Enlighten Me: Single vs Dual vs Quad Core Processor

[sui_winbolo]

Why do you need to upgrade your old computer? Are you designing camshafts and heads?

You will need the 64 bit version of windows to utilize more than 3.25 GB of main memory... It should also be noted that some drivers don not have a 64 bit version.

I can't see any real reason to upgrade a home pc past the 3.25 GB mark unless you have some extreme applications such as certain engineering cad tools.

It's nice when you're running virtual machines like I have done for my operating system classes. I had 2GB of RAM and I was using almost all of it running a couple virtual machines. Also Vista & Windows 7 takes advantage of more RAM in some form. When I have 4GB installed RAM usuage at startup is 1.5GB compared to 800MB before with 2GB.

But for most people there isn't much benefit to upgrade past 2GB of RAM.

Oh, and RAM limitations are directly linked to your type of motherboard.

You're also not going to see many benefits upgrading to a 64-bit OS with 2GB of RAM. The biggest benefit of a 64-bit OS is the nearly unlimited max. capacity of RAM you could have. (only limited by your motherboard instead of your OS and motherboard) But other then that at this point in time you don't see many more benefits since there isn't a lot of software the utilizes 64-bit architecture.

You have a pretty decent computer as it is, I wouldn't worry about spending much more money on it. Laptops aren't worth upgrades unless you're really hurting performance wise.

For an interesting tidbit of news, a team in Finland has overclocked an AMD Phenom II quad core processor to 6.5GHz across all cores. Using liquid nitrogen and helium to keep it cool.
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2 ... o-6-5ghz/1

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, for those who wonder why I am asking about this, it is more a matter of curiosity than anything right now. I Hot Rod EVERYTHING I have (Cars, trucks, lawn mowers, electronics, etc.) or at least like to know what is technically possible. After all, a G body is perfectly usable with a 110hp 231 V6, but it's a lot more fun to push the envelope a bit more in terms of power! I like to learn about things and how they work and how to make them better. My laptop is already modded with a 320gb SATA hard drive and 2gb of RAM, and I was curious as to how far it can be taken beyond where it is. If I could get a processor cheaply that would make it better, I probably would have in some fit of boredom to have something to do.

 

[sui_winbolo]

Well, for those who wonder why I am asking about this, it is more a matter of curiosity than anything right now. I Hot Rod EVERYTHING I have (Cars, trucks, lawn mowers, electronics, etc.) or at least like to know what is technically possible. After all, a G body is perfectly usable with a 110hp 231 V6, but it's a lot more fun to push the envelope a bit more in terms of power! I like to learn about things and how they work and how to make them better. My laptop is already modded with a 320gb SATA hard drive and 2gb of RAM, and I was curious as to how far it can be taken beyond where it is. If I could get a processor cheaply that would make it better, I probably would have in some fit of boredom to have something to do.

The HDD and RAM are about the only things you can really upgrade in a laptop. The processor is usually integrated to the motherboard. There are some laptops with a socket and you can upgrade the processor, but those are pretty rare as far as I know.

If you're looking for the experience and fun, a desktop is worlds different then a laptop. I've upgraded my laptop, but that took a whole 5 minutes to install more RAM and switch out the HDD. But building your own desktop, that's fun. that can take hours with different hardware you can use and cable management.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.as ... uter-Cases

Start looking at computer cases there, you'll probably want to build your own computer after you see what they have. Newegg doesn't have everything obviously, but they have A LOT of cases, and A LOT of hardware for the best prices. I've never shopped anywhere else for my computer hardware.

And like you said, you like to learn and know how things work. Building your own computer is the best experience you can get. And the most satisfying.

 

[Phoenyx]

Yeah the 64 bit Vista can take a lot of RAM. I have 8 gigs in mine, Plus another 1 or 2 on my video card. I've always had computers that were low on RAM. So when I had this one built I told him to go overkill on the RAM. And it's nice now to never be short of RAM. If you don't have enough, it's the best bang for the buck upgrade you can do to your computer.

 

[sui_winbolo]

Yeah the 64 bit Vista can take a lot of RAM. I have 8 gigs in mine, Plus another 1 or 2 on my video card. I've always had computers that were low on RAM. So when I had this one built I told him to go overkill on the RAM. And it's nice now to never be short of RAM. If you don't have enough, it's the best bang for the buck upgrade you can do to your computer.

