Single or Dual

[jimlintott]

It's been a few years since I had a new computer and I'm thinking of a new one. I've been a fan of AMD and am looking at their 939 pin 64 bit chips. The big question for me is single or dual core?

The machine will dual boot Linux and XP64. Seeing as gaming is one of its uses and that gaming is probably the most cpu intensive use, I thought that a faster single core is probably better than a slower dual core.

Will I have any problems playing older (32 bit) Windows games?

Dual core is sexy but I'm thinking that the money would be better spent on video.

Any comments, ideas?

 

[Underemployed]

An Athlon FX CPU (the high end single core range) are generally agreed to be better for games than the dual-core line. But you'd only notice the difference if you're into benchmarking.

I'd steer clear of XP64 to be perfectly frank. It needs special drivers for everything and will quickly be made pointless by Vista. Normal XP on a 64bit chip is perfectly good, Linux is already properly 64-bit ready. This will also avoid any problems with games, which XP64 is not intended for. Only get XP64 if you need it to be a business server.

XP64, although perfectly stable, will be the ME of this generation. It's perfectly stable and works OK, but its a marketing ploy more than anything else. Wait for Vista if you want a proper 64-bit OS from Microsoft. You'll thank me next year. Spend all your money on a graphics card and fast RAM if games are your thing.

Oh, and the FX CPUs are just as pricey as the dual core, or near enough to make little difference. So just decide if you want to do mostly games or have lots of programs running at once. Then get an FX-57 anyway. And Windows XP normal edition. Did I mention XP64 is not worth bothering with? Stick to Linux for real 64-bit computing.

Scratch all that. Get a mid-range PC for Linux and an XBox360 for games. You'll thank me next year when you're taking a holiday on the money you saved. If you must splurge, get a super-crisp 24" LCD monitor, or a projector, and a really nice keyboard+mouse. That way you'll actually experience what you spent your money on.

 

[jimlintott]

Thanks for the tips regarding XP64. I was wondering about it. We have a pretty large library of PC games and have always been PC gamers. We love network play here.

If it was just for me it would be Linux only and dual core.