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To Quad...or not to Quad
11 December, 2007 in CPU
With Intel and AMD both now offering Quad-core desktop options, and notebook options sitting in the pipeline for the first half of next year, plenty of computer enthusiasts are wondering whether the time is right to upgrade to a Quad-core processor.
What Can Quad Core Do For You?
The biggest question is whether you will see any advantages from using a Quad-core processor, especially when it is apparently running at a lower speed than cheaper dual-core processors. The answer depends entirely upon how you use your system.
Just as with dual-core systems, having 4 cores makes multi-tasking a breeze. With more cores to handle individual application threads, multi-tasking power users will certainly be able to eke out a little bit more day-to-day performance, but the multi-tasking boost is not nearly as important to most power users as the multi-THREADING performance, which allows a single application to take advantage of all four cores.
There are a lot of high-end professional applications that are able to take advantage of a quad-core system, including Photoshop, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave 9, and Adobe After Effects. In these sorts of professional applications, you can expect to see at least a 25% improvement in performance over faster dual-core processors, which is significant enough to take notice. Some reports have indicated much more significant performance boosts.
Is The Game The Thing?
High-end gamers don't have it quite as peachy as cutting-edge professionals. Currently, the number of games with native quad-core support is miniscule (Unreal Tournament 3, Supreme Commander, Half-Life: Episode 2, and Crysis are four of the biggest). Many developers are still playing catch-up with dual-core support, and most games currently available benefit much more from the faster, less expensive dual core processor than they do from having four processing cores.
In the small number of games that do take advantage of quad-core processors, the processors are invaluable for improving game performance, and, given the recent trends of the gaming industry, it wouldn't be too far off to assume that Epic Games' Unreal Tournament 3 engine and Valve Software's revamped Source engine will be used heavily in future games, increasing quad-core support by virtue of their ubiquity, but gamers need to be aware that a quad core processor is more of an investment for the future, rather than an upgrade for present performance (except for the “big four” mentioned above).
Do You Need It?
Right now, the primary market for quad-core processing is the professional user. Professional applications have been taking advantage of multiple threads ever since the first dual-processor Intel Xeon motherboards were released, so professional applications have a significant head start over the rest of the computing industry when it comes to utilizing multi-core processors to their fullest.
For the professional user, especially in 3D design and modeling, and audio, image, and video editing, the upgrade to quad-core is a must have; this is the next big upgrade for the high-tech professional.
For the high-end gamer looking to build a gaming system that is future-proof, quad core also makes sense. Even if there is a slight performance hit with games right now, games will start to benefit more and more from a quad-core processor.
For the average gamer, quad core is still something best approached with a “wait-and-see” attitude. It may be the future, but it is not the present. There are faster dual-core processors available that cost less and give equal or better performance in everything but the bleeding edge of entertainment applications.
For the every-day computer user who is not into gaming and does not work with professional-grade applications, a quad-core processor probably would not even be noticeable without a half-dozen different applications running at the same time. As with the average gamer, there are faster, less expensive dual-core processors that will give a better bang for the buck.