Dual vs Single-Core (AMD)

[EtherDragn]

You will be happy you got the dual core when you hit render. Definately worth it I'd say.

[Johny]

what are the advantaes of dual core ? and ( stupid question ahead) what is dual core ?

[enygma]

Dual core is like having 2 processors on a single chip.

It is damn handy for a number of applications, as well as multitasking.

Be weary though, there are a number of applications, even higher end ones, that don't support multithreaded processing. In these cases, you will most likely not see an advantage to dual core. However, you will see an advantage if you are doing a large processing task and want to listen to music, watch a movie or browse the web.

[PyroNeko]

dual core, to put it simply is pretty much like having 2 processors in one which isnt too helpful for games since only the newer games can actually utilize both cores at once unlike rendering engines such as mental ray which can handle multiple cpus, dual core really come in handy when you are using multiple apps for example if you were rendering, texturing ,playing music, surfing the internet at the same time a dual core processor would run considerably faster than a single core one.

[enygma]

The question of it being worth the extra $70 should be more based on your personal needs. I can think of many reasons that dual core is worth it, and just as many as to why it isn't.

Me personally, am more of a proponent of more efficient single core technologies since many of the applications I work around aren't multithreaded, but I do like the idea of separating work from play in the sense that one core can be processing a video render or another compute intensive task while the other core is busy letting me browse the web and listening to music efficiently.

[tecton3d]

... is it worth the extra $70?
I doubt you'll like the gaming performance when trying to render, esp. if your scenes are large, but dual core is definitely worth every penny.

I'd only go for a single core machine if it was a dedicated non-rendering workstation as no 3D GUI's take advantage of more than one core... yet:beer:

[JoeBananas]

It is very handy having a dual core, and rendering speeds are sometimes 100% faster than my old single core pentium 4 machine, but I've noticed that not all tasks are multi threaded - rendering in Max uses both cores, while particle flow calculation only uses one core. Its not a big problem though to be honest.

[PyroNeko]

Does getting this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562) seem like a good idea? It has free shipping, or do u guys think that i do more research, its $30 more expensive at my local fry's but does anyone think there is a chance i could get it cheaper locally, also nhas anyone had any experience with the retailers that you find through froogle that you have never heard of, are they reliable and trustworthy?

[Andyman]

You won't go wrong with NewEgg.com. I have ordered from them numerous times and I can't think of a complaint about them even if I wanted to.

$169 is a steal - I have the same CPU (also ordered from NewEgg) and I paid around $300 for it several months ago.

When I bought the 3800X2, I got this (http://www.asrock.com.tw/product/939Dual-SATA2.htm) board to go with it. I am always wary of cheaper hardware - you often get what you pay for - but this board is great. It's got more than any normal person needs, it's cheap (I got it off NewEgg for like $70, but I can't seem to find it on there now), and after running for several months in my machine it hasn't had any problems. The most awesome thing about it is that it has both an AGP 8x slot and a PCI-E 16x slot. It also has a slot that can be used to upgrade the board to AM2.

[newman]

First of all, dual core or not, do not play a game and render at the same time - that was never what dual cores were about :) Also, dual cores are definitely worth it if you render a lot and make money off it - then you can afford a decent dual core CPU. If you have to choose between two weaker cores in a dual core or one strong in a single core, then you might consider getting a single-core CPU - most apps that don't support multi-threading will work better this way. As I said, if you're a pro, get a decent dual core, if not, get the best single core CPU you can buy.

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.