Gaming Performance Showdown - Dual Core or Quad Core

HHughes · Apr 10, 2008

Hi OCers.

Are you finding improvements in gaming performance with Quad Cores vs Dual Cores. I realise this is a pretty 'big' question, but would appreciate your thoughts. I understand that by buying a quadcore you may be future proofing gaming performance but currently is there any advantage of quad? I have read a lot of info on the net and seemingly no one can come to any conclusion. I thought I'd ask the experts here!!

I'm currently running an OCd X6800 and not sure whether to make the leap to Q9550 or Q9450.

Thanks =)

[Thought this should be separate from the Q9550 vs 9450 thread]

SeasonalEclipse · Apr 10, 2008

And to think only a year ago the debate over single to dual was going on still.. You wont really notice any difference between dual and quad while gaming, all the power comes from the GPU now a days.

CGR · Apr 10, 2008

Dual cores are a tad better for gaming.

HHughes · Apr 10, 2008

That's encouraging guys, thanks for the input. My wallet may be a little heavier, a little longer. This X6800 may stay around until old Neha rears its pretty head late this year.

Bring it on.

Roofles · Apr 10, 2008

CGR said:
Dual cores are a tad better for gaming.

With the addendum that a) they are usually clocked higher than their stock quad core associates and b) that games don't make use of multithreading to its fullest extent compared to ones that do won't matter.

Most newer games now are going to take full advantage of multicore support and even some older ones do as well, namely Supreme Commander.

jordon · Apr 10, 2008

SeasonalEclipse said:
And to think only a year ago the debate over single to dual was going on still.. You wont really notice any difference between dual and quad while gaming, all the power comes from the GPU now a days.

Well this statement is completely wrong.

Craxbax · Apr 10, 2008

jordon said:
Well this statement is completely wrong.

The point is real world gameplay really is more GPU dependent and almost any decently OC'd C2D/C2Q will perform adequately so any improvement is barely noticable or worth the cost.

jordon · Apr 10, 2008

Craxbax said:
The point is real world gameplay really is more GPU dependent and almost any decently OC'd C2D/C2Q will perform adequately so any improvement is barely noticable or worth the cost.

That sum's it up a bit better.

CGR · Apr 10, 2008

Roofles said:
With the addendum that a) they are usually clocked higher than their stock quad core associates and b) that games don't make use of multithreading to its fullest extent compared to ones that do won't matter.

Not necessarily. In fact most tests show that a similar dual core will do better than a quad at default speeds, slightly.

Most newer games now are going to take full advantage of multicore support and even some older ones do as well, namely Supreme Commander.

Newer games do have multicore support, however its dual core not quad support afaik.

blazed · Apr 10, 2008

At equal clock speeds the dual and quad will perform the same. Since duals are clocked higher then quads, and can reach higher overclocks then quads, they are the faster gaming CPU.

Quad has other benefits, but gaming performance is not one of them.

The CPU/GPU bottleneck is the main dictator of gaming performance however.

HHughes · May 13, 2008

Thanks for the excellent advice. Think you've saved me an expensive upgrade

Brolloks · May 13, 2008

blazed said:
At equal clock speeds the dual and quad will perform the same. Since duals are clocked higher then quads, and can reach higher overclocks then quads, they are the faster gaming CPU.

Quad has other benefits, but gaming performance is not one of them.

The CPU/GPU bottleneck is the main dictator of gaming performance however.

Perfectly summed up

, the GPU will give you the best impact on your gaming performance, so invest there rather in a fancy, expensive CPU

Freezer7Pro · May 13, 2008

Brolloks said:
Perfectly summed up , the GPU will give you the best impact on your gaming performance, so invest there rather in a fancy, expensive CPU

*Looks at P4/3870 combo

Brolloks · May 13, 2008

Freezer7Pro said:
*Looks at P4/3870 combo

LOL, well, that might be like mounting a jet engine on the back of your car

There needs to be some balance, the latest cards needs a dual core C2D running at 3.6-3.8 to not bottleneck

Gaming Performance Showdown - Dual Core or Quad Core

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