Dual Core or Not to Dual Core, That is the question

Thanks for the answers and advice to my previous topics concerning a new build I am about to embark on. I do have a few more questions for you guys though.

Initially I was thinking single core and getting an SLI mobo "premium" that has a x16 x16 PCI-e pipes in SLI mode. I won't be running SLI until next year and for now I will prolly get a 7800GT and another 7800 next year.

I still haven't yet decided if I will pony up the $80-$90 for a x16 x16 SLI board though. Nevertheless, I'm still trying to decide if I should go dual-core.

What are your thoughts on dual core? Is it beneficial for gaming or is going to speed up video editing or picture editing processes and not gaming? I have a hard time believing it will be beneficial in gaming b/c all bottle necks are in your VidCards and RAM.

Maybe I'm not understanding how a dual core processor is working? Is it really worth the extra money over a singel core? Will it really be future proofing yourself that much more in the gaming side of things and editing processes?

Thanks for the insights

 

dual core really isnt' that helpful in gaming but with a faster single core you will get better frame rates.

 

Dual core has its advantages over single core. In a recent article by Anandtech on the FX-60 (the last FX chip, its dual core aswell unlike previous ones) dual core seemed to do very well in gaming. Maybe not quite as fast as a single core, but the advantages they offer in complex tasks puts them very favourably.

Some games also come with SMP patches which allow the game to make some use of the second core, increasing performance further.

 

Thanks addis, that's news as I read the FX60 core was slower in gaming than the FX57 which is a little weird. If gaming is your thing I would go with a good single core like the 3800+ or so which is the best bang for the buch if your not overclocking in my opinion. Dualcore will be great in the future but it will take time for it to become mainstream so I'd wait on that front myself. It will only improve from here but keep in mind that the M2 socket will replace socket 939 fairly soon, like this spring or so. Make note of that, I don't plan on buying anything until then as I don't want to get aging tech from the getgo.

 

M2 socket is a dual core socket? It's not a new single core socket is it? I don't know about this.

 

No it's just the sucessor of socket 939. AMD periodically updates it's sockets so it will be the new standard for both dual, and the new single core budget chips it will make. It won't be out the door tomorrow but before the summer I suspect.

 

M2's official name is AM2, and will have DDR2 capabilities. Like S939 it can take both single and dual core CPUs.

 

Well in that case I should just probably go with Dual core or wait for the M2 to come out. I was leaning towards a 939 but if it is going to be a fading socket type I should go with something that I can upgrade later without buying a new mobo.

 

Well, you guys just through a wrench in my plans by telling me about the M2 sockets. This was all news to me. Well what are your suggestions then on a CPU. I don't want to wait till summer for the M2 socket b/c I need a PC now. This thing I'm on is a dinosaur and a P.O.S.

Is the M2 socket going to exists only on single core or dual core also? So even if I do go with dual core I'm buying an old cpu type. I would like to have something that will play games well for 2-3 years or so. But I will also venture more into photoshop and maybe some video editing.

What do you guys suggest for someone that is not wanting to wait for M2 sockets?

Thanks for the help guys. I realize I have asked a lot of questions and asked for a lot of inputs and I appreciate it. You have to understand that as an aeronautical engineer I have to have all the facts and my "ducks in a row" and do my research before I finally decide to make my first build. I also plan on getting a new big screen TV with tax money, just be thankful you guys aren't on the TV forums.

 

The AM2 socket isn't due for a while, so don't worry. The best vlaue dual core chip IMO is the X2 3800, in multithreaded appliactions it consistently performs very well over single core and Intels.

 

Thank you very much fellas. I will keep you posted on what I decide and get your thoughts on it. Initially I was planning on spending about $900 but know I have a rough estimate of $1200. I think I maybe going a little overboard.

 

When AM2 comes out, it's likely to be expensive, as not many people will jump on it immediately and also because it's brand new. The general trend of new items tends to give them a price hike, which can be due to limited quantities.

