Is a quad core needed for games now?

[Crafty]

Hi,
I am just wondering if a quad core is something you need for games right now. I have read different topics about this and seen different opinions, but this only makes it harder for me to make my mind up over buying one. Is it true for instance that most software today doesn't use 4 cores and that most games are better with a dual core? I need some good advice on this topic. Thanks!!

[BC_Programmer]

Think about it this way; a game doesn't have to actually use multiple cores for it to run faster.

Let's say- you have a single core machine. In that case, all the computer's operations are handled with that one core. This includes background services, file downloads, anything. So your game has to share processor cycles with background tasks. Context switching is relatively expensive, especially when it comes to something time-sensitive like a game.

Multiple core's help ease that burden- the game could run at 100% on one core and the other core can handle everything else.

The question really is more involved then "do games take advantage of this?" Some games are multi-core enabled, so they can take advantage of two or more cores, but this doesn't mean that those are the only games you will see performance gains running on multiple cores.

[Calum]

I wouldn't say it's necessary, but a lot more games are being coded to utilise multiple cores for increased performance nowadays.
If I was buying today, for a mid-end or better gaming rig I wouldn't go for less than a quad core.

[Azzaboi]

If you have a single core machine and upgraded it to a duo core, quad core or i7 core, your'll notice a performance increase. Why? Because like BC_Programmer said, the OS will run on one of the cores and the application or game will run on the other.

If you think 2.8GHz Quad Core (4) is double the speed of 2.8GHz Duo Core (2) your however mistake. Most of the time two of the quad cores will be idle, only applications and games programed to use them will. The games which do (like Crysis) will have labeled on it 'Multi-core Enabled'.

i7 Core is double theaded quad core or more, uses different technology, removes bottlenecks, etc, therefore runs faster / smarter performance.


I would suggest going for Duo Core (cheap option) or i7 Core (expensive option) these days.
A quad core isn't bad, but not worth the price to performance.
Still aim for the highest GHz, Cache and QPI speeds.
Then focus on the graphics card...

Games rely more on the graphic card to give the biggest performance boost!

[Crafty]

I currently have a amd athlon64 dual core 3.2ghz, so would you guys stick with this for the time been? I am going to upgrade my Geforce 260gtx to a geforce 460gtx, so do you think that will be a decent enough upgrade for the games that are played today? Thanks for the help.

[Azzaboi]

Yes, investing in the graphic card would be the better option for gaming. Also ensure you get the latest Nvidia Drivers for them off their website which gives selected new games an extra performance boost / tweak.

[Calum]

Which Athlon dual core do you have?  If it's one of the older ones, it will be holding back your 260 as it is, and a 460 won't give you much of a boost.

[Crafty]

Which Athlon dual core do you have?  If it's one of the older ones, it will be holding back your 260 as it is, and a 460 won't give you much of a boost.

I have the AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Proccessor 6400+ 3.21Ghz, Do you think this will hold back the Geforce 460gtx and if so what cpu will I need to stop it bottlenecking?

[Azzaboi]

Apart from it being a 'hot' processor (ensure system cooling/fans) it should do fine, it's fast enough.
Make sure your PSU (Power Supply) is at least 550W+ to support the graphics card and keep the system stable.

Have fun gaming!

[Calum]

It depends on your resolution and what games specifically.
Generally, I would say a CPU upgrade would be of benefit, but you'll probably see more of a performance increase from the 460.

[computeruler]

It depends on the game too.  Something like gta4, battlefield bad company 2, flight simulator x, ect. will benifit from a quad core.  If your playing those games a 460 would have no point cept for dx11.  I would do a bit of overclocking too. That should help some.

[Doug]

I'm kind of surprised that there's no program or feature that let's you turn off the background tasks/programs so that all the resources of the computer can be devoted to the game you are playing.  Like when I start DDO, there should be a "switch" that turns on that says no updates will run and all system or computer activites will be suspended until I stop the game.  So that the game gets 100% of available resources to run on for the best performance.

[quaxo]

I'm kind of surprised that there's no program or feature that let's you turn off the background tasks/programs so that all the resources of the computer can be devoted to the game you are playing.

Well, this can be done manually (which is a pain, I know), but there is software out there that does it. There's a program called Game Booster from Iobit that does it, but they're in a bit of hot water at the moment because they've been accused of intellectual copyright infringement by Malwarebytes.

I've used the software and monitored my memory, but really the change is minimal (it was for me anyway, I keep a pretty clean system). If you remove unnecessary software, like browser toolbars, background processes, etc. you should free up some memory. Most programs that make themselves load at startup usually have a setting to prevent this, thus not taking up memory when they're not needed.

[Doug]

I guess I have another comment/question/observation that I'll just add on here.

How come there isn't some type of adaptor so that you can use Playstation controllers with computer games.  Couldn't someone write a program and have an adaptor so that you can hook up your Playstation controller and assign whatever keyboard keys to the different buttons?

I'm asking because using the keyboard and mouse, I think, is just awkward. ...and I went back to Playstation for gaming. 

[BC_Programmer]

How come there isn't some type of adaptor so that you can use Playstation controllers with computer games.

There is. It's called an adaptoid.

Or, even better- you could simply buy a controller. a lot of USB controllers are styled after the PS2 controller for some reason. (Logitech Dual Action and Rumblepad 2 are the two I have, they look identical to PS2 controllers).

I'm asking because using the keyboard and mouse, I think, is just awkward. ...and I went back to Playstation for gaming.

I find the opposite. I only use my controllers for Emulation (NES,SNES,Genesis, n64, GC, Wii) as well as a few select PC games (GTA3,VC, and SA mostly) I'd love to use it for JC2 but apparently it only supports an Xbox-360 controller for some reason. oh well.

Anyways, Adaptoids, that's what you are after, strictly speaking, for using a PS2 controller on your PC. It makes it into a USB controller, or of course you could just get an Actual USB controller, (since as I noted many of them are modelled after the PS2 controller). You can get adaptoids for nearly any systems controller, NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Genesis, etc... they can all be hooked up to a PC as a USB controller using an Adaptoid.

Your second question, re: keyboard keys being assigned to controller buttons. First: the FIRST thing you do when you want to use a controller in a game, is change the options of the game so that it uses the controller. Almost all games support the use of USB controller input. Some however do not. There are a LOT of programs that fill this supposedly empty niche, such as Joy2Key. There are still problems with that approach, however. The main one is that analog controls become digital if you have to rely exclusively on the mapping program.