Dual core or not?

[Persimmons]

Hey Rob, great website.

I was wondering what your view on dual core processors are. On one of your page you say dual-cores aren't worth the money and add very little in performance gain, yet the processor you recommend the "AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ AM2 with Fan" which is a dual core according to newegg.com

Just wondering if there is any real benefit to dual cores right now as opposed to the future. Any input would be appreciated :)

[Rob]

Thanks for the good words.

The mainstream processor of today is a dual-core processor, so the tech movers-and-shakers (AMD and Intel, for processors) are pretty much stearing us toward a dual-core processor to build any type of computer that's more than low-end (low-end by today's standards might still be really fast).

But as is often the case, the new, yet-to-mature technology of today is not much of a performance improvement over the old, very-much-so-matured technology it replaces. In the case of dual-core processors in particular, it's the software that needs to do most of the maturing.

Historically, prices have come down pretty quickly, so with luck we should see that with dual-core processors as well.

So I suggest following the flow of technology and using a dual-core processor as a general rule, but performance will by no means double over a single-core equivalent, at least not until the technology matures. In fact, in many real-world scenarios, it may be barely show a difference.

[Persimmons]

Thanks for the reply Rob. I understand what you mean now.