Vista - Quad core question

is software like games able to use all 4 cores? i heard that most apps dont use quad core yet.

if not, Is it possible to have say 2 cores used for running a game, then the other 2 to run all my background tasks, or even everything else on my pc, so that there are always 2 cores free for games or rendering etc.

The compatibility of games using quad cores fully is very minimal at the moment, though a few are starting to come through that benefit from it, like GTA4 on PC is recommended a quad core, though most things that do benefit mostly from quad core is video/image editing software such as photoshop CS4 I think can benefit from quad cores.

As to your question, you can set CPU affinity (right click on the program in the processes tab) in task manager that allows you to set which program that's running uses which core, so say you set your Internet browser to use cpu 3 and 4, and a game such as Far Cry 2 for example to use 1 and 2. I'm not sure you'd have to do this every time you run it or if it sticks, and I'm not sure you'd benefit from it as a program that doesn't benefit from quad cores won't use 4 cores anyway.

Some games do, and many many games will in the future.. Call of duty 4 does.. Quads.. KILL the E8600 in testing.

I personally would get a Quad core for SURE if your thinking of upgrading. they are better, they will in the future be better. they are future proof. well more than duals. and they can work very hard. I can do lots with mine. I'm very happy I went Quad from my Dual. I strongly recommend getting a Quad core.

Not to mention soon everything will be able to use all 4 cores. they are getting there now. and my Quad core competes with, if not is better than the new Intel Nehalem Core i7.. they might have hyper threading and run a little better. but mine is up there.

Get one, you'll be happy!

New Intel processor generation, any comments?

Synthetic benchmarks are cool, but nobody plays 3DMark.

The lowest i7 can beat the highest Core 2 Quad Extreme.

This article on Guru3D explains it all well: CPU scaling in games with dual & quad core processors When there's no difference/barely a difference with dual to quad core, it means the game doesn't utilise quad cores properly. There's no difference with a $400 dual core to a $1400 quad core in CoD4.

lol, yeah, that whole "my quad competes with i7" was funny. ... wasn't going to touch it, but... since we're there. Biggest diff, quads only have 1 memory controller, which in effect, makes them no better than duals, which is why they game the same. i7 has 2.

Wasn't it 3 the i7 has? Which is why it's only DDR3? Either way, it's still a real power house.

2 controllers, triple channel ddr.

that's my understanding thus far.

Ah yes you're right.

so most apps right now dont use 4 cores, & would just perform the same if i had a dual core with the same clock.

Right now i have a 2.6 core2 duo, so if i had a 2.6 quad for example, & used 2 cores for doing random stuff, then had the other 2 used just for gaming would that be possible?

i found how to set processor affinity, but i dont think it saves when you reboot.