-core integrated video combo is something you cannot afford right now, some perspective:

Upgrade when you can double my performance by paying no sooner than a second-generation price. I.e., I never buy leading edge to get to my double performance, only buy a mainstream commodity part to do so. You know, the part that everyone is getting, not the over clockers and so forth.

C//

[Anti-Basic]

Originally Posted by Courageous

If the dual-core integrated video combo is something you cannot afford right now, some perspective:

Upgrade when you can double my performance by paying no sooner than a second-generation price. I.e., I never buy leading edge to get to my double performance, only buy a mainstream commodity part to do so. You know, the part that everyone is getting, not the over clockers and so forth.

C//

You mention wanting to be able to play any game on the market with no probs. Use that as an excuse to buy a card.

[Killamus]

As if you need an excuse to buy a new card. That's like needing an excuse to buy a blue orb in DMC.
Uh...
Or, thats like needing an excuse to take apart your computer and peice it back together, then watch it not post.
Its just fun!

[Courageous]

I just bought two Nvidia Quadro 4600's at work.

GPGPU study. Write traditional programs on the graphics card. Whee.

C//