- Joined
- Feb 27, 2002
- Location
- Nashville, TN
...that is the question.
I'm currently working on doing a few upgrades to my system. I'm purchasing a DFI Ultra board from somewhere here on the forums along with a 6800 GT card (so obviously I don't have a problem going used). My currently MB and CPU (see sig) I plan to give to my wife for her system (her stuff I will, in turn, give to my parents since they're still poking along on a PIII/750 I built for them a few years ago).
That leaves me a processor sort. I want to upgrade to something that should give me better performance than the 2.36 GHz I'm getting now (yes, sig needs a bit of updating), it seems barely faster than my old 2.4 GHz Barton.
I know a single core will (generally) give me a higher clockspeed all other things being equal as well as being cheaper. On the other hand dual core would give me somewhat better performance for a given clock speed, especially under heaver CPU loads.
Money is something of a consideration as I'm already spending $250 on the board and video card and I'm also planning on getting a big-screen and extra money spent on the CPU is that much more
Computer is pretty mixed usage, some gaming, a lot of just general not doing much of anything use (surfing the net type stuff), dvd/divx encoding, some HTPC duties (though not, at this time, video capture since I use an HD DVR from my cable company).
So I guess, based on the what I've given you, what would you do? Get another single-core CPU or plunk down the extra dough for a dual-core (I would prefer a dual-core, all things being equal) or even just wait on the new CPU until a bit better comes along and/or prices drop a little more (I'm not worried about waiting for the new AMD parts, except possibly insofar as it might involve a price drop on existing parts though 4-5 months is rather long to wait for that anyways).
I'm currently working on doing a few upgrades to my system. I'm purchasing a DFI Ultra board from somewhere here on the forums along with a 6800 GT card (so obviously I don't have a problem going used). My currently MB and CPU (see sig) I plan to give to my wife for her system (her stuff I will, in turn, give to my parents since they're still poking along on a PIII/750 I built for them a few years ago).
That leaves me a processor sort. I want to upgrade to something that should give me better performance than the 2.36 GHz I'm getting now (yes, sig needs a bit of updating), it seems barely faster than my old 2.4 GHz Barton.
I know a single core will (generally) give me a higher clockspeed all other things being equal as well as being cheaper. On the other hand dual core would give me somewhat better performance for a given clock speed, especially under heaver CPU loads.
Money is something of a consideration as I'm already spending $250 on the board and video card and I'm also planning on getting a big-screen and extra money spent on the CPU is that much more
Computer is pretty mixed usage, some gaming, a lot of just general not doing much of anything use (surfing the net type stuff), dvd/divx encoding, some HTPC duties (though not, at this time, video capture since I use an HD DVR from my cable company).
So I guess, based on the what I've given you, what would you do? Get another single-core CPU or plunk down the extra dough for a dual-core (I would prefer a dual-core, all things being equal) or even just wait on the new CPU until a bit better comes along and/or prices drop a little more (I'm not worried about waiting for the new AMD parts, except possibly insofar as it might involve a price drop on existing parts though 4-5 months is rather long to wait for that anyways).
