Core2Duo or QuadCore

[102nd-YU-TazMan]

I am packing a new machine specially intended for BS and I am having a dilema. Is it better to get quad core processor or go for faster core2duo?

 

How is E8500 performing in BS, any experiences?

 

Regards,

[Airway]

Hello!

 

What OS would you like to use with this hardware, as you can use more than one core on Vista, with high impact on fps.

 

On XP you could use a single core.

[Cezar11]

I just built an E8400 ( overclocked to 3.6 Ghz ) with 4GB ram ( 1066 mhz ) and a sapphire ATI 4850 1gb video card. BS runs on high everything at the max resolution of my monitor with totally smooth framerates. FSX also runs at max settings with Active Sky and Flight Sim Commander running on the 2nd monitor. only slight jerkiness when near a huge city. Most of the reviews and compairson charts i've read on dual-core vs quad while researching my new machine say go with dual-core.. the faster FSB and overclocking ability ( as well as the massive price diff e8400 on new egg for $164 ) are well worth it. Plus most p45 motherboards can handle a quad, so you are future proofed ( unless your future includes an intel i7 ).....

[H4rM]

For what it is worth, for Blackshark, you should be using Vista ( 32 or 64 doesn't matter) since you get better fps on Vista over XP with Blackshark and mutliple cores. I have tested BS on a dual core and a quad core on both Vista and XP. On XP, it runs well, nice and smooth, but no improvement over the fps with affinity to all cores, with Vista I get a huge improvement over XP with the affinity set to all cores.

I know it has been said that DSC Blackshark does not use quad cores, but I get between 5 to 7 fps more from my quad core system than my dual core system. So for me, it seems better to use a quad core and Vista since first you get 10 to 20 fps more using Vista with the affinity tweak and then the quad core gives you another 5 to 7 more than my dual core and this is both with high graphics. Not sure why, because even though I have played most all of my sims on the dual core, my DCS BS shows best results on my quad-core system over my dual core system. Both systems are quite different, one being Nvidia based with the Nforce chipset, video, etc... the other is an ATI strong system with an AMD ATI reference board ( doesn't do nvidia sli for example) ATI Radeon video card, etc... both system with at least 4GB of ram, both running dual boot of XP and Vista.

[CE_Mikemonster]

I'm using an E8500/3850 mix and i'll update here when I finally finish my OC if you want? I'm using Vista-64 with 4Gb of fast ram.

 

It was maxxed out at 3.16GHz (stock), running Med-High settings, not sure where the 'ceiling' is that BS needs.

 

Check http://forums.eagle.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=46 for more info if you haven't seen some of the threads :)

EDIT: Duhhh me getting mixed up, apologies lol --^

Edited January 5, 2009 by CE_Mikemonster

[Cezar11]

On XP you could use a single core.

Actually, XP pro will use as many cores as you have... i'm typing this on an xp pro machine with a dual-core proc and I see both of them in task manager...

 

I'm using Vista 32 in the E8400 system mentioned above... I tried Vista 64 and it ran fine.. but some of the add-ons and other software didn't like the 64 aspect, so I reverted back to 32... no problems... but can't use more than 4GB of ram... such is life...

Edited January 5, 2009 by Cezar11

[Airway]

Yes, I ment the usage of them in Black Shark as I read several thread where the affinity wasn't working on XP.

[CE_Mikemonster]

What budget are you talking?

 

Not sure what prices are like, but will this be an ultimate BS system, or will it be a stop-gap system until Intel's new chips and the 2009 GPU's come out?

[102nd-YU-TazMan]

Well, I'm rather conservative on the budget.

 

I thought something like E8500 or some similar quad core, 4870, 4GB RAM, 2x500GB RAID stripping. As far as I could conclude from posts on this forum this rig would be quite capable of runing BS at max details in missions with reasonable amount of action.

 

My only dilemma is weather to go with higher clocked C2D or some similarly priced quad core. Operating system will be Vista for obvious reasons of core affinity patch.

 

Regards

[AlphaInfinity]

I run the game with everything on high except water and I never see below 31 fps at 1680X1050. Before deciding on the core I7, I was going to buy the E8500. I think you can get more clock speed out of that processor than you can with a Q series processor. Vista however really does like the quad core and it will eat lots of ram too, but the game performs really well, even with only 3 gigs of ram.

[CyBerkut]

Based upon what I've read in various threads in these forums, for the time being you would get more 'bang for the buck' by going with a faster clock rate on a C2D, IF you are running Vista, and using some sort of Affinity setting method to make use of both cores.

 

From what I've read on here, BS will not utilize more than 2 cores in its current incarnation. On top of that, another thread provided information that indicated that CPU performance appears to have a lot more effect on how the sim runs than the GPU performance does (within reason, meaning the use of fairly contemporary processors in both categories... if you start looking at upgrading from something ancient, that is a potentially different kettle of fish).

 

Of course, who can say what will happen when patches, revisions, or the next DCS aircraft module comes out? At some point, one would expect that multicore support would be fully incorporated into the DCS code.

[CE_Mikemonster]

CyBerkut, i'm back now, finished my Overclock.

 

Got my E8500 to 3.8GHz on the stock heatsink fan. When I get a real HSF i'm hoping to reach 5GHz, or at least 4.5GHz.

 

As I said i've got a 3850. I'll probs have a fly around tonight and get some approx framerates, and hopefully find the peak CPU usage. Might help.

[hannibal]

i just my E8500... are you using any utilities to stress test/ or burn in?

is it me, or when u install the stock fan, there are strips of thermal compound, instead of a square patch?

[Prophet]

IMO I suggest QuadCore and here is why.

 

Load balancing and all those backround application. Remember back in the day when you used to have to close a lot of that stuff to get improved performance? Well these days there is no need. A quad core will provide more free CPU cycles for those backround applications to use.

 

I have tons of stuff running, including VMware, while I am flying BS and I see no improvement if I close them down.

[CE_Mikemonster]

I can't really remember Hannibal, I just remember I had to wait until the next day as I had to buy some thermal compound seperately (which I thought was pointless at the time, but is essential in the long run when you reseat the CPU after cleaning the heatsink).

 

You're right Prophet. Having said that however, if you play old games can you use the affinity trick?

[Prophet]

The affinity trick is mostly a Vista thing because of how it handles DX. I am sure it would probably work on all games in Vista that are by default set to single core for affinity.

[CE_Mikemonster]

Good stuff, cheers.