Dual Core or not?

The initial investment in dual core may not return immediate results but you need to consider the long term. If game programming begins supporting the dual cores then you would have to think down the road this may prove to be the wiser investment considering the other cooresponding hardware. Ultimatley it usually proves out the more money you spend now extends the life cycle of the system itself considering future short term upgrade abilitys. The mother board ultimatley is the core of the future abilites. As hardware is in a never ending state of expansion I would put more weight in the upgrade possibilites of what ever system you choose. Just remember as the software (particularly gaming)improves you will be back to the point you are now. The big question is how long from now?

To talk about 64 bit dual core, but as most will point out, a single 64 bit single core will suffice for the time being. As most games are based on 32 bit architecture, they will run happily on the 64 bit single core.

There are reasons for the dual core type, but as yet they are not numerous enough to worry about. Save cash and go for the 64 bit single core option (the difference is around the

Gigabyte has motherboards that handle the AMD 64 64FX and their dual core. I spent about $139 for a 3200+ basic 64 processor whereas the dual core AMD runs around $359 (more than twice the price for a 4200). I can upgrade later to the dual core when the price comes down and the programs need it. I invested the money saved in a sweet video card. The system has never bogged down.
Just a thought, research your motherboards to get the most bang for the buck, look for future upgradeability. You'll find that you will spend less money over the long haul on the processor wars but then you can spend the extra money to buy a great video card that can last you for awhile.

Hi,! To be honest with you.Buy the AMD 64 X2 3800+ I own one plus a 4800+ dual core.There both fast and great for gaming. My 4800 was just matched with a ASUS A8N32-SLI delux in a water cooled case. With both of these CPUs I have thrown evrything at them, and niothing,I mean Nothing slows them down,!!! You didn't say if you were going with SLI? If you are going to run 2 graphic cards in SLI mode go with the motherboard that I mentioned at the beginning. Both of my rigs have very impressive scores on 3D Mark6.The X2 3800 with 2/ eVGA 7900 GtCo Superclocked cards cards scored 9000. My X2 4800+ with 2 / eVGA 512 Mb 7900 GTXs scored 10,467. If you would like to take a peek at both rigs,I'll leave a link here for you to see them.
http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j254/baddog_woof/
Good luck with your build,!!!~~~~~~~~~~~Stan

..........WINDOZE' VISTA !
DUAL CORE 2500 ( 2 GHz Each Pipeline )
64 Bit Capable & "WINDOZE' VISTA " READY .....
+ YOUR GAMES WILL FLY , JUST GET THE RIGHT VIDEO CARD IN THAT IE: Nvidia 7800 GTX ! 256 meg @ least !
~~~~~~~~~Enjoy~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Digital_Dave

Personally, I would not pay extra for a dual-core processor right now, especially since other factors affect performance more, such as how much memory you have and what kind of graphics card you use. I have always used Celerons and Durons and with a decent graphics card, these machines will run games or other applications just as well as the "premium" processors, at a fraction of the cost.

You would be better off buying a motherboard that has a good upgrade path (meaning that it supports more advanced processors) but purchasing the "value" processor right now. For example, for Intel-based systems, there are a lot of motherboards that support Celeron D, Pentium 4, and Pentium D, so you could theoretically purchase a cheap Celeron processor right now, and then if/when new software doesn't work well on that processor, THEN you can upgrade to a dual-core CPU.

I think the real question here is, "What kind of games are you going to be playing?"

A lot of the people who have posted in this thread have tossed around a lot of data, model numbers and comparisons. That's cool to be hardcore (gamers... we are a fanatical bunch!) but it's all relative to what games you're playing, or expect to be playing over the next few years.

Since I'd guess a hardcore gamer would (a) know exactly what they want to buy, and (b) not particular care about a budget, just so as long as they got what they wanted, I'm guessing you're a casual gamer who wants a quality rig at a good price.

If you're just wanting to play some games like World of Warcraft or Quake 4 and don't want to break the bank, I'd recommend going with a solo core, and invest the savings in plenty of RAM and a great video card, which is really what counts when you're playing games.

For RAM, get a minimum of 1GB of quality memory, preferrably with heatsinks. Get more if you can afford it--there's no such thing as "too much RAM".

For a video card, buy the newest thing you can afford and you'll be set. Just make sure it's compatible with your motherboard, and that you have an adequate power supply to push it.

Best of luck!

Dual Core or Not -YES ! ~ Esp. If your Going to TRY + Run WINDOZE' VISTA !->>> As for the Cheep AMD 64 vs. The AMD X2 - or FX-XX CORE ! -> I Own (2) X2 3800+ System's ! ~ One ATI X1900 Crossfire , And (1) ATI-X1900XT ( NO NEED FOR THE .XTX ! ! ! ! !) With a DFI-LAN PARTY 3200 ''Crossfire '' Board , 4 Gig's of CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 433 (PC 3500) Dual Channel Kit System Memory --> NOT 3200 ! in a ''Lian Li PC-V2000A Silver Aluminum ATX Full TowerCase!-With a Killer laser Cut Side Panel !( See it @ http://www.pcabusers.com/reviews/crazypc/scorpion/p1.html)
**** THAT BABY RUNZ HOT , BUT BENCH'S WELL Over 30,000 3D-mark 2001 SE !
The Second is an nvidia -SLI ->Same Chip , With a Kick Ars' '' AM2N which features the NVIDIA MCP55S chipset.. .. Next we have the M2N32-SLI Deluxe mainboard, which, as its name suggests, come fully loaded. Using NVIDIA C51D and MCP55P chipsets "-(See that @ http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2787 )
Nvidia DUAL 7900 GTX(s) PCI-e .
** Either way YOU'LL BE ONE FLYIN' MACHINE !
PPS: The X2 Mean's (X2) Two Pipeline's , The P-4 HT , OR P-4D Lost a lawsuit to amd & Run's a Single pipeline !
--Figure that one out , for yourself ='8~)
~~~~~~~~~Enjoy~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The VIDEO card is what your time should be spent on plus memory for the computer If the mother board only has 2 slots for memory your stuck and a video board with only 128 megs memory is dead slow gaming . . I have a mother board which has 4 slots ( means it can take up to 4 gig )
and a 256 meg DDR video board plus I run a Intel P4 3.2 gigahertz with the hyper threading junk . . I do a lot of video stuff so I know ( I use the 478 pin socket CPU's too ) and my computer screams but I deleted IE and Outlook too as it seems to drag the systems down . .
All you have to do is delete a peice every day and soon its not there . . Oh yeah I think my P4 is a dual core too been a while since I got it Plus I run 2 gig of ram !

If your are building a gaming PC invest money into the Processor and Video and have at least:

1gb. RAM

&

Cool case