faster dual-core or slower quad-core

[buckman341]

I'm using my computer mostly for gaming. I have an 8800 GTX video card and would like to get the most out of it while gaming. My mobo is a 680i and uses LGA 775 type chips.

My price is someone restricted so I'm coming up with chips that are either ~2.4Ghz quad cores or 3.0 Ghz dual-cores that are in the price range I want.

Newegg.com - LGA 775, Processors - Desktops, CPUs / Processors, Computer Hardware

Some run on 1066 fsb and some 1333 fsb also. Not sure how much of a factor that will play in my video gaming performance.

Here are a few I was considering:

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

Thanks for any information or tips.

 

[DesoShade]

My personal preference is Dual core. Especially for gaming.

 

[buckman341]

Friend of mine said that although a lot of programs aren't optimized to take advantage of dual or quad cores, a graphics card will take advantage of multiple cores.

Just wondering what the best bang for my buck would be in this case.

 

[objecterror]

Friend of mine said that although a lot of programs aren't optimized to take advantage of dual or quad cores, a graphics card will take advantage of multiple cores.

Just wondering what the best bang for my buck would be in this case.

Bang for buck lies in the q6600 @ 2.4, that.s 2.4 per core(if my math is correct). Of course, multi-cores aern't fully optimized, the only game I know of that takes full advantage of four processors was allen wake, and unless your into the action/thriller genre you won't see fully optimized gaming on the quad cores for a while.

It's only a few bucks more so go for it, and save yourself the trouble of another upgrade later.

Graphic cards are microprocessors themselves specific for anything graphics heavy on the pc. that's why they have memory built into them etc. So, the better your graphics card and processor combination the higher performance you get from your rig.

 

[Joeyboy]

^^

if your into RTS then i know SupCom says it takes advantage of four cores and i THINK Universe at War does too(love that game). Not sure about others.

 

[saltynay]

Flight sim X does and its likely to be commonplace sometime next year we are now on to third gen multi-core by intel and second gen by AMD. Just to check objecterror you do realise the Q6600 is fairly rubbish for gaming and is also a bit rubbish in general now its old and had its day the Q9300 or Q9450 is where its at on sckt775 they overclock better have more cache and are more energy efficient and with I7 they quick some *** if your into big budgets.

 

[Peter.Cort]

get an e7200. cheap effective and fast for the price.

 

[saltynay]

Oh I forgot the OP yeah get a 7200 or the E8500 and a decent aircooler like the sunbeam core contact or Thermaltake true 120 extreme (mahoosive so need to check case compatibility). You probably won't need to go quad until a complete system upgrade is needed and by then the market would of changed. What is your current processor as the 8800gtx (2 years) is relatively new you could just need a ram upgrade

 

[gurusan]

for strictly gaming my vote goes to dual core.

Grab an E8400 and get it to 4ghz minimum.