Going Dual Core?

Ian

Ian

Administrator
Joined
Feb 23, 2002
Messages
19,878
Reaction score
1,509
If you bought a system in the next few months, would you go Dual Core?

So many PC systems come with dual core CPUs now, and I'd recommend any power user to get one.

They start at around £200, so it doesn't make any sense for a budget user at all. Would you rather pay that bit extra for dual core, or would you opt for a better graphics card/more ram?
 
Funny you should ask that question> I have been debating the fact to change over.
 
Before I bought mine I was mulling it over for weeks. Did I go dual, or BIG single? :confused:

The final convincing arguement for me was the ability to (more) easily segregate work which might crash during testing, without taking the rest of the system down with it. :thumb:

I accept that it may not be the best config for single source power users such as gamers, but I suppose it's each to their own. You pays your pennies (lots in this case) and you takes your choice.;)
 
CITech said:
Did I go dual, or BIG single? :confused:
Click to expand...

Same as I've been thinking... I'm pretty sure I'll go for Dual Core as I often have 8 applications open at once.

It will be a good few months before I upgrade, so I'm hoping prices will come down as Dual Core becomes more common.
 
The affordable dual core AMD Athlon X2 64 3800+ comes with 2 Manchester Chips running at 2.0 GHz with a L2 Cache of 512kb. I personally went for the AMD Athlon 64 3700+ with a L2 Cache of 1mb, at £130 its a bargain. It depends on what u use ur PC for, if u use it mainly for games then the most important thing is the Graphics Card, followed by the processor, then the Memory. X2 is great for Mulit-tasking and alike but i personally didn't upgrade due to the fact that i don't need the extra power, and i'm not keen on the Manchester Chips compared to the 3700+'s San Diego Chip. The X2 might be 521kb total cache or it might be 1mb, if its 512kb then that itself will limit ur the processor, like adding a handicap, always get L2 1mb cache + when lookign for a processor!
 
im definatley going dual core with my next one, i sometimes need to have that extra CPU
 
I will be buying a desktop replacement laptop next - but atm its looking like its going to be a dell. That means no AMD.

What are the new dual core centrino chips like?
 
I'll wait ... no need for what I do, unless FF can open one page in one core and another page in another core.

I just upgraded to a new system that can handle dual-core, but will probably find that when I need "it" we'll all be looking at the latest quads. :D

Oh! we may need dualies for Vista though ... ;)
 
I would certainly be tempted.
I think by the time i do upgrade it will be the more obvous choice. :)
 
For my next system i am getting a 3700+. I mean it is only £150! bargain.

I can't afford to go dual core, and considering the x2 3800+ is £230 ish, i could get a single core 4000+, and as im building a gaming system that would make much more sense getting a 2.4ghz chip than a 2.0ghz chip.

When dual core becomes the norm i will slot a dual core into the system instead, but until they become more cheap and mainstream (and developers make software that actually takes advantage of 2 cores) then i am sticking single core.

Bear in mind that AMD are bringing a new socket (M2) in mid 2006, so any new dual core processors from then on are going to be incompatable with socket 939.
 
I won't be going dual core in the near future.

In fact, I was thinking about upgrading last night, so worked out the following list.

Asus A8N-Sli Premium
Leadtek 6800GT 256Mb PCI-e
San Diego AMD 64 3700
2Gb Corsair Value Select.

That lot comes to £576.00 from Overclockers plus postage.

Then I got to thinking. The processor, although it has a bigger cache, is the same speed as my Socket A XP3200 and I already have the video card in AGP flavour.

So I figured in real terms only advantage I'm going to see for nigh on £600.00 is 512Kb more CPU cache and another gig of RAM.

I can't really afford more than that so I honestly don't think it's worth upgrading yet.

I did look at the dual core CPU's, too pricey for me atm.

And Saku, (or anybody else) would you care to post a link to the AMD 64 3700 San Diego CPU for £130.00 as I haven't seen it that cheap anywhere. Presumably that's an OEM version?
 
im currently running a dual core system amd 64 3800+. I love having the dual core systemas i can run cpu heavy tasks and do the norm and dont feel like anything is slowing the system down at all. It will also be great when we see programs being relesed that will handle dual core processors and then it will feel really fast. So if you have the cash i personally would reccomend splashing out on a dual core system.
 
saku said:
its £130 on ebuyer.co.uk
Click to expand...

Thanks for that.

Far as I can see, e-buyer don't supply an OEM version of that CPU.

Just this one, the retail version.

Which, including postage and VAT, works out to around £160.00, which is consistent with the prices I've been seeing.

Unfortunately, not many people here are VAT-registered, so it's usual to include VAT in quoted prices.
 
christopherpostill said:
I will be buying a desktop replacement laptop next - but atm its looking like its going to be a dell. That means no AMD.

What are the new dual core centrino chips like?
Click to expand...
Chris, I've just read a review in PCPlus magazine on the new Acer (I know...:rolleyes: ) Travelmate 8204WLMi with T2500 2GHz Core Duo together with ATi 256MB Mobility Radeon X1600 Graphics.
It got their highest ever Mobile Mark 2005 score of 267 and still had battery life of 3hrs 42m under test.
If these figures are anything to go by, then they're going to be great :thumb:
 
Last edited:
Excellent - the one i have been looking at has the Core Duo, couple gig of RAM and a 7700 Go graphics card.

Obviously i will be looking to buy at the beginning of september for the start of Uni, so it should be even better than that!
 
However if you are goign to be putting in a very powerful gaming card, eg 7800 512mb, an x1800/1900 or whatever, an amd 3700 is going to bottleneck it considerably. I would imagine even a 4000+ would bottle really, but not so much.
 
Back
Top