what CPU should I get?

Question

hi, im looking at upgrading my pc but not sure about the CPU.
At the moment i have a pentium4 2.8 ghz that ive had for last 3 yrs.The CPU,s im looking at are either an AMD 64 2.0 ghz x 2 dual core or an AMD 64 3800+ 2.4ghz, I use the pc for gaming mainly, what would you choose?.
would i see much performance increase?
thanks in advance.

Answer 1

There will not be much of an increase, as most games really cannot use dual cpus yet. You can, however, assign windows to one core and the game to the other core and get a little more speed (around 10%-20% faster).
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html
As you can see in the above charts, cpu can add just a few fps. You need around 30fps to be playable, and 60fps for online games (seems to make players a little more accurate (aiming). Very little games max out the performace of the cpu.
For gaming, you want to try to get 2gb of ram at least, stick with xp for now.
http://www.twitchguru.com/2007/03/01/vista_offers_nothing_to_gamers/
And get the best video card you can afford. As it will be the video card that will be the most important part of the system for 3d gaming.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html

Answer 2

Hi. Intel and AMD cpus use a different motherboard type, of course, so you really mean a full upgrade. I would opt for a dual core at this point and wait for the games to catch up. The brand is your choice, but my favorite has been AMD.

Answer 3

Between the 2 the dual core is it. Later this year AMD will come out with a quad core. That's the one I am waiting for for my next upgrade. I build all my own.

Answer 4

The highest speed multi-core you can afford.

I've noticed that dual core really makes the pc responsive again. And more and more programs are programming for having it on board.