Best CPU for my budget

[railfrog]

Which one of these two would i be better off getting.

a) If i want to overclock
b) To keep at stock speed
c) Best all-rounder

Core 2 Duo
Core 2 Quad

[KarmaKiller]

What do you do with your PC?
Video/music editing/encoding/rendering I would go for the Quad.
Gaming and other light tasks, go for the dual core.

If you want the highest OC possible, the dual core will be better.
Quads still clock to 3.0-4.0Ghz though. But they run warmer too.

It's really a personal decision. I went for a Quad myself, and I don't regret it.
But I know these dual cores are fast also.

[railfrog]

I would say that i fit into the category of "gaming and other light tasks".

Dual core sounds good then.

[Fizur2002]

Going Quad gives you lots of room to flex a bit if you decided to do some heavy work later on.

[railfrog]

The duo is 3.0Ghz and the quad is 2.4Ghz.

Will they run at roughly the same speed on stock settings because of the extra 2 cores?

[Fizur2002]

you wont really notice the difference between the two until you do gaming. the Duo is a great processor dont get me wrong, i went Quad for future proofing for when the time when games become Multi-Threaded.

[nemowolf]

im not going to spoil anyone's parade on this but multi-threading is few and far between for games out and not doing so good in terms of games in development.

The style or art of programming for single cores is simple, dual cores not much different but multi-core is a whole new realm and is causing problems in the development stages. It is easy enough to desire but finding people who have A) knowledge of multi-threading and B) experience developing programs/games that are multi-threaded is damn near impossible. Schools are going through and redeveloping entire programs to get more up to date on this, ask anyone in education how difficult this might be in a 4 year institution.

"Future proofing" might mean your going to have to wait near on a decade before it becomes the norm.


If you have nothing that you know of that will use multi-coring, save yourself the extra money and OC a dual core. You will not be displeased in the least.

[KarmaKiller]

That's true^, at the same time though, Quads do have the upper hand on dual cores, not so much in gaming, or multi-threaded apps, but for me in everyday use.
I always have 2-3 IM programs going, music, web browser, folding on CPU and GPU, and normally a download or CD burning. So in my everyday use, my quad comes in handy.
I had a OC'd dual core before, this, and with the folding going, and my IM'ers, there was lag.
With the Quad now, I can pretty much do anything, and I get little to no lag at all.

There is a benefit to Quads now. There will be even more of a benefit later when apps start using all the cores. But for now, again, I see no reason to go with a Quad unless you going for the highest OC you can.

Just IMO of course.

[zulquar]

umm but if u wanna do heavy multithreaded tasks such as encoding audio and video quad will be a better choice .....and with quads i can like play crysis while ripping a dvd and other stuff simultaniously but if u get a quad get a q9300 and oc it if u get dual get e8400 and oc it as well since they r both 45 nm theyll clock well provided u have a good mobo ..i suggest gigabyte p45 DQ6 ..... which imma gonna buy for my self with 2 hd 4870's and sell off 8800gt sli setup with the mobo and buy 2 h 4850 s for k9a2 cf i let my bro use with 5000+ be ..... anyway its up to u and totally depends on what u need ..... u could also get qx 9650 if money isnt the matter :P