Originally posted by: Modelworks
Originally posted by: myocardia
Were you one of the people, like myself, who was recommending that no gamer should buy a dual-core CPU ~2 years ago? If so, you were wrong, since that same $300 that they spent on a 2.4 Ghz single-core is pretty much useless to them now. Yet, if they had spent that same $300 on a dual-core 3800, they'd still be able to play the latest games with it. Sure, it would need to be overclocked a few hundred Mhz, but even today, it's a viable gaming processor, assuming the person already owns it. And, in case you hadn't noticed, that same thing is already happening with quad-cores. E.g., it's happening at a much faster pace than the switch to dual-core optimized games did.
Nope.
A dual core actually does benefit a user , even if the application does not support smp.
Quad cores are not going to be in demand for gaming any time in the near future.
How do I know ?
I work with developers daily.
They are having a hard enough time implementing dual core.
Intel has just formed a research group, made of game developers, to try to overcome some of the obstacles that bringing smp to real time applications causes.
Its very hard to code for smp for real time applications.
Is it a waste for a normal user who doesn't have applications that will use quad core to buy one ?
I think it is.
They would have done much better to get a faster dual core.
It would give them a much better overall performance boost.
Do I use quad cores ?
You bet.
And not one or two.
But sometimes 40-135 of them at one time.
I do 3d rendered animations for cutscenes in gaming and often the render farms we use are composed of hundreds of quad core + dual core machines.
When I see someone who buys a quad core just to have one, then its not put to good use, I see that as a waste.