Are dual 64 bit cores getting utilized yet?

[rethdog]

I current run a barton xp2800 it seems to perform good with a 6800GS video card (my first comp. was a 386sx33) - All these new dual core 64 bit processors look very tempting, but really Is there currently any good reason to upgrade? yes the extra Mhz will give more power, but are there any games, itunes, or video re-encoders out there that make use of the extra core and 64 bit?

AMD seem to be moving into 64bit quad cores, but again I ask are dual 64 bit cores really getting utilized yet?

Thanks for input guys & gals.

Clearly the MHz boost would help, and I have more multitasking going on these days so the OS could off load onto the second processor.
Regarding 64bit - The change from 16 bit to 32bit Win 95 wasn't as clean as predicted by Microsoft, Win 95 was a patch together product with lots of 16 bit code if memory serves me right, and the icing on the cake was it didn't even run faster (so much for double width highway analogy) it just looked nicer. History has a nasty habit of repeating itself, so we'll see what happens with Vista.
Upgrading the GPU used to give a nice boost every year - but my AGP slot has gone the way of the dinosaur, along with my Socket A.

 

[SciPunk]

There isn't a real 64 bit driver crises anymore. Most all consumer hardware has 64 bit versions now, save maybe an old wireless keyboard you may pick up in the cheapy bin at the discount computer store.

And virtually all modern software will run on the 64 bit system, albeit without taking advantage of the 64 bit processor.

But sadly, the answer to your question is still, no. There are almost no games written to take advantage of 64 bit processors, and I don't see this changing any time soon, as the vast majority of PC owners DO NOT have WinXP Pro 64 bit version installed. Perhaps when Vista comes out, and lots of people choose the 64 bit version, we will finnally see the software begin to follow in suit.

As for Multi-Core... same sitch. Most poeple don't have it, and MFRS don't want to man the phone all day long telling angry customers, "You'll have to buy a new computer for this software to run properly."

But the single core 32 bit CPUs are finally done. For the home market, nobody's really making them any more, nobody's building w/ them any more, and Vista is about to come out. So by this time next year I expect to see a whole suite of games which take advantage of multi core (for physics accelleration, primarily), and w/ 64 bit processing (for raw computing speed).

 

[sailer]

I agree with qwertycopter about the dual core part. Few games take advantage of dual dore, though a fair amount of business apps do. The future is where the real changes will be shown. Tehre are some things where dual core processors help, but not a lot.

As far as 64 bit computing, most companies have started 64 bit support during the last year. Vista was supposed to be already out, so the companies were adding 64 bit support in preparation. The people who have Win XP 64 Pro have reaped the rewards of Vista on this, even if Vista is still in the waiting room.

 

[Doughbuy]

64 bit will take a while to hit apps, maybe a bit shorter for games. Seriously, we don't need 64 bit computing for surfing, word processing (maybe excel, but I don't want to know what kind of spreadsheets your crunching), or most daily tasks. I'm still not sure how prevalent 64bit's will be as of right now for us consumers, but I'll let the programmers figure out how to work with it.

Multi-core however, is becoming more and more useful, due to the sheer number of people who multi-task and that games are getting infinetly more complicated. Multi-core = good.

 

[MarcusL]

Even if your apps are not multi-threaded, you will get a nice boost from dual core since your primary thread is not getting constantly interupted to perform mundane tasks (OS stuff, antivirus, firewall, hundreds of other possible interupts). Also, you can run two primary threads and not see much slow down.

 

[sailer]

64 bit will take a while to hit apps, maybe a bit shorter for games. Seriously, we don't need 64 bit computing for surfing, word processing (maybe excel, but I don't want to know what kind of spreadsheets your crunching), or most daily tasks. I'm still not sure how prevalent 64bit's will be as of right now for us consumers, but I'll let the programmers figure out how to work with it.

Multi-core however, is becoming more and more useful, due to the sheer number of people who multi-task and that games are getting infinetly more complicated. Multi-core = good.

Like I said, the future is where changes will be shown, games and otherwise. There are a lot of 64 bit apps out there if you look for them. You're right, when if comes to simple word processing, surfing the net, and such stuff, even 16 bit OS's will do just fine.

For myself, as a retired doctor, I get into research from time to time that makes 64 bit programing very worthwhile, and that's not just number crunching on huge spreadsheets. And yes, multi-core processors are great then, but for average, everyday computing, the power is utilized or needed. Next years games may use them, but for now, they really are't necessary.

 

[m25]

If they're out, of course; Dual core is dual core, the name says it and it's really a must for a modern PC.
64 bit is a little more evasive and invisible but in certain tasks such as compression and encryption it performs 2x (or more) faster than 32bit code. 64 bit processing adds 8 extra registers in AMD CPUs which combined with SSE3 boost my render speeds by a good 15%. And (what I like most) it allows you to install ALL THE RAM YOU NEED, compared to the max 4GB of a 32 bit system.
The higher lineups of both AMD and Intel are both dual core and 64 bit so you can't miss them