Quad Core Processors

In my computer I have an AMD Phenom 9500 quad core processor 2.2GHz. I was just wondering if their was a way to either:

-Dedicate just one of the four processors to gaming and the rest cope with background operations. (This is assuming games such as the sims 2 cannot utilise any more than one processor at a time)

-Merge all four into one processor (so all four work as one?)

Also I would just like to know. Would I benefit from a quad core with future games which will soon be able to utilise all four at once?

In my computer I have an AMD Phenom 9500 quad core processor 2.2GHz. I was just wondering if their was a way to either:

-Dedicate just one of the four processors to gaming and the rest cope with background operations. (This is assuming games such as the sims 2 cannot utilise any more than one processor at a time)

-Merge all four into one processor (so all four work as one?)

Also I would just like to know. Would I benefit from a quad core with future games which will soon be able to utilise all four at once?

Neobrio

You can set the affinity of each application in the task manager so that the app only uses a specific core (or specific multiple cores). But it's tedious. I'm not sure if there's any way to automatically set a program's affinity.

THG Task Assignment Manager lets you set up processor affinity for applications. You have to do it yourself the first time for each application you want to change but once it's done you won't have to do it again as long as THG is running in the background.

Another tool I used to get System Shock 2 working properly is imagecfg. Using this tool will permanently alter the program so it's a good idea to make a backup of any files you're going to use it on. It is a little more involved than THG and you will need to use the command prompt to make it work. Tutorial here and more detailed here

Note that it should be:

0x1 = CPU0 , 0x2 = CPU1 , 0x4 = CPU2 , 0x8 = CPU3

I like my Q6600 due to the smooth performance i get with my RTS's. RTS's some how take more advantage with 4 cores than two and allow you to run apps in the background with out hurting your gaming performance.

having a multi-core system means nothing if the applications arent written for multithreading

im not referencing you in this statement but i get sick of hearing about people thinking they need a dual core for basic office tasks.

having a multi-core system means nothing if the applications arent written for multithreading

im not referencing you in this statement but i get sick of hearing about people thinking they need a dual core for basic office tasks.

titanium2108

If you are building a pc you have no excuse not to get a duel core because they are available for so little money now days!