Socket 939 won't drop off the face of the earth once AM2 is introduced. You can always grab a dual-core chip later. Prices will drop, so we may very well see a sub $200 dual-core S939 chip at some point...which I'm kinda waiting for myself. Realistically, for the first six months, socket AM2 is going to be there only for those who can afford the best stuff, so I really wouldn't sweat waiting around for it. While, yes, the CPU is important, with gaming, you also need to remember that the video card plays a major role as the resolution goes up. Secondly, while we probably will see dual-core adoption for gaming, it's not going to happen overnight, especially with games that are single-threaded. Now, if you want to game and encode a DVD at the same time, and plan to do it often, then, yeah, springing for the dual-core would be worth the money...and honestly, that would make more sense than spending almost $100 extra on an nF4SLI x16 board.

 

What parts are you going to need?

SLI is nice, but you don't have to have it to game.

Motherboard
CPU
Videocard(s)
RAM
Power supply

Those are what you'll need, and what I came up with is about $950+ shipping (and taxes for those in CA and NJ) to get you the SLI and dual-core. This doesn't include the hard and optical drives.

Motherboard: Asus A8N SLI retail $122
CPU: Athlon64 X2 3800+ $322
RAM: Corsair XMS 1GB PC3200 (2x512MB) $100
Video Cards: eVGA GeForce 6800XT 256MB $159 x 2= $318
Power supply: Enermax 535W $88.50
Total: $950.50

That A8N SLI is just like the Deluxe and Premium versions, but the packaging is less. The motherboard is the same. If you really want the extra stuff that comes in the Deluxe and Premium, go for it, but you'll save $40 going this route.
The eVGA 6800XT 256MB that I linked has 12 pipelines, whereas all the others listed on Newegg only have 8, making them more or less higher-clocked 6600GT's for the same price range. Not saying that's bad, but why settle for 8 when you can get 12? More pipelines are a major part of a video card's performance, and I don't know of any others that can compete for the money on this level. For the SLI, you'd be hard pressed to get better performance for the money.
The X2 3800 is the cheapest one, and from the looks of things, it's about $90 or so to go to the 4200+ and another $90 from there to the 4400+. The single-core 3200+ runs about $160-170, which could really save some money and keep you under $900 if you added the drives.
The power supply I linked is one that I personally use. It's an excellent power supply pleasing even the DFI nForce 4 board that's paired with it (and those are picky about what PSU's are used with it).

 

Thanks BigB.
My pricing was based using a 7800GT(only 1 for now), a Premium SLIx16 mobo, and 2 x 1gig RAM.

I realize the 2 gigs is a little much. I will probably go with 512 x 2 then bump that up to 512 x 4 eventually. That raises a quick question. If I do this should I worry about the next additional pair of RAM having the same latencies as the 1st? Hadn't really thought about that. I would assume as long as the matched up pair is running in dual channel and the 2nd pair is matched up and running dual it should be just fine.

 

You should get 2 identical sticks of RAM for dual channel, its also less hassle cause if you have 2 different latency modules it will only go as fast as the slowest module.

 

Big B,
I need everything so that is one reason I'm bumping up against $1200. Case, HD, PSU, DVD-R, CD drive, etc etc.

I read earlier on this forum that the x8 x8 SLI mobo's did just as well as a x16 x16 mobo and sometimes it did better. I may just go with a x8 x8 board then. Would this be OK for a 7800GT for now and for later when I hopefully put a 2nd one in. Will the x8 x8 be the bottle neck if running 2 x 7800GT's?

 

Actually I read a quote of a benchmark that was posted on another site about the comparison of the 2 diff SLI Mobos.

 

Right now now card needs 16x16 lanes, there simply isn't that much demand for the bandwidth yet. But soon enough there may very well be a noticeable improvement with 2x16 over 2x8 with nVidia's G71 this spring. But no the 7800GT's won't need dual x16 lanes so if you want 7800GT's there's no real point of going 2x16 yet as by the time your second 7800GT isn't cutting it anymore you'll need a whole new rig most likely.

 

Thanks Exfo,
that is what I suspected. Clear this up for me though, do the pixel pipelines on a video card correspond directly to the pipelines in the board? So if a card has has 20 pipelines and you get 2 running in SLI mode so a total of 40 pipelines in the card, why won't they be bottlenecked at the x8 x8 SLI mobo?

Is it a matter of the card not using the full bandwidth of each pipeline so in effect they are only using 8 pipelines?

 

Pipelines are different to PCI-E buses. The pipelining is a method of excuting commands in less time by starting the next command while the current one is being processed. A 12 pipeline graphics won't use 12 PCI-E bus lanes. the lanes of the bus and pipelines aren't related.