Quad CPU or Not?

[CRash55]

Ok I am getting ready to build a new high-end system. Primary use will be gaming though I will do some image editing, web design and CAD work as well. The big question is whether I go dual (E6600) or quad core (QX6700)? I know at present games are not utilizing the extra cores but I would like my PC to last 3 years or so. Vista (I will probably upgrade after SP1) is multithreaded so wouldn't it make good use of the quad? If Vista is multithreaded and I play a game that supports two cores then wouldn't I be using at least three of the four cores?

 

[Aberforth]

New games that are coming supports multi-core (especially DirectX 10 Architecture is different). You shouldn't ask whether it supports 2 cores. If a game is optimized for Multi-Core than it will support Quad Core, Dual Core. Alan Wake is specially designed for Quad Core and there is a Crysis.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: Aberforth
New games that are coming supports multi-core (especially DirectX 10 Architecture is different). You shouldn't ask whether it supports 2 cores. If a game is optimized for Multi-Core than it will support Quad Core, Dual Core. Alan Wake is specially designed for Quad Core and there is a Crysis.

A game can easily be optimized for multi-core and show zero performance increase past 2 cores. Almost every game that has any mutlithreaded support that is currently out or has been announced is Coarsely Multithreaded. Generally, they spin off some functions such as sound into a seperate thread. In the case of Alan Wake, they have 3 threads that might actually need any significant amount of CPU time. If you were able to run it on a hypothetical 8-core CPU, it wouldn't magically scale to utilize all the extra cores.

 

[VooDooAddict]

I'm in a similar boat.

I've been waiting for quad core for a long time... I want to keep waiting. But my s754 3000+ is starting to show it's age in Visual Studio. During the day, at work I've got a decent Pentium D setup. But with how much I depend on VMware for testing I really want to move up to quad.

 

[swtethan]

JUST GET THE QUAD, YUMMY

 

[CRash55]

OK so teh game shows no improvement past two cores then woudln't that mean that one core fro OS and two cores for the game should show best performance?

 

[skiz6151]

How soon will you be buying the your parts? If you can wait till quarter 2 which is around April, then there will be price cuts on the Procsessors.

Link to price cut thread

 

[CRash55]

days not months

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: CRash55
OK so teh game shows no improvement past two cores then woudln't that mean that one core fro OS and two cores for the game should show best performance?

Except that even the most heavily multithreaded games out now don't put very much load on the second core. The main advantage to dual-core for gamers is that one thread or process can't block and hog the CPU, starving out everything else. It's significantly less likely that such an event would happen to two cores at once.

Unless you have are going to run apps that actually benefit from more than 2 cores or are definately going to multitask that heavily, you would probably be better off with a dual-core. The price difference is such that you could get a much much better GPU setup by goimg with the E6600 and forgoing the quad.

Another thing is that the current quad-cores do not OC as well as Core 2 Duos. You can usually hit significantly higher clocks with the dual-core chips.

Duvie has also made some interesting observations regarding his quad setup. Perhaps he can comment if he sees this thread.

 

[slatr]

I would love to have a quad processor.. However, I can buy 2 lower speed Conroes and 2 motherboards for the price of 1 quad.

I am hoping that pricing changes soon. I would like to be able to use 4 cores for video and 3d... on one machine.

 

[nanaki333]

if you go look up some benchies, there's virtually no difference between the QX6700 and the E6700. at least for what you want to be doing.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i'm waiting till amd comes out with viable quad core solutions
then the choices will be better, prices will be better, and quads will be more mature from both sides

 

[LouPoir]

I can't figure out how to make good use out of dual core - LOL

Quad core - what a marketing gimmick.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: LouPoir
I can't figure out how to make good use out of dual core - LOL

Quad core - what a marketing gimmick.

I (am many others) can make use of it, so its definitely not a marketing gimmick

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: nanaki333
if you go look up some benchies, there's virtually no difference between the QX6700 and the E6700. at least for what you want to be doing.

How do you know? You read his mind? You from the Psychic friends Netwrok?


he said CAD apps....

now while my ADT2004 with VizRenderer is not effectively using 4 cores it does show gains over 2 cores and in some instances 3 cores. 3dsmax7 showed similar gains.

now recent reviews show 3dsmax8 is showing huge gains. Based on test rendering I am seeing 80% increase from same speed dual core to quad core. I get best cpu usage when using radiosity in my rendered images and scenes.

I also big gains in PovRay beta test and cinebench which I belive are both similar engines.


I saw big gains in the phtoshop tests as well....

So based on the uses you laid out I would say get the quad and you will be set for 2-3 years at least...

 

[Duvie]

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...hreadid=1830732&enterthread=y&arctab=y

Here are some CAD test done at the bottom....They were done with my dual dual opteron setups but have 4 cores and 2gb of ram and done on a RAID setup. I have not redone them on the QX6700 setup yet. i may get around to it eventually. Most all of the other test I have redone the C2D architecture is huge gains over this AMD setup. I may not see big gains at 3 and 4 cores only becuase it is soooo damn fast I become extremely IO limited.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

"Ok I am getting ready to build a new high-end system. Primary use will be gaming though I will do some image editing, web design and CAD work as well.

