[EasyRaider]

Here is some support for my view (published March 21):

CPUs & Real-World Gameplay Scaling (hardocp.com)
Quote:

There just simply aren’t any major 3D game titles that utilize dual core processors in any way that is advantageous. Yes, NVIDIA drivers “support” dual core CPUs and are able to leverage the second core for some offloading of driver work but this did not result in any tangible real-world benefits at all. We are sorry to say if you are purchasing a dual core CPU in hopes of better gameplay you aren’t going to see any difference right now. The major discerning performance factors in games are going to be the frequency of your CPU and your level of GPU. Hopefully games in the future will properly support and benefit from dual core CPUs. If you are building a system for 3D gaming, save your dual core budget and spend it on GHz. Dual Core Problems In our gameplay we did come across some problems that we believe are associated with dual core CPUs, games and possibly drivers. There were times in some games, such as F.E.A.R. that we would ‘feel’ a slowdown in the framerate. It was as if we were moving along smoothly and then out of no where, unexpectedly in situations not typical of bringing the framerate down we would feel a change in the framerate. Now, it wasn’t enough of a drop to bring us below 30 FPS or cause the game to not be playable. It was however a slight annoyance because when you are at a high framerate and the framerate drops, let’s say for example from 80 FPS to 50 or 40 FPS you feel that change in the framerate and it may bother you. We feel this is a problem with dual core CPUs because we did not experience this problem with the single core 2.8 GHz Prescott or our regular single core FX-55 we test with on a regular basis. This was only felt on the dual core CPUs. We aren’t sure if this is a game problem with the way it interacts with the CPUs or if it is a driver problem as well, all we know is that it happened with the dual core CPUs and it didn’t happen with the single core CPUs.

 

[afireinside]

nevermind

 

[EasyRaider]

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Originally Posted by afireinside Yeah because hardocp is the most reliable place ever...

HardOCP's articles are generally good. They're hardly any more or less reliable than similar big sites.

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I never said it was a huge boost in games but it all games will support it in the future and it makes every other aspect of computing more fluid, why would you not get one?

Because they're expensive, and there are far cheaper alternatives which will satisfy most people.

Buying an Opteron 165 and overclocking it wouldn't be a bad choice, especially if you plan to keep it for a long time. But calling it highly cost-effective for typical gaming and music use would be misleading. If you can get your hands on a cheap Opteron 144 and OC it to 2.5 GHz or more, now that's value, and will also last for a long time.