As I'm starting to learn more about PC hardware (I'm in my first semester), it just occured to me that I'm not entirely sure about how developers have adjusted the advent of multicore processors. I'm curious if games in general are compatible with multicore processors or if PC gaming is still stuck on the single core model?
Still stuck on single processor for the most part. Some games have patches that take a little advantage of multiple cores (like the latest Doom3 patch) and Nvidia drivers have multi-core support to improve graphics performance, but games like Microsoft Flight Simulator are SORELY lacking multi-core support. Multi-core CPU hold the "promise" of better performance, but most of it is not realized yet.
Supreme Commander is supposed to use more than one core, but most games aren't multi-core capable. Since the advent of the Xbox360 and the PS3 multi-core capable games will become more prevalent as developers try to max out the usage of these machines. Not sure what's going to happen with the Wii. On the one hand it's got nowhere near the power of the other two. On the other hand it's super popular because of its low price and innovative control scheme. Plus it's easy to develop for since it's only single-core. Time will tell.
As I'm starting to learn more about PC hardware (I'm in my first semester), it just occured to me that I'm not entirely sure about how developers have adjusted the advent of multicore processors. I'm curious if games in general are compatible with multicore processors or if PC gaming is still stuck on the single core model? MarcusAntonius
At the moment, multicore support is dismal. Yet, I know that Valve plans to have multicore support with the release of episode 2, for physics and whatnot.
The performance increase is a moot point anyway, unless you're on an extremely tight budget you aren't going to be getting a single core anymore. Core 2 Duos put to rest the question of going single or multi, and with how everything is shifting to quad and even octo not too long from now, multi-core support is only going to become more widespread.
The performance increase is a moot point anyway, unless you're on an extremely tight budget you aren't going to be getting a single core anymore. Core 2 Duos put to rest the question of going single or multi, and with how everything is shifting to quad and even octo not too long from now, multi-core support is only going to become more widespread. BeavermanA
That's pretty much what I was anticipating. However, it just appears to be a matter of when, and given how long it took the PC gaming world to make DVD the predominant format, one can only guess how long it'll take the hardware and software people to all get on the same page.
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