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Quad Core or Dual Core ???

R

rash219

Member
I am planning of building a new PC and would really like some feedback/advice if i should go for a Quad core Intel or Intel core 2 Duo.......considering the fact that the G0 steeping are available......at a price range of 309.99$.......i am more into multi-tasking with image editing and web design software......I usually have Photoshop CS2, Windows Media Player, Firefox(+4 tabs) and uTorrent (in the bkgrd) running at the same time.......

Pleasse HELP !!
 
I use the same programs along with some others and went with a quad. I rarely play games now so I don't see the need for a superclocked out cpu, id rather have something for multi-tasking.

I'd say go with a quad. =)
 
Originally posted by: ksource
I'd say go with a quad. =)
Click to expand...

I would, too, except for the fact that 3 of the 4 things he lists are disk intensive applications. In his instance, a single core, matched up with 3 fast hard drives, would be much, much faster than a quad core, with everything running from one HD. Both of you should invest in hard drives first, then cpu's and RAM second.😉

edit: And welcome to anandtech, both of you.
 
I would say photoshop is the only program that may warrant the purchase of a quadcore, depending on what filters he uses. For the other programs, you wont even need a dualcore, as far as multitasking goes.
 
Originally posted by: myocardia
Originally posted by: ksource
I'd say go with a quad. =)
Click to expand...

Both of you should invest in hard drives first, then cpu's and RAM second.😉

edit: And welcome to anandtech, both of you.
Click to expand...

When you say invest in Hard Dives do yo think a

"WDCaviar SE16-250GB-7200RPM-16MB Cache-SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive" is a good choise??

The other reason behind my choice od Q6 is not not only the fact that it shows improvement with progs like photshop but i am very sure the next set of updates with many designing softwares like MacroFlash, Dreameaver will be making use of the qd processors and i have no intention to upgrade aftr building my rig for the nxt 3-5yr.....
 
Originally posted by: rash219
When you say invest in Hard Dives do yo think a

"WDCaviar SE16-250GB-7200RPM-16MB Cache-SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive" is a good choise??
Click to expand...
Get a 500GB WD drive, or a 750GB drive if you're really serious about performance. The 500gb drive is around $100 and is a steal at that price IMO.
 
Before you buy hard drives, wait a little bit for Seagate's 7200.11 drives to be released... higher density platters = faster hard drives. I have a single-platter 250gb HDD and it's awesome.
 
Get a 500GB WD drive, or a 750GB drive if you're really serious about performance. The 500gb drive is around $100 and is a steal at that price IMO.
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I dont see any difference in th spec's apart from the fact that one is 250GB the other 500GB....i mean the 250GB one i am choosing is a SATA II 3G.B/s and 7200 rpm.....what else should i lookout for...???.....(?_?)
 
rash219 the 750gb wd is there first one with perpindicular recording (which means higher density platters which means faster), I believe there 500 gigs is 3x167 and the 750 is 3x250.
 
Originally posted by: rash219
Windows Media Player, Firefox(+4 tabs) and uTorrent (in the bkgrd) running at the same time.......
Click to expand...

You don't need multiple hard drives to run the following 3 tasks. Right now at work I have open:

1. Amicus IV law program
2. 7 Internet explorer windows
3. 4 Firefox windows
4. 8 Excel documents
5. Power Point presentation
6. Windows explorer folders
7. Microsoft Outlook
8. Adobe Acrobat Reader
9. SETI@home running at 100%.

All of this is taking 750MB of ram on this 768MB single-core 2.8ghz Intel Celeron D 330 processor. I can tell you the system doesn't feel as fast as my C2D @ 3.4ghz used to when I had the same programs opened, but the speed difference isn't that significant. Why? I don't consider any of the above other than SETI (and even then it adjusts load based on system requests from 0-100% allowing full cpu speed to other tasks as requested) as multi-tasking.

Multi-tasking would be something like Encoding a video, converting MP3, and running Photoshop in the background while playing Quake 4 all at the same time. That's where QuadCore will shine. Still, for the other tasks you mentioned like image editing, web design and photoshop, I'd get a Quad. However, if you are upgrading from single core, even a E4400 dual core for $125 would have an impact and you could upgrade again in a year if you don't want to spend that much $ on a processor today.
 
Ok i have decided with going along with the quad core......i guess now its only a matter of getting a good mobo for 100$-150$....>_< i never knew creating my own rig would be this much of a problem...considering my entire budget is only 800$-900$...DOH!!!
 
depends on how much you gonna spent, if 250 or so for a dual, better get a quad q6600 g0 that can do you 3.5Ghz. Now that's a killer. especially multitasking, quds are better.
 
Originally posted by: nyker96
depends on how much you gonna spent, if 250 or so for a dual, better get a quad q6600 g0 that can do you 3.5Ghz. Now that's a killer. especially multitasking, quds are better.
Click to expand...
good luck getting a quad to do 3.5 stable at decent voltages on air. g0 is better but it is not a godsend. I have a g0 e6750 that takes 1.48v to do 3.48 stable 24/7. heat output is tremendous on this unit, too, I can only imagine what a quad would put out.
 
Originally posted by: bryanW1995
Originally posted by: nyker96
depends on how much you gonna spent, if 250 or so for a dual, better get a quad q6600 g0 that can do you 3.5Ghz. Now that's a killer. especially multitasking, quds are better.
Click to expand...
good luck getting a quad to do 3.5 stable at decent voltages on air. g0 is better but it is not a godsend. I have a g0 e6750 that takes 1.48v to do 3.48 stable 24/7. heat output is tremendous on this unit, too, I can only imagine what a quad would put out.
Click to expand...

Although steppings do make a difference, overclocking also depends on the quality of the chip itself. I just sold E6400 @ 3.4ghz which could run at that speed at 1.3625V in the BIOS. My load temperatures by CoreTemp, Intel Thermal Analysis Tool were 51-52*C with Big Typhoon at 1400rpm. When I was too lazy to clean the dust from the Big Typhoon, it'd go as high as 63-64*C and still wouldn't crash. Somewhere out there someone has E6750 that will do 3.7ghz at same voltage as you. In the end, it's luck of the draw.
 
i convered 5 batches of 200 8 megapixel RAW files with rig in sig, to highest quality JPEGs with adobe bridge cs3.

it converted 1 image per 2 seconds. i stopwatched the whole thing and divided by image count and it was like 2.017 secs per.

it was pleasant to watch.

as more and more programs are updated to take advantage of more than 2 cores, you will simply reap the benefits.
 
I'm actually wondering this myself: Since Penryn is going to run on the same socket (at least in the beginning), should I go with a Q6600 right now or just go for a E6550 for the 1333Mhz FSB and better overclocking potential, then upgrade to a quad-core later once more games support it and its available on Penryn's new 45nm fab?

I'm interested in almost solely for gaming.
 
Originally posted by: Drunkentig3r
I'm actually wondering this myself: Since Penryn is going to run on the same socket (at least in the beginning), should I go with a Q6600 right now or just go for a E6550 for the 1333Mhz FSB and better overclocking potential, then upgrade to a quad-core later once more games support it and its available on Penryn's new 45nm fab?

I'm interested in almost solely for gaming.
Click to expand...

yeah I thought about that...I kinda said to myself I want quad now.
 
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