Choose CPU

Im thinking of uppgrading my system with an AMD, but im confused.

I have an AMD dual core 6000+ running at 3.2 ghz and thinking that i need a new one. But from what i heard, games do not use more than 2 cores so will i gain anything from buing a quad core 970 or the six core? Will the differance be that much?

Newer games are starting to use 4 cores, some current games do already, simple example is GTA IV.

Its a bad idea to go dual core for a gaming rig!

Heck Ive been using my X2 6000 for 3 years and it has started to show its age with newer games because of the older architecture from 2005, and the fact that new games want quads to perform the best. By the end of this year I plan on moving to an Athlon 2 X4 or Phenom 2 X4, and if both are clocked the same the differences are only slight, besides the few games or programs that like more cache. Also, I don't see any reason to upgrade from my 8800GT's in SLI because they handle new games just fine on high or max settings. 04dcarraher

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"]Heck Ive been using my X2 6000 for 3 years and it has started to show its age with newer games because of the older architecture from 2005, and the fact that new games want quads to perform the best. By the end of this year I plan on moving to an Athlon 2 X4 or Phenom 2 X4, and if both are clocked the same the differences are only slight, besides the few games or programs that like more cache. Also, I don't see any reason to upgrade from my 8800GT's in SLI because they handle new games just fine on high or max settings. ATLReppa770

Since you will use it for gaming, I suggest a Phenom II x4 970 over the Phenom II x6 1090. The x6 1090 is 3.2 GHz and the x4 970 is 3.5 GHz. Games don't take advantage of 6 cores yet but more and more games are taking advantage of 4 cores. You'll benefit more from the higher core speed than 2 additional cores.

[QUOTE="ATLReppa770"][QUOTE="04dcarraher"]Heck Ive been using my X2 6000 for 3 years and it has started to show its age with newer games because of the older architecture from 2005, and the fact that new games want quads to perform the best. By the end of this year I plan on moving to an Athlon 2 X4 or Phenom 2 X4, and if both are clocked the same the differences are only slight, besides the few games or programs that like more cache. Also, I don't see any reason to upgrade from my 8800GT's in SLI because they handle new games just fine on high or max settings. 04dcarraher

Newer games are starting to use 4 cores, some current games do already, simple example is GTA IV.

GTR12

Some games did years ago, look at Supreme Commander, as well as the GTA you mentioned. Now there are quite a bit of games that benefit from having more than 2 cores.

I went from a 6000+ to an amd phenom II 940 (now a 945) and I saw an impressive jump in performance all around on my gaming, and computing. (only a few games showed little to no improvement. But 90% showed enough to warrant the upgrade. (this was about a year ago) (next will be to upgrade the gpu setup) I plan on keeping this rig for another 2-3 years, to get a total of 4-5 years out of it before I start to build me a new rig.

With my old x2 5600 2.8 GHz, I was only getting about 23-24 fps avg in Crysis high settings with shadows medium @ 1680x1050. There was also always major dips in big firefights where I'd drop to 10-15 fps - very unplayable. I couldn't play GTA4 worth a lick either.

Bought a Phenom II x2 550 for $80 cheap, unlocked to four cores, and now I get 30 fps in Crysis ALL HIGH (shadows high) @ 1680x1050. Hardly any dips, the fps is very stable and consistent. Now, instead of getting 20 fps in GTA4, I get 40-50.

You'd find that the performance increase doesn't stop in gaming either. Boot up is now ~25 seconds as opposed to 1.5mins, extracting Winrar files is now 2x faster - it just is worth it, period.

Newer games are starting to use 4 cores, some current games do already, simple example is GTA IV.

GTR12

While I am happy that I can now play GTA 4 easily now, I am against the very idea that GTA 4 is an example of newer games utilizing 4 cores. That's just blasphemy. I've said it once (more like a thousand), and I'll say it again - GTA 4 is an unoptimized POS...

[QUOTE="GTR12"]

Newer games are starting to use 4 cores, some current games do already, simple example is GTA IV.

Lach0121

Some games did years ago, look at Supreme Commander, as well as the GTA you mentioned. Now there are quite a bit of games that benefit from having more than 2 cores.

I went from a 6000+ to an amd phenom II 940 (now a 945) and I saw an impressive jump in performance all around on my gaming, and computing. (only a few games showed little to no improvement. But 90% showed enough to warrant the upgrade. (this was about a year ago) (next will be to upgrade the gpu setup) I plan on keeping this rig for another 2-3 years, to get a total of 4-5 years out of it before I start to build me a new rig.

Yeh I know games did awhile back, just couldn't think of anything at that second, so just wrote what I remembered.

It might be worth looking into an upgrade. I went for a phenom 2 965 in my machine, a 945 or 955 would do just fine as well. If you are gaming at 1920x1080 or above as long as your cpu is decently new it wont matter if you spent a grand on the i7 980x or 160 on the 965. The 970 is obviously 100 mhz faster than the 965 and a great processor.