quad core processor to a dual core processor...

[Noobinhood]

thinking about going from a quad core 2.4 processor to a dual core processor for faster gamming speeds.... does anyone have any suggestions on this

[crazydog]

MOST of the games out there do not support more than 2 cores.
Less games, but still quite a few, do not support more than 1 core.

The only game that I KNOW supports more than 2 cores is GTA IV.

A Quad Core will usually not get you better performance than a Dual Core, at least for gaming. If you are encoding videos, and compiling large programs, and running 3 virtual machines at once, a quad core would be useful. You could even run a game on top of that.

If all you are looking for is performance, a quad core with the same speed and cache as a dual core won't show much increase of performance at all on most games.

Core 2 Quad/Core 2 Extreme's do provide better GAMING performance over i7's, so don't go rushing out to buy an i7 yet, just because you wan't a quad core.

ALTHOUGH, the i7 will perform better if you have a generous amount of DDR3 RAM.

[Luggage]

Dual core is definitely faster than quad for gaming; however, keep in mind your upgrade cycle.  If you are planning to stick with it for 3+ years than be mindful that hopefully by then games will be utilizing multi-cores for processing although will likely take that long for it to widespread.

[Mustard]

Any advantage that you would gain in downgrading to a dual-core is slight. Are you having issues with any games specifically?

Personally, I wouldn't sacrifice the performance of the rest of my computing experience (I multitask, a lot) for a bit of an FPS boost, if any at all.

[V.I.P.]

Generally in the games we play, Valve games such as CS, L4D, and then COD, work better on a dual/tri core at a high clock frequency.  Either at the end of Q1 or Q2 AMD will come out with their six core processors.  I'm keeping my Tri-Core until then.

Quad core is worth it if you like games like GTA for computer...it uses every resource.

[Apple Sauce]

One thing to keep in mind is that the Core 2 family is likely reaching the end of it's life-cycle, while the i7 Family is at the beginning.  This could hamper upgrades int the future. At least this was my reasoning when building my computer this summer.
The Core i7 920 that I have has been more than capable of handling anything i have thrown at it. (COD42, Crysis, Farcry2,TF2, Mass Effect, CnC3, etc.) and this is not even the top end processor of the family.
And Intel is saying the new 32nm 6 core i9's will be compatible with current X58 motherboards leading to great possibilities for the future.

[Hitman Smurf]

A higher frequency Duo Core will blow away a lower frequency Quad Core every time. Unless you doing video/photo processing or running multiple apps, your better off with a Duo Core. Better on price to performance ratio as well.

[MR|337]

Keep your quad core josh. We both have the same processor and pretty much identical rigs and I can play any game out there. If you want to throw some cash around buy one of the newer nvidia 280 or 290 series vid cards. Our mobos will not support the new I7 processors, so in order to upgrade you are looking at CPU/mobo + DDR3 memory.

[V.I.P.]

Nvidia 280-290 are too expensive for what you actually pay for.  Good performance sure, but you could find something that still plays everything amazing at a cheaper price.  ATI >.>

[MR|337]

I dont want to turn this into an ATI vs Nvidia debate but every single ATI card I have owned in the past had problems. If it wasnt software based it was hardware. I made the mistake of trying to save a few bucks but will never do that again. Plus ATI is onboard with AMD. Josh has an 8800 Ultra - one of the giant ones that I paid close to $600 for. He already has Nvidia drivers on his PC and making the switch to ATI would be a nightmare because of all the hoops one has to jump through just to get the old ones off.

[Noobinhood]

since its going to be tax time shortly, what do you guys think about dual 8800 ultra's instead of buying a 280 or 290 series card

[Hitman Smurf]

There's no reason to buy a new video card unless you really want to throuw your money away for no justifiable reason. Your good with what you got.

[V.I.P.]

Well it depends on how much u can get the other 8800 for.  If it's under $100 bucks then I say go for it, if it's more then I'd say get a new card.

[Captain 24]

Leave well enough along, your system works just fine>

[Noobinhood]

thanks for everyones imput... you guys rock!!!!!   

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