Better for gaming--Intel HT or Intel Dual Core (64 bit)

[NewHampshireDem]

Well, that pretty much says it all--I'm looking for a new system and I do a lot of gaming (much more than I should). Which is going to give me better gaming performance with games like HL2, the HT or the Dual Core processor?

Specifically,I'm looking at the 630 and the 830 chips.

http://www.intel.com/products/processor_number/info.htm

[jayfish]

1. You Really Should Consider AMD.

IMO, they own gaming right now.

Jay

[Deja Q]

4. I second AMD; the Athlon 64-bit CPU is my next upgade... for 2006.

This year my PDA gets precedence but my existing PCs (all of which use AMD Athlons) run great. I've no real reason to upgrade any except the video processing PC...

[RoyGBiv]

5. Same here ...

I currently have no issues with my main system, which runs on an Athlon XP 3000+, Barton core. But, I figure that while I can actually afford it, I should go ahead and think about building a system that will be able to keep up with future applications. I'm getting pieces, saving the motherboard and CPU for last since, mostly so the motherboards mature a bit and makes it easier to determine which is better.

[RoyGBiv]

2. Pentium 4 vs Pentium D

Disclaimer: I'm one of those AMD people. That said, I base my opinion of AMD on comparisons to Intel, so I actually do have some small bit of advice to give.

All the benchmarks I've seen for games put the Pentium 4 with HT ahead of the dual core processors in gaming performance. One reason for this at present is that no game of which I am aware takes advantage of dual cores to any meaningful extent. The main purpose of a dual core at the moment is usage in extreme multi-tasking environments like servers and even workstations with many processes running at once. When you're gaming, you don't typically have a lot of other programs running, so it's not going to help.

Anyway, in game benchmarks I've seen for Doom, Far Cry, and Quake, the single core comes out on top by around 10 FPS.

All that said, the problem, as always, is the future. With dual cores becoming somewhat affordable, more game designers will introduce a lot of multithreading into the next generation of their engines, and a dual core process could benefit from this.

Obligatory plug: the same benchmarks put the AMD 3000+ on top of the Pentium 4 630 chip by anywhere from 7 to 17 FPS, depending on the benchmark used.

[NewHampshireDem]

3. TY for the advice, folks!

Sadly, Mrs. NHDem won't let me buy a new machine right now ... she really shouldn't say things liks, "Well, since we have to cancel our trip to Toronto, maybe you can buy a new computer," unless she REALLY means it. :) She should know me better.

I did, however, get a sweet new LCD monitor--something I've been lusting after for quite some time. Frees up a lot of space on my desk.

Hopefully the new PC will come at X-Mas time.