Quote:
Originally Posted by DMOS
Dual core/cpu at the moment does nothing for games. The software side of things is way behind. Music and DVD playback require next to nothing for hardware requirements, any reasonably modern system can handle this. Even using directshow filters to clean up video, and any plugins you'll find for foobar etc. Using any nForce4 socket 939 board will allow you to put in any high end A64 now, and have the ability to upgrade later to a dual core model if that does suit your desires later. So far our tests for compatibilty are encouraging. The only thing I was really worried about was power requirements of dual core on the motherboard (PSUs have excess power to donate at the high end).
|
I wouldn't say it means "nothing" for game. How many of us actually play games in a completely single-task environment? By which I mean you close every other application running on your computer before you start the game? I even have a second computer whose primary purpose is to play games on, and I don't. And if I ever gamed on my primary system, I certainly wouldn't close the "always-on" programs (foobar2000/iTunes, Trillian, Firefox, Anti-Virus, etc) every time I want to play something. And in these "real-world" situations, dual-core will help - immensely (see AnandTech's review of the A64 X2s, under the "Gaming Multitasking Scenario" section). Same goes for non-game applications - you're even more likely to be multitasking. Some people (content creators) more than others, but it's a definite tangible benefit. I personally would buy a 4200+ X2 the day it drops to around $350 or so.
And we don't need *every* program to be designed to take advantage of multi-threaded system - just an OS that can do a good job of organising and assigning the programs to different processing threads. WinXP already does, to a limited extent, and I imagine that Longhorn will certainly do a better job of it, with the introduction of dual-core CPUs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JWFokker
Dells are just repackaged Samsungs if you take them apart. Check out their 1000:1 contrast ratio monitors. They're all 910T's.
|
The Dell 1905LP uses a Samsung panel, but not all Dells use Samsung panels. Both of the 20" models (2001FP and 2005FPW) use LG.Philips panels.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JWFokker
In my opinion, there's no question whether to get Nvidia or ATI. As much as I like ATI products and dislike Doom 3 and it's derivatives, Nvidia has SLI and ATI doesn't. Who knows when multirendering will see the light of day? And then you've got PS 3.0 to consider. Since he's not willing to wait another few months for the newest batch of graphics hardware, of which ATI may or may not support PS 3.0 still, I think the only option for high end hardware is the 6800 GT. There's no real benefit to the Ultra since the GTs overclock to within a few Mhz. The GT is definitely the way to go in my eyes. And SLI'd GTs will handle Source engined games quite handily so there's no worries there.
|
SLi is nice - if the only thing you do on the computer is play games. But even then, there are issues - widescreen gaming, especially, has been noted. And the inability to use multiple monitors with SLi is just a complete deal-breaker for me. And although ATI's next VPU has not been officially "confirmed" to support PS3.0, most sources indicate that it will, and I'd bet almost anything that it does.