Core 2 duo or quad core?

I am going to buy an alienware m17 as soon as the new graphics are out for it. But considering the cpu, should i go core 2 duo or quad? Can someone explain the differences!
Thanks

 

id go with a quad.
itll outperform a duo any day i think

 

core 2 duo = two processing cores.
core 2 quad = four processing cores (duh ).

the latter will be much better at multitasking, and in games that can take advantage of multiple cores.

 

If you do decide to go with a quad, make sure that it's clocked high enough so that if a game doesn't support multi-threading, you don't get stuck with a weak CPU if the game is very CPU intense. ie. Q9100 (2.26GHz) or QX9300(2.53GHz) vs. Q9000 (2.0GHz)

 

well correct me if I'm wrong but Gpu is more important to gaming and quad core is very expensive so if you can't afford it a nice core 2 duo is perfectly fine. I'm waiting for quad core to be cheaper and will upgrade my m17 or buy an all new machine

 

I personally wouldn't sacrifice Ghz for more cores. I would choose the X9100 over the QX9300 unless I planned on running vmware constantly.

 

The M17s ATI GPUs are heavily reliant on the CPU speed. I personally would get nothing less than the 2.8Ghz CPU option.

 

go with the x9100 and then later when quad is cheaper upgrade....games will eventually made for quad cores

 

The CPU has to feed all the data to the video card, as such the faster the video card is the beefier cpu you need.

A quad core is quite literally two core 2 duos next to each other on the same bit of circuitboard, if you pop the cover off (don't!) you'll see that there are simply two core 2 duo dies in there about a quarter inch apart.
As such with single(or dual) threaded process' a core2duo with a higher clock speed will beat a core2quad of lower clock speed.

 

i vote for a new tri-core chip with kewl chrome toggle switches on the side (of the laptop or desktop) to either activate or deactivate the proc(s) at will....

 

You pick a mid quality alienware instead of any solid workstation... sounds like gaming and not like heavy VM.

you are thinking of getting a c2q instead of a high frequency c2d...

if you wanna play GTA4 the quad might be useful. for all other games which are out till now the quad is useless compared to the dualcore

 

I second that!!!

At least for me getting a good Dual Core was a given till such time I upgrade to the Quad. With what looks like OC from AW soon to be out the plan is moving along...

 

lets hope the hype becomes real and not just stay as hype...

 

It's between this;
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9400 2.53GHz (6MB Cache 1066MHz FSB)
and this...
Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9000 2.00GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
which one...

 

T9400. the q9000 lacks the clock speed to perform well in games that aren't optimised for quadcores. in a year or two, you can upgrade to a qx9300.

 

ECHO

Yes, get the T9400 as Whizzo states, you will be happy you did, upgrade to Quad later...

 

But I'm not a dedicated gamer though. More of an Enthusiast (coder etc..)
Still not Core not Quad?

 

ah. well that's an entirely different matter. for your needs, the quad might be smarter since it'll be better at multi-tasking.

 

2core for gamer
quad for multi-task

 

def dont go quad yet if your looking at the q9000....wait till later and get the qx9300

 

9400 is good for everything unless he is running huge programs

 

How big is hudge?
Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache 1066MHz FSB) [+£974] is an unreasonable, but likeable idea, i will never be able to afford that though.

 

you dont need extreme procs unless you are a hardcore OCer and gamer....

 

Like I seid when dual core frist came out. Wait a year or so. When quad came out I would do the same. Look at programs that use it vs programs that dont use it. Most games only use 1 or two cores. So it a waste of money for quads. Spend it on Grapics cards or ram.

 

So duo>quad even though the quad has a larger L2 cache and more cores due to the duo having more raw ghz? This is true in crysis as well?

 

Someone posted this on another forum but I don't know how accurate it is.

