hi everybody, I'm from Korea and I am a fledgling in this zone.I want to build a new machine and have a budget about 1.2k dollars. a AMD duo-core like X2 4200+ is ok but I still haven't seen it in store in my country.Can you buy a core like this in your market? on the other hand i like playing 3D first-person shooting game such as Doom,Source. single core or duo core is better? the 3800+ or the X2 4200+???any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Unless you don't mind spending tons of money, I'd personally suggest single-core for now. Unless you're planning on doing some heavy multi-tasking or running programs that you know are multi-threaded...

You can get a x2 3800+ for about $320 now....the faster dual cores by AMD are still a bit steep in price though...

Or spend the same money in a whoop-ass single core processor

people please stop saying singl cores are better for gaming, most recent games (quake 4 stands out) are begining to be optimized for dual core processors and if you can afford to buy a dual core like the x2 it will be much better for you and last you longer.

but you also have to match it with a good gfx card as well.

Actually, I think the new dual-core graphics drivers are much more of a motive to go dual-core for gaming than anything else. But meh. I'm still not all that impressed. Maybe one day.

Still, I think it's not worth that much money

Now that the dual core prosessor is good at muti-tasks, but I just want to play games and i notice that single core have a better efficiency than the dual when they are at the same frequency, isn't? I finally decied to buy a 3800+ based on 0.09nm and a venice core.but thank you all the same,lol

Lol good luck

I suggest maybe just get a decent AMD dual core processor and a top of the line gfx card. Nowadays games relies a lot on gfx for eyecandy.

320?where?wow, in the US?woho!and that guy just said he's from Korea. I don't remember any state or town in the US called Korea. Do you?
ATHLON 3800 DUAL CORE/BOX 359.00 372.00 386.00. Here, take a look on the prices here. For the first one you pay 20% VAT. You can get one for 386 but without a receipt. somewhat clearer now that prices are not all the same all over the world?