Question: Duo or Quad Core? Ive got around AU$1,500 to spend on a new box. box only. My question is what is the difference between Duo and Quad Core? there are drastic price differences. I read that the best Quad Core that my store sells is something like 2.66Ghz... with 2x 4Mb L2 Cache???... i know thats got something to do with something but no idea... Would i be better off just getting a normal P4 3.0Ghz or a Quad 2.66Ghz [i think it was]????
Please post what you will be using the machine for. I have dual core and a lot of programs I use are not written yet for dual core so they will only run on a single core even though I have dual core. I do like programs that run on dual core because it is so much faster but few I have found actually do. With quad core you would want to make sure the important programs you will be running are made for quad core.
if u want your pc to have the longest shelf life possible get a quad now if you can afford it. the software will catch up to it. you will also want 2gb of ram to go with it but the best place to ask is in the offical building thread.
im jus gunna b using it for some games that dont require alot of cpu usage (aoe, sc, wc, dota), everyday use but mainly photo editing... so, quads the way to go?
well i don't know how much au$1500 is in usd but if your going to be using it for what you stated gaming, photo editing. etc. a quad would be overdoing it. Go with a high end core 2 duo, good graphics card and 2GB of ram. Choose your MB wisely as you can upgrade to quad core later!
I just realized how cheap dual core processors are now compared to when I bought one. I would definitely get a dual core processor if it was my money and machine unless it was a budget computer. I would take the money saved and buy dual monitors and a video card that supports it. I have used dual monitors for over a year and would like any new computer I have to have at least two monitors. I never realized how nice and useful dual monitors are until after using them for work and play. I am more productive with dual monitors. With dual monitors and a dual dual core processor it is easy to run two programs and assign each processor to 1 specific program with windows xp and I would think the same for the other versions of windows that support dual core processors.
Yea, I have 2 22" monitors and a dual core processor with 2 GB of ram, and 2 HDDs. So it is like having two computers insted of one.
Dual monitors is where you have two monitors, two of the same sized monitors with same resolution settings would be the best, so I would buy two of the exactly same monitors. All monitors are capable of dual monitors. Not all video cards are capable of dual monitors so you have to buy a video card that supports dual monitors too. There will be two monitor jacks on the video card if it is capable of dual monitors. Here is some video cards. There is at least one card that has one jack but then comes with a splitter. The monitors are set beside each other, one on left and other on right. It is good because you could play a game on the screen on the right screen while chatting to your friends on the left. Many other reasons too. You need two identical monitors and one video card that has two monitor jacks to have dual monitors. You do not have to have both monitors on all the time, you can have only the left or right one on if you like and you can split the screen and more neat stuff. Here is a article on it. Gates has three monitors. I would definitely go with dual core processor too.
Personally I don't think you need two of the "Exact Same" monitor. I have two completely different monitors spaced slightly away from each other and it still works fine for me. I think that is more of a preference than a requirement.
