Quad/dual core & system help

Hey all,

I'm looking at buying a new pc sometime this summer, my current one is still working well however it just doesn't pack enough punch and i'm looking to upgrade completely.

Preferabbly i'm going to buy a complete system (i know it's easy enough to build up a pc but i just don't wanna risk the stress of my incompetence and have it done properly :P).

My question being, how much difference will a dual core or quad core make?

My current pc has an old Pentium D 2.8 Ghz dual core, i run two monitors on it and mainly use it for gaming/video. I want to run the latest games and potentially dabble in video editing.

I've been pointed to three systems by a friend, am favouring the top one myself. But is dual core still plenty enough for everything i'm wanting to do these days or should i bother going for quad core?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=FS-237-OK - dual core, apparently quite good value?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=1444&subcat= - slightly cheaper but quad, so i'm guessing the other parts suffer.
http://www.ginger6.co.uk/fusion-gts2...r-p-34164.html - another option i guess.

ocuk also have this one http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...44&subcat=1712 quad core too

Budgets about £700, £800 tops.

An interesting collection....

The i3-530 with the GTX 460 is an interesting combo. The i3-530 has two cores, but has Hyperthreading so it can have 4 "threads". The GTX460 is a very good graphics card. But, I'm always a bit leery of "factory overclocked" systems.

The Athlon system is still a bit cheaper than the i3-530, even when you choose a GTX460 for it. I'm not sure which one would actually perform better overall - it might depend upon the particular apps/games you run.

The 3rd system has the best cpu of the bunch - in fact, for games, you don't need anything better than an i5-750. It's odd though, that you can't seem to choose any option other than the GTS250 for it.

The 4th system - if you spring the extra for a GTX460 would be the best choice.

In overall ranking (just looking at the cpu and gpu, since everything else is nearly identical) I would put them in this order:
4th system - best, if you choose a GTX460
1st system
2nd system
3rd system - worst, because of GTS250

Thanks very much for the insight.

They seem to do their systems by graphics card on that site, i think this is the same system but with the 5750.

http://www.ginger6.co.uk/fusion-5750...r-p-34163.html

Sadly i'm being quite strict on the budget and getting the 460 on the fourth system would put it to £850.

With the different GPU would this other ginger6 be a better option?

In general with quad/dual core what difference does it really give you, are they much faster?

Thanks again!

For most normal uses, you won't notice the difference between a quad or dual core. However when you do video encoding, complicated calculations, the quad core cn make a good difference in speed/performance.

If you don't plan on doing CPU intensive tasks, you don't need a quad core, yet.

That would be perfect for gaming with a GTX460 in it. The 5750 is a great little card, but will most certainly not outlast the GTX460, nor perform nearly up to what it is capable of.

I looked at that site, but I'm not seeing the GTX 460 as an option...

The first system you linked from Overclockers.uk was the absolute best.

That system will tear through games, and the Core i3 530 is an absolutely amazing CPU for gaming. Overclockers actually overclocks it to over 4GHz as well, which in reviews is beautifully stable and increases it's gaming performance substantially. Go for that system, 100%.

Overclockers is doing a 4.2GHz overclock, and subsequently, that CPU will absolutely scream. If you overclock the GTX460 in the system to above 800MHz core (which is easy...), you'll have a system that will demolish all but the most demanding DX11 titles on the market. Even Crysis will fall at 1920x1200.

yar, the i3 with a 460 will be lovely for gaming....... my only concern would be how much video editing you would do and how in depth are you getting with it? You would notice some benefit from a quad core there, but if video editing is something you do for 30 min every 2 weeks it's not worth it.

Also, while almost all games do not greatly benefit from a quad core, I wouldn't count on it being that way in a few years..... so weigh your options with the future in mind if your budget permits it....

Personally, I'd recommend going for one of the quad systems over the dual core one if you plan on using the system for more than a year or two. Partly cause the quad will have a much longer useful life, and also partly because a dual core is ridiculously easy to max out these days and leave you sitting around waiting if you dare try to multitask anything(the latter bit made me fed up with my old dual core).