Which is Powerful 64bit or Dual Core

[Innocent Devil]

Which is better ? A 64 bit Processor or a Dual Core ?

Core 1 + Core2 64 bit Processor

32 + 32 = 64

Is this relation make any sense ?

Are they simalar in performance ?

or which performs better ?

[jbm]

With 2 32bit cores you still couldn't run 64bit OS's or programs.

But a multi threaded 32bit app would run faster on the dual core cpu.

But aren't the new Intel dual core (Pentium D) processors 64bit capable?

Regardless my next upgrade will probably be a AMD64 X2.

Edited June 18, 2005 by jbm

[obeseotron]

All of the Dual Core chips coming out are 64 bit. There aren't any 32 bit dual core chips.

[cove3]

I looked into this & bought an AMD 3700. Turns out dual core is advantageous if either you have heavy multi tasking of high cpu load applications simultaneously, eg burning DVDs while image editing/capturing OR your application is programmed to utilize mutli-threading (most applications, including most games are not programmed for this). This is why AMD recommends single core for gaming, and suggest dual core for users with heavy content creation or other heavy multitasking applications.

What little high usage cpu multi tasking I could do, such as backup or adaware or virus scan while doing other things, I can do while at lunch or overnight.

If you don't have the narrow multi usage environment above, dual core can actually be slower due to overhead. Hence my decision to go with single core, at least for a couple years until I see how multi thread programming is implemented in games, MS Office, etc. Also, dual core prices should come down substantially over next year or two.

Regards, Ron

Edited June 23, 2005 by cove3

[Alanoll]

(most applications, including most games are not programmed for this). This is why AMD recommends single core for gaming

To be fair...why would programmers program for multiple threads when when the applications were programmed it would actually indere performance sinc ehte machine couldn't execute the multiple threads...

As with most things in technology, once the hardware is out there, applications will start to be developed for it...

There isn't much overhead with Dual Core CPUs though. The main problem atleast with the Intel implementation is the bus and caches. Especially in the HT models where they're still going to be shared caches which reduces speed.

[Marsden]

Not to mention the Intel bottleneck with the outdated FSB and memory controller hub...