Upgrading to Dual Core and more RAM

[Maniacal]

I don't know, that's why I am asking.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

You should figure those out...

For me at least, those are the questions I would ask before I upgrade. For instance, Im a gamer, but I'm fine with medium-low settings in games, as long as I can run them smoothly. So I dont want to blow 2000$ on a system I shant use.

 

[Maniacal]

That makes more sense, thanks.

I'm upgrading so I can play Crysis, CoD:4 and other new games at high settings (although I'm not upgrading my graphics card yet).

I think I'lll get Quad Croe, now, the mobo, what would be a good choice for a mobo that supprots quad?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

My friend has an AMD 6000+ and a G92 8800 GTS with 4 gigs of RAM. He can run Crysis on the high ( note, not highest, its damn nigh impossible to do that) settings without lagging, even during the final explosions scene. I dont think you will need a quad core for those as of now, but, nonetheless, if you want.

Afaik, both Crysis and CoD4 are multithreaded, but as ive heard Crysis only really uses 2 cores, and the same for CoD4, so Im not sure. If you are gonna get a quad core, go with the mid-high range one, as it will most likely last you the longest. Or wait a bit until the new Penryn's come out (within a month or two).

As for the mobo, Im not sure. I've had a good experience with both Asus and Gigabyte, so those are two brands certainly worth looking into.

 

[warpus]

I've had a baaad experience with ASUS.

Their lower-end / medium-end motherboards have horsehockey transistors.. I've lost 2 motherboards when transistors simply blew up..

The support was horrible too

 

[MarineCorps]

I've had a baaad experience with ASUS.

Their lower-end / medium-end motherboards have horsehockey transistors.. I've lost 2 motherboards when transistors simply blew up..

The support was horrible too

I've gone with ASUS motherboards always and haven't ever had a problem.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Im assuming that if he's gonna go for quad core, he can afford their 150$ + mobo's, which are all (or most) good.

 

[Sims2789]

If you're getting Vista, get a very fast dual-core and more than 2 gigs of RAM. My friend got a brand-new, quad-core box with 2 gigs and it's slow as molasses.

 

[Maniacal]

Definately NOT touching Vista, especially since I will still be keeping my hard drive...

 

[duckmanbro]

I currently have a Dell XPS M1530 with: 3gb RAM/2.2gHz Core2Duo/256mb nVidia GFX. It runs Vista brilliantly, and I can play Bioshock with medium to high settings, as well as Cysis (Demo). Given that Crysis isn't a game I'd usually play, I am happy with the results of it.

Obviously, if you get a quad core, you will further the "life" of your computer by at least 18 months to 24 months. I went with the laptop as it has dual core, and is more than enough for what I use it for, which is mainly light 3D work, design and web design. Works so very quickly.

What were you planning to use it for? Simply gaming?? I found THIS article useful to find gaming advantages with Dual Core PCs.

 

[Maniacal]

I beleive that the dual core processors in that article are out of date.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

That article is about a year out of date. If you want current info, look on www.tomshardware.com , as they have quite a bit of info on the latest processors, and etc.

 

[duckmanbro]

Oh, my bad, i didn't read the date, very sorry...

 

[echinococcus]

Some people might find it useful to know that Civ4 uses only one core while performing between-round operations.
So rather get fast single cores than an expensive quad core if you want civ to run faster ;-)

 

[Maniacal]

I can run Civ4 just fine already, I can't run crysis just fine yet though.

 

[duckmanbro]

Some people might find it useful to know that Civ4 uses only one core while performing between-round operations.
So rather get fast single cores than an expensive quad core if you want civ to run faster ;-)

Yeah I am sure though that people just won't want to play Civ

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Crysis is multithreaded I think, so you would be better off with 4 cores.

 

[azzaman333]

I can run Civ4 just fine already, I can't run crysis just fine yet though.

Trying to run Crysis is like trying to run a marathon... uphill... in extreme heat... without shoes... on nails.

 

[echinococcus]

Crysis is multithreaded I think, so you would be better off with 4 cores.

Im im not sure i uses more than 2 cores. And the bottleneck in that game is definately your graphics card. Its "interesting" to see a 500€ card cant run it on highest settings with decent fps. Triple SLI might do though i think that is crazy from a heat and energy perspective (> 1KW power adapter anyone?).

 

[Maniacal]

What is a Penryn?

Also, I beleive that crysis uses two cores and then you still have the other two cores to run windows and other stuff.