Any in-depth AMD X2 vs Conroe reviews out there?

[mazeroth]

I don't know why, but I can't seem to find any. Please provide me with some if you can.

Thanks a million!

 

[Atty]

I don't know of any extremely in depth articles but I know anandtechs review of the C2D's (Intel The empire strikes back) features benchamrks comparing all the X2's and the C2D's.

 

[harpoon84]

If you are mainly interested in real world gaming results then I suggest taking a look at this article:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1996932,00.asp

 

[cmdrdredd]

I just read through that article and it's a really good comparison. First time I ever saw someone use fraps to record scores during actual gameplay.

Their conclusion was really well said too. Basically telling everyone that they can't go wrong either way even when Intel has a faster chip because the performance is super both ways. This what I have said all along.

 

[mazeroth]

Harpoon, thanks for the link!

Were any of those games utilizing both cores? If not, then when games do utilize both cores I bet the performance gap will get even smaller. The problem for me, right now, is that I have an A64 3500+ @ 2500mhz and I was considering getting a 3800 X2, but I don't think it's worth it right now.

 

[harpoon84]

Of the games they tested, only Oblivion takes advantage of dual core. Q4 and COD2 also benefit from dual core after SMP enabled patches were released, but they weren't tested. From what I've seen, Q4 is pretty CPU intensive and definitely gains from dual core, but COD2 only sees noticeable gains at lower resolutions where the GPU isn't the bottleneck. At GPU limited resolutions there is only a 5% performance gain at best.

For the vast majority of games out at the moment, your A64 @ 2.5GHz is more than enough, especially since you are running a single GPU. In single threaded games, it will be very close to the numbers of the X2 5000+, which runs at 2.6GHz.

However, if you want to 'futureproof' your rig, then dual core is definitely recommended. FWIW, Crysis (surely you've heard of it, right? ) has dual core CPUs as part of the 'recommended' spec - a sign of things to come perhaps?

If you are running a S939 rig, it doesn't hurt to upgrade now, prices are great and stock will run out soon on S939 CPUs. Not a problem if you don't mind buying 2nd hand stuff, but if not then I suggest you get a move on before S939 stock runs out.