Dual or quad

[Guest]

Hi,

I was configuring a new pc, mostly to play games.

I was thinking to use the AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ -Dual Core - 3000Mhz

or the AMD Phenom X4 9550 - Quad Core - 2200Mhz

Which one is the better CPU in my case?

- Friendly regards-

 

[chookman]

In general currently you are better with a higher clocked dual, than a lower clocked quad... stick with the 6000+

 

[stoner133]

If your board supports the Phenom you could now use an Athlon X2 7750 its a far better dual core then the 6000+ and a deal at $79.99

 

[sudec]

I would also say go with higher x2

 

[outlw6669]

As very few current games take advantage of more than two cores, a faster dual core will give you better performance than a slower quad. Stick with the 6000+.

 

[huron]

Another +1 for dual if you will be gaming.

 

[50bmg]

+1 for the dual core.

Remember the phenom II will be out soon. I'm not saying wait, just think about future upgrades. I am no AMD guy, so correct me if i am wrong, isn't the phenom II going to start as an AM2+/AM3 socket? If, so you can upgrade to one of those after a price drop. The phenom II will have memory controllers for both ddr2 and ddr3.

my point is dont waste money on an AMD quad now.

 

[TemjinGold]

It also depends on how long you plan to keep the cpu and will you be OCing? You can always crank up the speed but you can't add cores. While current games won't benefit from the extra cores, future games will so your timetable is important.

 

[mford66215]

I agree with Temjin, you can't add cores later. Price breaks more towards dual core. If it's a 3yr system I'd go dual, 5 yr go quad...

This is one of those questions where you ask two people and get three answers....all of them valid.

 

[pr2thej]

Duals are so cheap and give better performance - wheres the downside?
Only pick up a Quad if you can get an amazing deal on it.

 

[Noya]

It also depends on how long you plan to keep the cpu and will you be OCing? You can always crank up the speed but you can't add cores. While current games won't benefit from the extra cores, future games will so your timetable is important.

You can't overclock a 6000+ much anyway.


@ JjonH, if you can afford it, get an Intel e5200 + a P45 motherboard + overclock it = faster than any AMD chip for gaming.

 

[Tsqu@d]

Yes , I can confirm that @Noya said

 

[leo2kp]

I'd go with a quad and OC to dual-core speeds. If a game uses both cores, you'll still benefit because the other two available cores are there to work on background tasks.

 

[zodiacfml]

same here. if you can overclock, get a quad.
games in one year or two will probably make use of the other cores.
now, its only crysis that use all 4 cores though not effectively.

 

[trinix]

Go with the dual, no point in wasting money on the quad, especially with AMD. Spend good money on the motherboard as you will need a good one that will receive a bios update.

In about a year or 2, you can upgrade your dual core to a Phenom II or whatever they call it then that supports am2+ or you can go with the newer version, but you'll have to replace your board and memory too.

But for gaming, a good dual core is better atm.

 

[pr2thej]

now, its only crysis that use all 4 cores though not effectively.

List of Multithreaded games from Overclocking Wiki:
Oblivion
HL2 based
Quake 4
UT3
Crysis
Supreme Commander
GTA IV
COD 2 onwards (apparantly!)

To be correct, these games use 2 to 4 cores, so im not necessarily saying you are wrong, zodiacfml.

 

[gamerk316]

It depends on the speed diffrence between the Dual and the Quad. If they are within ~500 Mhz of eachother, get the Quad. Most of the recently released games show clear improvements running on Quads.

I will point out though, for new systems, your better off getting i7/Phenom II.