How much faster will my PC be with a Core 2 quad?

I currently have a

athlon 3200+ 64bit

corsair 1 gig

radeon 9800+

now im still very pleased with my PC, i don't need the lastest hardware and i can still play new games fine but not at high.

the only thing where it gets annoying is that next year I'm going to a graphic designer school and currently when I render simple things its already taking to long

With a quad will it really be faster? and i don't want a YES because its the lastest and greatest BULL*****

thanx

h20

AARONRULZ1 is right the core 2 quad isn't compatable with your system.

But anyway, multi-core processors only make a difference for multi-tasking and programs that are written for multi-processor systems, very few games support multi-processing (except very new games eg, Crysis and HL2 epi2.), as far a graphical programs I know photoshop is written to take advantage of the additional processors so you will see a difference there.

guys no point in saying that its not compatible i perfectly know that. I will get new mobo, ram etc...

the programs ill be using is the classic stuff: 3dsmax, maya, photoshop, dreamweaver, illustrator and morei suppose.

Thats why i needa system that will render as fast as possible to gain time and neurons (not hitting my head on the desk)

h20

This is pointless. There is speed, and then there is power. You can get a quad extreme, OC it to 3.2GHz, and it be plenty fast. The more cores, the merrier. Without knowing your budget limitations, then buy the fastest processor you can afford, with the most amount of cores. This is always good advice... :DZBoater

no this is not pointless unlike many threads on this forum

if the speed only increases by a small margin then its no point in buying such a powerful CPU (aka the price) although i don't doubt that the quad is a major difference.

after consulting my philosophy book i conclude that your sig is full of egg toast

You cannot compare speed alone when comaring a dual core processor vs. a quad. Thats like saying a Miata 4 cylinder can go "faster" than a F350 Diesel Turbo truck. Sure itcan, but which one is more powerful? What are you planning to do with it? How much money do you have to spend? Not knowing these things, its pointless to guess.

And, what exactly does "egg toast" mean? I am afraid my colloquialism translator is broken....

guys no point in saying that its not compatible i perfectly know that. I will get new mobo, ram etc...

the programs ill be using is the classic stuff: 3dsmax, maya, photoshop, dreamweaver, illustrator and morei suppose.

Thats why i needa system that will render as fast as possible to gain time and neurons (not hitting my head on the desk)

h20

Hatred_basic

Sorry about that, It's hard to know how high of a skill level people on the forums have. :D

Yea Adobe made their software multi-processor optimized a while go so dreamweaver, photoshop, and illustrator, will see beneficial gains from the extra processor cores, I'm not sure about the others though.

I'dd still be keeping my Antec smartpower 450W power supply.

hope that wont be a problem with 2gigs of ram and a geforce 8600GTS or 8800

I'dd still be keeping my Antec smartpower 450W power supply.

hope that wont be a problem with 2gigs of ram and a geforce 8600GTS or 8800

Hatred_basic

so.... what u all think

as evyerone else hsa said, as all the applications you are talking aobut support multiple cores they will take advantage and therefore be faster, also 2gig of ram will be a great help at speeding up all the rendering, ive only ever used autocad ( civil engineering work) and if you have to render it over and over again its well worth having it a bit faster, as even if its only 10secs instead of 20secs over 100 images :P you thank god its 10secs faster.....

( numbers made up as it was along time ago)

yeah a 8800gts 640mb or hd 2900xt are both very good.

as evyerone else hsa said, as all the applications you are talking aobut support multiple cores they will take advantage and therefore be faster, also 2gig of ram will be a great help at speeding up all the rendering, ive only ever used autocad ( civil engineering work) and if you have to render it over and over again its well worth having it a bit faster, as even if its only 10secs instead of 20secs over 100 images :P you thank god its 10secs faster.....

( numbers made up as it was along time ago)

yeah a 8800gts 640mb or hd 2900xt are both very good.

Goldmatter

very kind of you to answer but I'm astonished how a lot of people just keep on responding to things and not answering to the main question that i asked.

WIl 450W be enough

thanx

A quad core WILL see you improve performance throughput on the prgrams you mentioned.

Secondly, your PSU will be fine for an 8600 or 8800 GTS, but it cuts too close for an 8800 GTX or 2900 XT.

I am surprised no one has mentioned your memory. 1GB of memory is pretty paltry for the applications you have mentioned. I am running 4gig and wish I had more, my OS/Motherboard is only recognizing 3GB of the 4 (32-bit).

I am an application developer and love having TRUE (AMD X2 4200)multi-threading in my development environment I can tell the difference big time, and cry everytime I have to sit on a Hyperthreaded box. I have been kicking around going CORE 2 QUAD as well.

You defintaly need to address your memory situation, and a bigger Power Supply is probably not a bad idea since you will be replacing your video card most likely.

I am surprised no one has mentioned your memory. 1GB of memory is pretty paltry for the applications you have mentioned. I am running 4gig and wish I had more, my OS/Motherboard is only recognizing 3GB of the 4 (32-bit).

I am an application developer and love having TRUE (AMD X2 4200)multi-threading in my development environment I can tell the difference big time, and cry everytime I have to sit on a Hyperthreaded box. I have been kicking around going CORE 2 QUAD as well.

You defintaly need to address your memory situation, and a bigger Power Supply is probably not a bad idea since you will be replacing your video card most likely.

tkemory

yes but i'dd be getting the 8800 320mb at best. Some people said on another forum that 450W would be enough

if its a good quality ( branded power supply) 450W should be enough, just try to keep added extras such as cd drives etc to a minimum so dont go wacking in 5 hard drives :P Im going to be using a 520W psu for a hd2900 xt and Q6600 which will be more than enough, and im intending to overclock them as far as they will go.

if you work it out, a 8800gts can only draw 150W(PCIE+PCIESlot on the mobo) the CPU is supposed to draw 125W ( i think)or 95 with the G0 stepping.so thats 275W so i dont know where people think the other 325W is going on bar the motherboard and hard drives (14W a peice i think)

Im glad my oppion was appreciated considering you feel as soon as you say anything people flame you for it....

[QUOTE="tkemory"]

I am surprised no one has mentioned your memory. 1GB of memory is pretty paltry for the applications you have mentioned. I am running 4gig and wish I had more, my OS/Motherboard is only recognizing 3GB of the 4 (32-bit).

I am an application developer and love having TRUE (AMD X2 4200)multi-threading in my development environment I can tell the difference big time, and cry everytime I have to sit on a Hyperthreaded box. I have been kicking around going CORE 2 QUAD as well.

You defintaly need to address your memory situation, and a bigger Power Supply is probably not a bad idea since you will be replacing your video card most likely.

Hatred_basic

yes but i'dd be getting the 8800 320mb at best. Some people said on another forum that 450W would be enough

What are you going to do with your memory? You should max it out if you can. 3-3.5gig on 32-bit depending on your MB.