PC hardware forum: what are the actual benefits of quad core processors?

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For most..

by jackintucson - 7/8/07 9:45 AM

In Reply to: (NT) what are the actual benefits of quad core processors? by bklynrickel

people...not much. Software applications have to be written or modified to take advantage of the power quad-core provides. It's the same thing with 64-bit processors. Most apps today are written in 32-bit architecture and do not take advantage of what 64-bit can provide. My belief is that quad-core exists primarily because it can. It does, however, show us where the technology is heading and at what pace it's heading. Now the rest of the industry has to catch up.

I suppose one advantage of quad-core would be if you are trying to run 4 applications at the same time. Today, that seems unlikely. Dual-core is more appropriate in today's environment.

and life goes on...

Jack

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so when does dual core become obsolete?

by bklynrickel - 7/8/07 9:51 AM

In Reply to: For most.. by jackintucson

you know, you buy a new machine and then 2 weeks later its obsolete. what about the life span of dual core?

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For today, video transcoding or encoding ...

by R. Proffitt - 7/8/07 9:50 AM

In Reply to: (NT) what are the actual benefits of quad core processors? by bklynrickel

Seems to be the best bang application. Dual core is often slighted by pundits with phrases about the apps don't use them to something about "threads." If you look harder you find old farts that yearn for the days of DOS when 640K seemed like a lot of RAM. Some of them still bemoan Windows 95... (maybe I can agree on that one?)

I see no downside to use of such on CAD, ultra-gamer and such systems.

Bob

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see i bought a quad core machine...

by bklynrickel - 7/8/07 9:55 AM

In Reply to: For today, video transcoding or encoding ... by R. Proffitt

an acer, at a very good price, and i'm wondering if i'll really need it.i could have bought a dual core for $175 less. betwixt and between. i could still take the acer back, but the processor is so much more advanced than the 64x2 amd 5000+.

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For 175, I would not fret so much.

by R. Proffitt - 7/8/07 9:58 AM

In Reply to: see i bought a quad core machine... by bklynrickel

From dual to quad for that much is not a sin.

You did good.

Bob

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thank you too Bob for your encouragement...

by bklynrickel - 7/8/07 3:40 PM

In Reply to: For 175, I would not fret so much. by R. Proffitt

Acer e700 uq660a - quad core, 500 gig sata, 2 gigs ram, built in dishwasher, it juices, slices and dices, and... it presses my slacks as well( at least for the time being). uh...just kidding.

i appreciate your help. in fact, your comments have helped me many times before.

richard

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Your car is obsolete.

by R. Proffitt - 7/8/07 9:57 AM

In Reply to: For today, video transcoding or encoding ... by R. Proffitt

As to dual core being obsolete I'll jump ahead and for video editing label it as nice but obsolete compared to quad core.

Then again, your car is obsolete too. But does it get you there?

Bob

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Very little; depends on usage

by ikjadoon - 7/8/07 9:52 AM

In Reply to: (NT) what are the actual benefits of quad core processors? by bklynrickel

Not much, really. What are you using the computer for? CAD, video editing, and the such? If so, there will be a noticeable improvement. Mostly everything else won't get an improvement. Future uses will be heavy, however. By next year, there should be more programs to use them.

~Ibrahim~

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mostly everyday stuff but....

by bklynrickel - 7/8/07 9:56 AM

In Reply to: Very little; depends on usage by ikjadoon

ah, you see "future uses." i don't want to plunk money down on a system that's going to be outmoded in a year. can't stand to do that.

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Then you better not buy a PC at all.

by ikjadoon - 7/8/07 10:02 AM

In Reply to: mostly everyday stuff but.... by bklynrickel

EVERY computer in the world will be outdated in a year. I promise you this, it is the law of computing. Murphy's Law, actually.

Already, computers are getting "outdated" with the useless released of DDR3. You cannot buy a computer that will not get outdated. Sorry.

Keep the quad-core. Any quad-core is Core 2 Duo, so it is a good bit faster than that AMD.

~Ibrahim~

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ibrahim...

by bklynrickel - 7/8/07 2:34 PM

In Reply to: Then you better not buy a PC at all. by ikjadoon

you are my main man dude!

thanks for your clarity. just what i needed to read.

i am excited about my new quad core, super duper (for the meantime at least) desktop.

i appreciate your encouragement too!

have a wonderful day

richard (aka bklynrickel)

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Hehe, thanks!

by ikjadoon - 7/8/07 2:51 PM

In Reply to: ibrahim... by bklynrickel

lol, I don't know how much I helped. A lot of other people provided good insight, as well. Thanks anyways and have fun with that BEAST (I mean the word beast in the best possible way, really!).

~Ibrahim~

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quad core is great

by gordonrp - 4/19/08 5:16 AM

In Reply to: (NT) what are the actual benefits of quad core processors? by bklynrickel

As mentioned a couple of times here already, quad core is great for video editing.

Transcoding a video (converting to dvd-video format with nero) is much faster with quad core. Full details here: http://www.infohole.com/blog/computing/video-transcoding-with-quad-core

As for gaming, there aren't many games that support multiple cores yet. But having an extra core will allow your OS and any other programs to run on one core and your game to max out the other core (not unusual for me to have video transcoding and games running at once).

Gordon

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sorry

by gordonrp - 4/19/08 5:18 AM

In Reply to: quad core is great by gordonrp

Didn't see that this thread was 9 months old! I was just searching for quad core info and this came up.

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finally !!!

by CollegeJack - 3/30/10 4:07 PM

In Reply to: (NT) what are the actual benefits of quad core processors? by bklynrickel

all i can say is WOW, i stumbled across this site by accident trying to see what some of the benefits of a quad-core processer.
AND THATS ALL I SEE, it's good to know where i can find tech info that really does help.
the reason i say this is because im a student at ITT-Tech and i needed to do some reserch about the quad-core for a presentation and im very impressed, thank you all for your responses

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