"So based on the uses you laid out I would say get the quad and you will be set for 2-3 years at least... "

duvie, duvie, duvie...

ok, now listen dude, if u want to be the coolest noob in town and like to post in forums how long ur CAD-bench-pines is..then go for the quad, but my advice is: u will be better of by spending ur money for a fast dualcore and some cool extras like fast hard drive, sweet LCD screen or buy ur girl a nice present...all of this makes more sense at this point of time then a quadcore which will be out of date regarding clocks before there will be games that can use it... (waiting for the next alan wake post..)

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
"Ok I am getting ready to build a new high-end system. Primary use will be gaming though I will do some image editing, web design and CAD work as well.

"So based on the uses you laid out I would say get the quad and you will be set for 2-3 years at least... "

duvie, duvie, duvie...

ok, now listen dude, if u want to be the coolest noob in town and like to post in forums how long ur CAD-bench-pines is..then go for the quad, but my advice is: u will be better of by spending ur money for a fast dualcore and some cool extras like fast hard drive, sweet LCD screen or buy ur girl a nice present...all of this makes more sense at this point of time then a quadcore which will be out of date regarding clocks before there will be games that can use it... (waiting for the next alan wake post..)

Were you trying to be cute? Did you mean CAD-bench-penis?

I let you know I use my apps. That is why you always see my test done on real applications instead of synthetic ones. Plus I fold 24/7 on all of my boxes. My 4 cores would kill any 2 cores OC'd or not around here.


What yo dont get since you likely are not a 3d CAD user is that just a few years ago I would spend hours and hours rendering scenes. It took so long I reserved it for only doing it at the very end. now the systems are so fast I can do it more regularly and not be discouraged by wanting to change stuff and rerender it. I know with the power of 4 cores of C2D I can do it in a fraction of the time I used to.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

cmon iam just fukin around
but read the quotes again and ask urself: does he really need a quad? his primary will be gamin. he can do lil CAD work with a duo, cant he?
i know u do need a quad, duvie, ur doin lots of stuff like crazy 24/7. u always need the latest ****** around cuz u want to travel back in time or fold the world or sumthing. and thats cool. all iam sayin is dont let this guy pay twice the price if its not really necessary, or tell him at least that in a year or so todays quads will be like yesterdays x2 3800+ eg. in a year they will look like oldies when it comes to what will still be his primary which was....yea, gaming.

and from a gamers point of view let me tell u: when rendering u can always wait for a scene to finish, (get a coffe or sumthing), but when it comes to gaming u need every fps u can get at the very moment.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
cmon iam just fukin around
but read the quotes again and ask urself: does he really need a quad? his primary will be gamin. he can do lil CAD work with a duo, cant he?
i know u do need a quad, duvie, ur doin lots of stuff like crazy 24/7. u always need the latest ****** around cuz u want to travel back in time or fold the world or sumthing. and thats cool. all iam sayin is dont let this guy pay twice the price if its not really necessary, or tell him at least that in a year or so todays quads will be like yesterdays x2 3800+ eg. in a year they will look like oldies when it comes to what will still be his primary which was....yea, gaming.

yeah you are right!!! i didn't see the primary comment...primary gaming???? NO QUAD....

If you do 1/2 and 1/2 then they may be worth it....I dont game so I am not limited by that single threaded app.....

 

[SickBeast]

What's the price difference like?

It would take some seriously advanced CAD to push 4 cores. Gaming only really needs 1 core!

 

[Aberforth]

hey guys, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGoiQaMM61E

 

[Duvie]

NIce...I watched it...Not much of a salesman that guy was...sound like he was going to have a nervous breakdown and piss himself....

Looked good for the resolution of the video. Seems like this will be the wave of the future for gaming. 1 core dedicated to physics, 1 core dedicated to lighting and shadowing positions, and the 1 core for gaming....I dont know if it actually ever used 4 cores...Would have been nice to see some cpu graphs but I imagine it was taxing the system...

3.73ghz Quad....i want to get mine to that point!!!

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
What's the price difference like?

The QX6700 is slightly more than 3 times as expensive as the E6600, and about exactly twice as expensive as the E6700. Not bad (twice the cores at the same speed, for twice the price), but not necessary at all for a system that will be used primarily for gaming. He'd be much better off spending the extra $500 on better RAM and a better video card, or even on a second video card.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: SickBeast
What's the price difference like?

The QX6700 is slightly more than 3 times as expensive as the E6600, and about exactly twice as expensive as the E6700. Not bad (twice the cores at the same speed, for twice the price), but not necessary at all for a system that will be used primarily for gaming. He'd be much better off spending the extra $500 on better RAM and a better video card, or even on a second video card.

I agree. 4 general cores are a waste of money for 99% of users, IMO. They're great for servers and rendering boxes, but otherwise at least 2 of the cores usually sit idle.

We need specialized cores like the PS3 has. A GPU core would be great, too.