When it comes to gaming, is there such a thing as too many cores?

[childofthetao]

When it comes to gaming is there such a thing as having too many cores, lowering gaming performance?

I want as many cores as possible, I'd like 8 one on CPU for graphics work, but would that make the computer bad for playing the latest graphically intense games on?

I recently asked on Yahoo Answers and people said that the more cores the better but that doesn't make sense to me.

Let's say I have 4ghz cpu with 8 cores, that means each core runs a 500mhz. If I install a game that only supports 2 cores that game will run only at 1ghz, whereas if I had only 2 cores it would use the whole cpu speed.

Or is my thinking completely off the mark?

Thanks

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

A 4ghz CPU with 8 cores means you have 8 cores that run at 4ghz, so the people on yahoo answers are, strangely, correct.
It won't hurt, but there are certainly things you could better spend your money on for gaming. Though you wanted that CPU for graphics work, so that's fine.

 

[childofthetao]

You just made my day

 

[Relic]

Bit of a late reply, but I think you're asking the 'wrong question'. While yes, more cores shouldn't damage your gaming performance, you should be looking at specific CPU's rather than some ambiguous '4Ghz 8-cores'. Like let's say compare AMD's FX-8150 to the soon to be released Ivy Bridge i7-3770, with the former being 8-cores versus 4-cores (8 Threads). Compare the graphics performance (Photoshop/CAD) to the gaming performance of the CPU's you're looking at and find the best of both worlds that fits your personal budget.