Nice, your rig should be future proofed for at least 2 months. jk

lol

But RAM is so cheap right now, when I bought 2GB to put in my laptop when I got it back in July 2007, it cost me $85 for the 2GB RAM kit. That was from Newegg, HP wanted $150 to upgrade to 2GB. When I upgraded it to 4GB one year later, it cost me $40 for the RAM. That's the worst thing about technology, when you buy something, 3-6 months later most new hardware usually costs about half the price. 1TB HDD was $250+ this summer, September you could get the same drive for $100.

 

[2000.malibu.ls]

[quote="85 Cutlass Brougham" I Hot Rod EVERYTHING I have (Cars, trucks, lawn mowers, electronics, etc.) or at least like to know what is technically possible. [/quote]

people like us are the reason people like this can come up with crazy stuff like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaWlf6qL ... re=related (that)

 

[sui_winbolo]

Haha, that's not too bad of a system. I want to get another xbox to water cool and put it in a different chassis. I'm not touching my Halo 3 edition 360!

I personal like Ben Heck's mod the best 😉

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

...searches Ebay for a cheap XboX 360 and a old laptop... I would so build a 360 laptop, but mine would probably be made with lots of duct tape, zip ties and look like a refugee from one of the Mad max films. I have a hard time making my hacks look good. Then again, I am rebuilding an old iPod Mini right now that the case will be painted to match my Cutlass, then run a larger CF card (solid state baby!) and run off iPod Linux. I have been wanting to try to run something on Linix for a while, so the old Mini will be my first Linux hack.

A liquid cooled 360???!!! Genius! Finally one that won't get the RROD!


BTW, link for the laptop 360?

 

[phaZe]

...searches Ebay for a cheap XboX 360 and a old laptop...

A liquid cooled 360???!!! Genius! Finally one that won't get the RROD!

A lot of people have done that, but personally, I wouldn't do it with my 360. I would go and get a cheap one on Ebay and mess around with it.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, for those who wonder why I am asking about this, it is more a matter of curiosity than anything right now. I Hot Rod EVERYTHING I have (Cars, trucks, lawn mowers, electronics, etc.) or at least like to know what is technically possible. After all, a G body is perfectly usable with a 110hp 231 V6, but it's a lot more fun to push the envelope a bit more in terms of power! I like to learn about things and how they work and how to make them better. My laptop is already modded with a 320gb SATA hard drive and 2gb of RAM, and I was curious as to how far it can be taken beyond where it is. If I could get a processor cheaply that would make it better, I probably would have in some fit of boredom to have something to do.

The HDD and RAM are about the only things you can really upgrade in a laptop. The processor is usually integrated to the motherboard. There are some laptops with a socket and you can upgrade the processor, but those are pretty rare as far as I know.

If you're looking for the experience and fun, a desktop is worlds different then a laptop. I've upgraded my laptop, but that took a whole 5 minutes to install more RAM and switch out the HDD. But building your own desktop, that's fun. that can take hours with different hardware you can use and cable management.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.as ... uter-Cases

Start looking at computer cases there, you'll probably want to build your own computer after you see what they have. Newegg doesn't have everything obviously, but they have A LOT of cases, and A LOT of hardware for the best prices. I've never shopped anywhere else for my computer hardware.

And like you said, you like to learn and know how things work. Building your own computer is the best experience you can get. And the most satisfying.

I am not a big fan of desktops because I like to do my computing in odd places (in bed, on the toilet, under the hood of my car, friends houses, etc.), and I don't have my own internet service (too poor right now!). I have taken apart desktops before, but I love the portability of my laptop. My next project with a desktop will probably be trying to find an ancient one and play with a Linux install. I have never used it, so I don't want to risk my two good machines on it. I will probably start garbage picking old computers to put a working one together (probably something like an x86 architecture machine since it's a pretty widely used standard.). Someone has to have an archaic computer collecting dust they are getting rid of that I can have! I also sadly don't make a lot of money, so I don't have the money to dedicate to building things that are expensive and don't have a practical purpose. Otherwise, I would build a desktop and link it via Bluetooth to an old laptop and use the desktop as a proxy to run the laptop. That way, I could still have the flexibility of a laptop with the power of a desktop.