64 3700+ San Diego or 64 X2 3800+ or 64 X2 4400+

[s96024]

Is price difference between these cpus worth the difference.
For a pretty much pure gaming pc.

-AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - Price: £101.95 (£119.79 Including VAT at 17.5%)

-AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Price: £161.95 (£190.29 Including VAT at 17.5%)

-AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Price: £264.95 (£311.32 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Is it better to sacrifice money on cpu or better to sacrifice on all other parts and go for the more expensive cpu.

Difference of nearly £200 between the single core and dual core 4400+. Won't be running multiple apps very often.

 

[KizZ]

Dual core is the way forward so I'd get the 4400+, because it has twice the cache as the 3800+.

 

[squiffy]

You could just buy a 3700, if you're planning to build a another machine a bit down the line...take out the 3700 fit into new machine, buy a dual core CPU for existing machine. Quake 4 offers dual core support, so does Oblivion AFAIK. ie wait until 5000+ DC 939/AM2 is released

I don't have two identical machines of single/dual core but I do have one in sig plus a 3700+ single Core. Either will do fine, but I guess if you can afford it go dual core. Windows does seem more nippy, it's not just multitasking that speed difference it's CPU loading also.

Single core 2ghz - 100% . 11 minutes for a DVD re-encode. System is unusable during this time.

Dual core 2ghz - 50% + 50% - Same time for process, but still usable.
or 100% + 100% = Much faster completing the process than the single core. 6 minutes for a DVD re-encode. System is unusable during this time.

 

[A2Z]

For a pretty much pure gaming pc.
Won't be running multiple apps very often.

you answered your own question there

 

[s96024]

Did I?

 

[lee87]

I'd get a 3700+ OEM and a AC Freezer 64 pro. Spend more on a better graphics card and RAM as this will give a better performance increase in games.

 

[trojan698]

I'd get a 3700+ OEM and a AC Freezer 64 pro. Spend more on a better graphics card and RAM as this will give a better performance increase in games.

 

[Explicit]

you answered your own question there

Yeah, I thought the same way when he wrote "wont be running multiple apps very often"

If you can stretch to dual core, then you'd be better off in the long run.

 

[A2Z]

Did I?

yes

during gaming you wont notice any difference with dual core over single, unless off course you want to be doing other stuff while you are gaming, which you clearly stated you wont

 

[dale1uk]

Yeh go for a 3700sd and clock it, almost all seem to be clocking well at the minute. With the cash left over use it to upgrade other componants like ram or graphics as thats where you'll see the best gains when gaming.

 

[smids]

Actually a DC will last longer with optimised drivers and games patching multithreads - no I know it's not ideal but it does offer a performance increase. I cannot think what a single core is like now having had a DC for a year now. It doesn't bear thinking!