Multitasking and moderate Gaming

[perez8434]

My question is very simple. I want a CPU that multi tasks very well and can do moderate gaming. Money is not an issue im not on a budget. Should i go for an intel or AMD.

 

[cjl]

Intel quad. Q9450 is a good choice.

 

[Proximon]

"Money is not an issue" really?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115051 Is the best you can get.

If you really wanted a more realistic CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115042

 

[ZOldDude]

Intel quad. Q9450 is a good choice.

So is a $100 AMD 6000+ dual core.
I run 4 security programs (one is PG2 blocking 1,169,125,052 IP #'s in my custom list) while running 10 torrent files -and- playing Frontlines:Fule of War at the same time.
2 GB of RAM and a 2GB page file with XP Home and only using 46% of the -physical- RAM.

See my forum profile for my older (3 years) systems (7) that I run on my game LAN...50% OC on air and stock volts.

MB and PSU matter as well.

If you want to go Intel the E8400 is a good CPU yet still overpriced for what it does in real life vrs other options.

Z

 

[shadowthor]

Get the q9550 or q9650 (when it comes out soon).

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

q6600 can be had for under 200 US dollars. top pic if your willing to get a nice board and O.C it.

 

[cjl]

So is a $100 AMD 6000+ dual core.
I run 4 security programs (one is PG2 blocking 1,169,125,052 IP #'s in my custom list) while running 10 torrent files -and- playing Frontlines:Fule of War at the same time.
2 GB of RAM and a 2GB page file with XP Home and only using 46% of the -physical- RAM.

See my forum profile for my older (3 years) systems (7) that I run on my game LAN...50% OC on air and stock volts.

MB and PSU matter as well.

If you want to go Intel the E8400 is a good CPU yet still overpriced for what it does in real life vrs other options.

Z

Depends on what he means by multitasks well. I've done file compression and excel (massive spreadsheet operations: >150k rows) simultaneously at work (E6750@3.5GHz), and it slows down quite a bit. I'd be more than happy for a quad at times. Oh, and the E8400 isn't overpriced. It FLIES compared to, say, the AMD 6000+. You may not need the speed, but I guarantee you that it would be noticeable for someone who does.

 

[Wisecracker]

If by 'multitasking' you mean having a bunch of programs/windows open and simply switching between them you need a 64-bit OS and 6-8Gb of ram.

Quad-cores are not 'magic bullets' when it comes to multitasking. RAM and disk I/O are just as important, if not more so, than the cpu.

 

[cjl]

True. It all depends on which programs are in the rotation, and how many.

 

[perez8434]

Well i was taking into consideration getting a quad but should i wait for something better or buy the q6600. I'm not sure. I decided maybe i should go for the e 7200 but then again i want to be sure i wont be left behind again. I remember when i first bought my single core processors a dual core was out by next week. I'm very confused regarding all of this. i was thinking maybe getting the better quad core 9450. I still think the wisest i can do is buy an e7200 and wait to see how things change.

 

[jaguarskx]

I do heavy multi-tasking from time to time. That means encoding video and playing a game at the same time. Since both are CPU intensive I decided to buy the Q9450 when it was released.

I also played games and encoded video on my older dual core E6600. HL2 performed pretty well while encoding video at the same time. Switching to the Q9450 improved frame rate a little bit, but more importantly, encoding time improved.

 

[dobby]

get either a
q6600
q9300
q9450
there all good.

 

[Wisecracker]

Well i was taking into consideration getting a quad but should i wait for something better or buy the q6600. I'm not sure. I decided maybe i should go for the e 7200 but then again i want to be sure i wont be left behind again. I remember when i first bought my single core processors a dual core was out by next week. I'm very confused regarding all of this. i was thinking maybe getting the better quad core 9450. I still think the wisest i can do is buy an e7200 and wait to see how things change.

E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz LGA 775 65W: $125
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115052

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P45: $117
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspxItem=N82E16813128345

OR

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Brisbane 2.8GHz AM2 65W: $87
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103235

MSI K9A2 CF-F V2 AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX: $104
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130172


Combine your build with 2x2Gb of DDR2 800 (consider DDR2 1066 if you go AMD and want a future upgrade to Phenom) and

Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM: $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488


It's time to get serious. You need at least 2 hard drives. One for your OS/Apps and one for your data. Don't use the Windoze Document folder - create a desktop short cut to your data drive. Move your page file to the 2nd drive. Consider using the Vista 'superdrive' feature whereby a portion of your page file is stored on a thumb drive.

Because of their latency and read/write times (roughly twice as fast as a typical hard drive) Western Digital Raptor hard drives are the top choice for the desktop (even if they have increased in price $25). They are pricey. If you go with a single drive this should be your choice. Two drives is optimal, however, whether you get a Raptor or not.

If you do video encoding with either Premiere or Vegas Pro buy a quad core cpu. Those are two of the few programs which will run 4 parallel threads across 4 cores. Otherwise, build up your RAM and concentrate on your system disk I/O.