What is Intel

I'm wondering what is Intel, and my Cousin (Computer Nerd) recommends me installing Intel 2 Extreme (For Gaming), so is there a way for me to buy it, and get someone to install it for me? And I mean a Professional. Right now I have Intel Core 2 Quad.

 

Do you feel like spending $1,000 dollars just on the processor?  If you do, you'll probably have to spend another $1,000 on the graphics card(s) to make it worth buying that.

So unless you plan to buy a computer that will come out to be around $3,000 dollars you don't want that processor.  Unless you don't plant on buying the computer for about a year, computer components depreciate in value rapidly.  In a year that CPU might be within the reasonable price range.

Also, I don't think the intel core 2 quad is all that bad.  I'll check some websites real quick to see for sure but I don't know why you would need to ditch that.

Edit: well, if you have the CPU I think you have you don't need to upgrade. That thing won't hinder your gaming experience for quite a long time.

 

Hmmm Thanks a lot, but the same computer model as mine, it came out and it had 2 things on it it said Intel 2 Extreme, and Intel Core 2 Quad. So is that possible to have like 2? or is it a choice to pick only one?

owerup: You helped me thanks a lot Quanta! :good:

 

Yea, I agree with quantum. To be honest, Core 2 Quad is pretty top-of-the-line. Im running a Core 2 Duo and I have no problem running most of the games out there. I dont believe you will be needing to upgrade any further than what you have now, unless you feel like spending another 1-2k dollars on something thats not going to make too much of a difference

Also, for ALL your computer reviewing needs (and is very educational for the non-nerdy types) check out www.tomshardware.com great site and I use it all the time. For buying computer stuff I usually use either www.newegg.com or www.tigerdirect.com.

To answer your question, http://stores.tomshardware.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=53582320/search=intel%202%20extreme/

Yes, its an all-in-one =) Intel 2 Core 2 Extreme Quad Core Processor =D

 

Wow Drift, did it take you long to find that? Anyways it really helps me understand this stuff. So whats a processor anyways? And Intel is a processor right?

 

Intel is a processor manufacturer. And the processor is part of the CPU (Central Processing Unit) that is integrated on your motherboard. Basically it's your computer's brain. It's gauged by how many GhZ per second it can process.

The scale of speeds has changed in the past couple of years with the new system of Dual Core processors, which are basically two processors sandwiched together working in tandem.

 

OH! I see now, so it affects your speed as well right??? Well Jon Thats great how your explaining it, but whats GhZ. Also is Intel Pentium good?

 

Gigahertz. It's.... I'm actually not sure. Someone else could probably explain it better than I could.

And yes, Intel is the top processor brand. It's the only one I really recommend. I don't like AMD at all, I've had bad experiences with their products.

And yes, your processor speed is the #1 variable that would affect your computer's performance. Anything can be fixed with a faster processor.

 

... WOW!!! So how does you processor ware out, and slow down?

 

Well, with radio frequencies, gigahertz are how fast the wave pulses.

Maybe it's how fast the data pulses and can be processed.

 

That is not true.

If you have a 10 year old video card or 256MB of memory a new processor isn't going to do a damn thing


Also with the advent of multi core processors the clock speed is less important now for 2 reasons
1. some processors can do more per cycle than others (a quad core does more per cycle due to having multiple instructions running at the same time. AMD processors have a more efficient memory architecture and can do more per cycle than Intel chips)
2.  I have seen multi core processors mislabeled where they take the clock cycle of the chip and multiply it by the number of cores to make people think it is faster than it really is.

The important factor is actually instructions per second for the programs you want to run.

Remember if you are only running one program then a quad core will not make your computer run any faster.  If you are running 4 programs though you will see a difference  (note: multi-core optimization not taken into account though most programs are only optimized for 2 cores anyway)
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The bottom line is:
Don't believe the packaging on the box since it is mostly isinfromation. Go to a site that does processor tesing and reviews and look at benchmarks for the type of program you are running (games, image editing etc.)