Games that take advantage of Dual Core:

ATI 3D drivers
Nvidia 3D drivers

Age of Empires 3
Battlefield 2
Battlefield 2: Special Forces
Bionicle
Black & White 2
Call of Duty 2 (v 1.01)
City of Heroes
City of Villains
Colin McRae Rally 4
Command And Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Doom 3
FEAR
Galactic Civilizations
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
Gothic 3
GTR 2
Guild Wars
Jedi Knight II (Mac version confirmed)
King Kong
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (Mac version confirmed)
Need for Speed: Carbon
Oblivion
Perimeter
Quake 3 Arena
Quake 4
RoboBlitz
Serious Sam 2
Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force (Mac version confirmed)
Team Fortress 2
The Movies
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
World of Warcraft (Burning Crusade)

Games that take advantage of Quad Core:

Alan Wake
Bioshock
Company of Heroes
Crysis
Far Cry 2
Half-life 2: Episode 2
Hellgate: London
Lost Planet
Microsft Flight Sim X
Portal
Rainbow Six Vegas
Source Engine
Splinter Cell Double Agent
STALKER
Stranglehold
Supreme Commander
Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Tournament 3

 

Mandrake you just made my choice harder lol

 

mehh the qx9300 is good if ur rich lol but pure speed go x9100 rumored OC in the m17 soon ...limited though

 

I do have the money for a quad, but i want the best processor that will give me the most in games.

 

Personally, I'd go with the qx9300 if you have the money for it. It's just as fast as the x9100 in 2 core games when overclocked and it is far superior then any other CPU in 4 core supported games. The future is more cores.

 

yea what he said AW is a overcloacking bios coming out and so then the qx9300 is gonna have as fast 2 cores as the x9100 ....more and more games will run quad core after patchs and new games

 

Ok that sounds good, when is the new bios coming out?

 

why pay a premium now when the masses of games do not utilize the full potential of the proc...
you are only getting the ability to say "i got one."
it is like the people that buy electric cars now and alt fuels...right now they are higher priced and for what? just to say you have one...
if quads are such the future and intel wanted to take the market, then they would price down the quads to invade every PC with one...

id say save your funds right now, wait a yr or two and see where the advantages are again and upgrade if you so shoose at that time.
quad may be the future, but how much of the remainder of the laptop will be outdated by the time quad catches up?

 

omg i keep getting two different answers, I just want the best one for gaming, thats it.

 

go duo and upgrade later...the x9100 will be sweet for the OC'ing

i know i contradicted i just picked the best for right now

 

Ok ill go duo then, seems like higher clock speed is what its about, not larger L2 cache or more cores as of yet.

 

as stated before:

quad - multi-tasking mogul
2core - gamers delight right now

 

Yeah, and also i read that even games that utilize quad cores dont utilize them enough to give a significant increase in fps.

 

Ok I noticed the alienware OCing bios came out, but I'm still gonna stick with the duo, better clocks still !

 

Spot on! You must work in the business.

 

the oc'in bios is out ?!?!?!?!

 

Keep in mind that the cache in quad cores is devided between processor dies, that 12mb is actually 6mb per dual core chip, as the quad is simple two core2duo chips.

 

wait wait....where does it show the overclockable bios from alienware is out?????????? if so get an extreme chip lol it will last you alot longer if you overclock...the qx9300 can do 3.0 to 3.4ghz and down the line that will help alot

 

Ok now i dont know which one to get now, a quad core that OC's at 3.4, or the x9100 that can go up to 4 ghz, im still leaning towards the x9100, higher clock speed !

 

and cheaper

 

quad core at 3.4 is the better way to go over a dual at 4ghz...thats easy....just go qx9300 its a good investment now and for the future

 

Bah now i dont know which one i want, i just want a straight answer lol

 

straight answer.... dual core

(nuff said)

 

Ok dual core it is, awesome, x9100, dual 4870s, 4 gigs of ram, 1900x1200 resolution, skullcap, Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit, the 5300 wifi card, and a 160 gig 7200rpm hard drive, pure ownage !

 

nice you will be able to game all night long baby