AMD help

[user]

Hey im thinking of buying a new CPU and would like some suggestions,

Should i buy a dual core?

Im a gamer and would like to know if there is any significant differance to buying a normal one or a dual core CPU.

Eg. 3800 + 939

Any help appreciated.

Thanks.

[bacterio]

The more core you have, the more performance you will get

[chipcollector]

[gshv]

Right now there are not many games that will take advantage of the second core. If you spend a lot of time playing old games like Far Cry, Unreal Tournament 2004 and others, and you need maximum performance for these games then get a single core CPU. Athlon 64 3800+ for those games would be as fast as Athlon 64 X2 4600+. Some recently released games, like Oblivion, support dual core processors, but even then single-core 3800+ will perform about the same as dual-core 3800+. So, in my opinion, if you only play games then get a single core. If you play games and run something else in background, or you want to use the system other applications then get a dual-core CPU.

Gennadiy

[FDIV]

I have the x2 3800+ and used to have the single core 3000+ (2.0ghz vs 1.8 ghz clocks) I get more then the little boost that the slightly faster clock woud predict. Here are the reasons I recomend dual core.
#1 Even when gaming few of us turn everything off ie. virus scan, firewall, etc. It's just a pain. With dual core they don't slow you down.
#2 It won't be long before most games are optimized for dual core and take full advantage.
#3 You don't game all the time and even for week multitasking dual core is much faster.
#4 It will always erk you that you don't have it. My 3000+ ran fast but I couldn't get the dual core out of my mind. Now I'm glad I bought it. I was also fortunate enough to sell the 3000+ on ebay for almost what I paid so I didn't have to kick myself later.

Good luck making up your mind

[chipcollector]

I know what you mean, but it always gets to the point where you say, "Well, now I need QUAD cored pentiums because so and so works faster" or "I need the EE dual core.." eventually you'll just want something that gets the job done.

I mean it's rediculous... it's not like new things are coming out and you don't need all that power; you DO need the power because they phase out old programs leaving you with no choice.. you can only hang on to older things for so long. I stopped doing extreme gaming for 4 months, and now all these CPUs I read about in rumor magazines are on the shelf, alongside other things I haven't even heard of yet. We need it, and what can we do but buy?

[User]

heh FDIV im upgrading from a 3000+ aswell

Yeah thanks for the advice guys i have come to the conclusion of buying a dual core 3800+ being only $50 more expensive than a regular.

Thanks.