Need to be Schooled on X2 processor.

[Dogmeat]

I'm planning on upgrading my system from an XP64-3200 to either a XP64-4400X2 or a plain old XP64-4000.

My question is, do both sides of a dual core offer the same work performance (4400) equally or is the amout of work split?

An example of what I mean is that in a single threaded program which does not take advantage of the second core, will the processor perform equally to a non-dual core processor of the equal speed.

I do game, CAD and encode " TIVO to Go". My processor is killing me in CAD and the encoding. Would I be better off with a fast single core or just go dual?

I also plan on upgrading my Video from a 6800GT to a 7800 GTX and increase my RAM from 1 GB to 2. Will this help in rendering CAD? (CAD is Alibre)

 

[Lord Banshee]

Get the X2, As long as Alibre is a newer version i think it support multi CPU support.

The upgrade from 6800GT->7800GTX will only be faster in GAME. it will be the same speed in your CAD programs.. The reason for this as Nvidia limits the CAD abilitys in Drivers for GAME cards compared to the Pro Cards (Quadro).

I would take a look a rivatuner (search) and try softmodding your 6800GT to a Quadro 4000 or 4400 depending if you are AGP or PCI-E. Games will be nil affected (1-2%) but you will get 4x or more the proformance in CAD programs.

So sum it up.

Get an X2 and stay with the 6800GT.

 

[Markfw]

In your case dual-core would be great. Each core does what a 3200+ would, but in many encoding apps, they share the work, and improvements are up to 2x, so yes in yours case go that route.

 

[Furen]

First off, ignore the PR ratings on all dual cores, they're useless. Instead look at the clockspeed and cache of each core. A 4800+ has two 2.4GHz/1MB L2 cores, so it performs identically (or close enough) to a 4000+ (2.4GHz/1MB San Diego core) in single thread apps. About the rest:


Basically,

Dual -> Single
4600+ -> 3800+
4400+ -> 3700+
4200+ -> 3500+
3800+ -> 3200+

In multi-threaded apps the X2 is a whole different animal. You can expect anywhere from 30% (in photoshop or slightly multi-threaded apps) to close to 95% (in Encoding and other heavily multithreaded apps, like raytracers) improvements over the single-core equivalents above. The extra RAM WILL help.

 

[Dogmeat]

Thanks for the help.

Heading to Newegg now.

 

[superfly27]

m'yeah. But, didn't some people say here that they had problems with games with dual cores?

me gots 3400+ real cheap.

 

[Bona Fide]

Yeah Alibre's X-CAD software is multi-CPU compatible (I use it with my compy, it works great). Dual-core is really the only way to go now, unless you don't have the money for it. If you're thinking about getting the 4000+, let me direct you to the X2 3800+. It costs just about the same, and you get dual-core capabilities. Plus, a lot of people have been reporting insane overclocks, so it seems to be good for that as well.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: superfly27
m'yeah. But, didn't some people say here that they had problems with games with dual cores?

me gots 3400+ real cheap.

Stop spreading this ! out of 100 more more people, one says he can;t get the driver to work ? I believe the 99 or 999 over the one ! NO PROBLEM IN GAMES !!!!