Current photo editing apps cannot take much advantage of multiple cores, but what it will give you is better multitasking if you like to run a number of applications at the same time. I put together a dual core earlier in the year. I decided the most bang for my buck was going to be in a faster dual core, rather than a slower quad.
If you do gaming or video editing, then those will absolutely be able to take full advantage of the extra cores. Since you mentioned video, then a quad may be a good choice.
I'll second the video editing bit if you are looking to use HD footage such as AVCHD. I recently bought a Canon HD camcorder that records in AVCHD and upgraded my computer to a quad processor and even with that the little hampsters have got to work to render, edit, or watch it.
I'll second the video editing bit if you are looking to use HD footage such as AVCHD. I recently bought a Canon HD camcorder that records in AVCHD and upgraded my computer to a quad processor and even with that the little hampsters have got to work to render, edit, or watch it.
I have seen lightroom use more then 1 cpu but tends to be 1 task 1 processor, so it's fake multi processor from what I can guess. Video encoding take all 4 to the roof, so if you want video go quad. The only time I have seen all 4 of mine > 98% used.
If you can get Quad-Core by all means do it. Here's one of the best ways to get a good quad-core on the cheap. I have been doing a lot of research (just for fun because I'm a tech nerd that way) and have found the AMD Phenom chips to be an excellent value. I built a rig for my wife for digital scrapbooking and keeps up with my MacBook Pro pretty well.
Anyways, the AMD chips are much cheaper than the Intel's. I build Intel machines at work and there isn't much difference in performance, but the AMD's can be about half the price or more.
I found that there's a certain BIOS feature in some of the AMD motherboards called ACC that will unlock locked cores on some of the triple and doal core AMD chips. Here's a motherboard + CPU combo for $200 that will unlock a 3.1 Phenom II X2 (dual core) to a 3.1 QUAD-Core for $200!
AFIK, Adobe Premier and can use multi-cores, and PS can also (//blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2006/12/photoshop_and_multicore.html). The rest of the Adobe products will use multicore in the future.
You also need to have a good GPU, I think PS and Bridge can use that processor also.
There's more to a system than the number of cores. The i7 (and the new Xeon) processors have a different memory bus. It uses DDR3, which has three channels (as opposed to the two slower channels of DDR2). A dual processor workstation would thereby have 6 memory channels. The speed of these channels varies by the processor number, some are 800MHz, some 1066 MHz, and some are faster.
Disk type and space make a difference. Ideally, you want a couple of fast hard disks (at least 7200RPM and SATA-300 or SAS).
The amount of RAM makes a real difference, you need a 64bit OS to go above 4Gb.
For the future, we know that antivirus and other similar programs will suck more and more horsepower, Windows is "the great Moore's Law compensator" and all your other programs will get upgrades that make them both easier to use and more processor intensive.
BTW rumors are that the Win7 upgrade program starts June 26, so hold off on ordering for a day or two. But remember that the quarter (and half year) for some companies end on June 30 and some of those companies may give discounts to boost sales if its been a bad quarter. (Unfortunately Dell's year ends January 31, so their quarter ends July 31.)
Hey guys i got a question!?!
i need to know if you need to get a whole to mother board when you switch your computer from a dual quar processor to a quad core processor...... or if you can just keep the mother board you have i just wanna make sure b.c i dont want my dad messing up his coputer..... were gamers should we stay with the dual core or should we spend the money to upgrade to a quad core???
and by the way our computer is a home built gateway with 2 or 4gb of ram and i hight end video card all i need to know is if i got to switch my mother board in order to change processers...... my homepage write me if you know a answer
The whole purpose behind a quad core is it runs front side bus and rear side bus. Used to you would have a motherboard with 2 processors on it so that the FSB and RSB could run more efficiently and faster. They have essentially combined the 2 into one chip acomplishing the same thing. If you are going to be running any extremely graphic sensitive programs go with the quad core. What I mean by graphic sensitive are programs like Autocad, any big games. Photo editing software like PS don't really require the quad core but it sure is nice to have.....
all i need to know is if i got to switch my mother board in order to change processers......
"Maybe" is the best answer that can be given without specifics about what kind of motherboard you currently have. I have a dual core AMD Athlon X2 that I can upgrade mine to a quad core if I want. My motherboard supports both processors. When I built it I made sure I had that upgrade path available. Some motherboards do, some don't. I am a little confused that you say you have a homebuilt Gateway, since Gateway is a pre-built brand.
well it was upgraded not home built it was all origanal until my uncle broke part of the mother board and had to switch it i just wanna know if i would have to i will txt my dad and try to get more info on the moter board
Photo editing software like PS don't really require the quad core but it sure is nice to have.....
I think CS4 can use multiple cores for some tasks. I also know that Topaz plugins take advantage of multiple cores. When I was testing the beta of Topaz Detail, it sped up significantly soon as they added multi core support to it.
all i need to know is if i got to switch my mother board in order to change processers......
"Maybe" is the best answer that can be given without specifics about what kind of motherboard you currently have. I have a dual core AMD Athlon X2 that I can upgrade mine to a quad core if I want. My motherboard supports both processors. When I built it I made sure I had that upgrade path available. Some motherboards do, some don't. I am a little confused that you say you have a homebuilt Gateway, since Gateway is a pre-built brand.
well yeh the thing is we want out pc to run at like 200 to 300 fps when we play call of duty 4 and five and when we play battlefield 2142 and also farcry games of that type
well yeh the thing is we want out pc to run at like 200 to 300 fps when we play call of duty 4 and five and when we play battlefield 2142 and also farcry games of that type
well yeh the thing is we want out pc to run at like 200 to 300 fps when we play call of duty 4 and five and when we play battlefield 2142 and also farcry games of that type
Your issue may be the video board then. That will affect your fps more than the number of cores. (More CPU horsepower, may provide other speedups for the gaming, however.) If you are using the video adapter that is built into the motherboard, your easiest upgrade may be to just toss in a discrete video adapter and disable the built-in graphics.
Here is a good resource: Maximum PC PDF archives. This is complet back issues of the last few years of Maximum PC magazine. This rag is performance and gaming oriented, and they have many good articles and reviews that can help you figure out what you need to bump up the performance where you need it.
CS4 can also use graphics card acceleration to try and get that bit extra out of your machine.
Here's a question - as graphics use for games and photo applications increasingly uses the same hardware or has the same requirements has anyone got an Alienware - and are they worth the money ? Would they blitz through big photo files or just be pretty but overpriced ?
CS4 can also use graphics card acceleration to try and get that bit extra out of your machine.
Here's a question - as graphics use for games and photo applications increasingly uses the same hardware or has the same requirements has anyone got an Alienware - and are they worth the money ? Would they blitz through big photo files or just be pretty but overpriced ?
When you buy Alienware you buy the name. You can build the same thing for way less and forego the fancy-pants "alien-technology" looking case. It's hype. Buy your hardware and have a knowledgeable person assemble.
