Faster dual core or slower quad core?

Post by **AussieTimmeh** » 10 Aug 2011, 23:02

So I am upgrading my own PC and trying to decide what to do with the leftover parts. My brother has one of the faster dual core Core2Duo CPUs in his machine, while I have an average Core2Duo quad core in mine. Is he better off sticking with the faster dual core or will the quad core help his system performance?

My leftover bits: Core2Duo [email protected] / Asus mobo with 4GB RAM
His current bits: Core2Duo E6850@3GHz / Asus mobo with 2GB RAM

Hopefully either way we can swap the RAM into his system but my question is whether or not it is worth swapping my whole CPU/mobo/RAM setup into his machine or not, due to the speeds of the CPUs. Can anyone assist?

Skripka · Post by **Skripka** » 10 Aug 2011, 23:19

Depends on what he is doing. In gaming you won't see much of any difference, depending on the title. In any benchmarking or productivity app, the Core2Quad will spank the Core2Duo. See this handy comparison:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/89?vs=59

Post by **skipclarke** » 10 Aug 2011, 23:35

Go with Quad it's a minimal requirement for a lot of games that are coming out

Post by **Abram** » 11 Aug 2011, 00:19

Quad.

Post by **AussieTimmeh** » 13 Aug 2011, 01:19

Thanks guys. We made the swap last night and his machine is running really well.

I was unsure if you could swap a whole mobo/cpu/ram combo out of a PC with another and still have Windows 7 boot, but it did without any drama. Just had to wait for Windows to load all the new drivers which it did automatically.

Tested it in a few games which had been maxxing out the dual core and they ran beautifully, so mission successful.

Cheers! :cheers

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