Dual or Quad??

[BALISTX]

In the new year I plan on upgrading my E2180. I'm not sure what to get for a new processor. It will be one of the new Intel 45nm cores.

I will be using the computer for gaming mainly. I will not be overclocking this processor :shok:

The choices are:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz - $316.00

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00GHz - $183.00

I know there are some games out there such as Crysis that are being designed for Quad cores but the question is how many more games will be designed to use all four cores in the near future? Is getting a Quad Core processor really worth the extra money? Most games currently are using only a single core and in that case core to core a 3.0GHz Dual Core processor is faster and cheaper than a 2.66GHz Quad core.

 

[Jmac]

Get the Quad ...

 

[magictorch]

If you can afford it..

You should get the quad if you can afford it. They really seem to be coding games and other software to take advantage of the four cores. I doubt you will even need to think about a new cpu for some-time after getting one of those beauties.

 

[Prof. Dr. Silver]

Quad it is...

 

[Squeetard]

They blab and blab about how hard it is to program for multi threading and it is. But it is not that hard to split one core for physics, one for npc's one for sound etc..

I gained significantly when I went from dual core to quad. I tested it in FEAR, HL2, Oblivion and 3dmark06.