Also a quad core is not faster than a dual core is not faster than a single core. The difference is that you can run more programs so unless you want to run your antivirus while surfing the net and playing games all at the same time you will do just fine with a dual core.

 

What BoP was saying about a good CPU without a good vidoe card and ram to back it up is absolutely correct.  Computer performance follows the rule that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.  You have to have a balanced system to take full advantage of your hardware.  This is why the price of a truly top end system can skyrocket.  It is pointless to get just 1 top end component and get mid level components for the rest of the system since you won't be able to use the top end components full potential.

At this point, you'll need about 4 gigabytes of ram in your system if you get either of those CPU's.  Really 2 gig wiould probably suffice for now and you could upgrade with another 2 gig in the near future but as you don't seem to be the type to want to install the ram yourself you might as well get 4 gigs now.

What I find to be a good rule of thumb is that you probably want a video card that costs relatively the same amount as your CPU.  As BoP stated earlier, since a quad core won't run a program any faster than an equivilent dual core, if you get a quad core you probably could get a video card that costs about the same as the equivelent dual core.  If you don't do alot of multitasking you may in fact want to just get a good dual core.  Everyone is multitasking, even if you don't know it since you'll always have programs running in the background so I'd recommend a dual core over a single core for that reason even though you could get a single core processor that would murder a dual core when running a single program that isn't optimized for a dual core.


A side note, I'm not sure if this is true but I've heard that Intel Quad cores aren't true quad core CPU's but actally 2 dual core processors.

P.S. Herzt is a measure of events per second so a gigahertz is 1 billion events per second. In radiation that is the number of wave peaks that pass a fixed point per second, think about radio frequencies which are measured in kilohertz and megahertz. In the case of a CPU that's the clockspeed or the number of calcualations it can make per second ( that's not exactly correct as multple calcuations are done per clock, but that's not important to you ) So what that basically means is that the number of hertz a processor is rated as indicates the processors speed and doing calcuations, in gaming this could be things like game physics and AI as just a couple examples.

 

Yes it is true Intel quads are 2 dual core dies that have been put in the same chip and share the same connections but the downside is they can't share their caches so aren't as efficient as a single dye quad-core and that is actually what AMD is trying to leverage as a reason for why their chips are superior (they say that not me) but with Intel outlooking AMD by so much and the lesser power use I am not sure if the efficiency of the new AMD chips is even enough to pull ahead.

In general AMD chips are far more efficient and do more per clock cycle but Intel uses a smaller process and can outclock AMD and usually wins due to sheer brute force

 

Thanks for the correction BoP, but what I said about having a faster processor fixing all problems is just a joke.

Of course you need the RAM to back it up, but the video card isn't exactly necessary. Supposing you're not running video games that require a video card for, well, no reason, you'll do fine with a chipset, which is included in most intel chips unless you opt to not have it.

And also, I was under the impression that Quake 4 had been optimized for a Quad Core processing system, as has CoD4 on the PC, etc.

Also, some movie-making software has also been optimized for that as well. Although Intel might be cheating a little bit by only really throwing two chips at the system, as was pointed out earlier.

But as far as I know AMD has done the same thing. But I've always thought the toughest component to get correct and most complementary to other hardware is your motherboard. I hate shopping for those things.

 

Gigahertz: One billion radio waves, or cycles, per second. Equal to 1,000 megahertz =)

Ahh the satisfaction of being a nerd...hahaha

 

So does that mean my processor sucks? Or just isn't as good as the duo one... so what about the Extreme ... Thanks guys I'm really learning a lot from this... I have never been this interested in learning about a computer/computer part.

 

Your processor is fine. The Extreme is also a fine chip. The only thing about the Extreme is its cost outweigs the increase in performance so its best not to get one and instead buy more memory or a better video card since the top of the line in those 2 areas are actually worth the extra money.

 

So its possible to have two processors? Anyways, I'll check my memory card (What kind) and ask you if its good, its getting Really late and I need to go to school tomorrow, so Peace. :thumbup:

 

DualCore processors....Boo ya.

 

So does that mean the dualcore Processors are better?