Hey, I just got Oblivion and it is incredible. If you don't have it yet and you like RPG games, buy it!

Anyways, I have a question that someone may be able to help me with. I was wondering how much of a performance increase I will see when I buy another gig of ram. My system is: Athlon 64 3700+ @ 2.45GHZ, Geforce 6800, 1 gig DDR 400. I have 100 dollars lying around and I figured I'd need another gig in the future anyways.... I plan on buying a 7800gtx in a few months anyways, I'm just wondering about the ram upgrade.

Thanks.

2GB doesn't help. If that's a socket 939 system you're using, sell that 3700+, get some more money and get a 3800+ X2. It is dual-core so you can keep it forever. 2GB from 1GB won't help much because the recommended is 1GB and many people already posted that the difference between 1GB and 2GB is unnoticable compared to the leap in performance from 512MB to 1GB. Also, in a few months don't get a 7800GTX. Instead, save up and get a totally new revamped system. Get it in 2007 though because there'll be quad-core processors by then (assumptions) 7800GTX ain't worth the price. Get a 7900GT, it's better and cheaper. If you need the speed and graphics, get a X1900XT(X) 512MB.

The 3700+ is a FASTER cpu than the 3800+ X2 cpu for single core applications, and games are single core at the moment. Perhaps in the future programmers will make use of dual core cpus, but they are not at this time.

The 3700+ has a higher clockrate, and a higher L2 cache than the 3800X2, and will outperform it in gaming.

As for 2Gb of ram, most games are only using 1Gb, and you wouldn't notice much of a performance difference. BF2 is one of the exceptions, but this seems to be changing quickly. I think my own next upgrade will be the jump to 2Gb ram.

But with your system, I'd say your biggest performance increase from a strictly GAMING standpoint, would be a new graphics card. Yours ain't no slump, but ... a 7900 would be sweet in your system.

I believe Oblivion does support dual core processors. So if he wants to improve just that game (and future stuff) maybe the 3800 X2 is the way to go.

I don't know enough about the newer processors to fully say. Just pointing out that Oblivion will utilize the dual cores.

Cool! Exciting to see that games are starting to make use of dual cores.

It'll be interesting to see the benchmarks once they come out. So far, dual core CPUs have meant next to nothing for gaming performance. Let the games begin! :bounce:

It is nice that the game works wit dual core. But its only because it was made for the xbox 360 (which has multi Core) that they made it work for dual croe on the PC. It would be nice to see a PC only game be dual core. But i suppose it will be coming in the near future.

As of the question. I run the game with high water detail 4x AA and i run it fine. I have a older 3 Ghz p4 and a gig of ram. Now my Video Card does not support HDR and some other higher level options, so i cant speak about them.

But what do ya think about the game? Its taking a bit to get adjusted ( i played TES 3 for years)

But the Ai system and the graphics are amazing. And if you havent tried figthing in the arena, you shuold, good money and great fun.

SO what your saying for single threaded programs the other core does nothing????? not true.

So are YOU saying that other core acutally operates on a single threaded applications?

The game is amazing. The combat system is 100% better than Morrowind, and the game is just beautiful. I want to be able to run it on ultra high with HDR smoothly to experience the true beauty of the game.

So are you saying that when you're playing a game, it's the ONLY thread that is running on your computer is the game?

Dual core will help in single threaded games, they will handle a lot of the background processing that goes on and keep your one core free for the game you're playing.

It's not like it'll be twice as fast or anything, but I'd like to see a single core CPU pull torrents at 80Kbps and run Galactic Civilizations 2 at the same time without the slightest indication of slowdown. My X2 4800 does that on a daily basis.

I think the biggest performance upgrade he could get would be to swap that 6800 for a 7900GT. The processor, and ram are good. And if you only run one app, you don't need a dual-core, just a waste of power (energy!). Most gamers don't run background apps.

Basically, yes, that is what I am saying. For single threaded applications, the dual core does nothing. It will of course help if you are running more program than one at a time etc., but from a strictly GAMING standpoint, up until now, the dual core has not meant any added performance increases.

Take a look here, and compare the single core vs. dual core CPUs in gaming benchmarks and you'll see what I mean. For example in Far Cry, the AthlonX2 3800+ cpu is acually outperformed by the Athlon64 3200+

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.ht...2=237&chart=68

But I'm pretty sure Oblivion utilizes both cores and makes the game faster. And to the guy who said he wants to play at ultra-high and everything turned on, you'll need at least these:

AMD X2 4400+
7900GT(X)/X1900XT(X)
1GB RAM

^ My opinion. And if you want it to go faster, then 2GB of Corsair XMS high-performance memory would be nice too. You can also change the processor for an FX-60 and crossfire/sli the video cards. The system specs I told you however costs alotta money.

When PLaying bf2


with my 3800


It out performed my p4 3.2ghz cpu

Do YOU have a single core and dual-core

to commpare on a game?????????

You are comparing apples and oranges. Of course the 3800X2 will beat the P4 3.2Ghz in gaming. That is a given. Even the benchmarks back you up on that one:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.ht...2=237&chart=68

But a 3800X2 will NOT beat an Athlon 3500 (for example) in games that are not programmed to utilize dual core processors. The single core will whoop it's behind with it's faster clock rates. Now, as the newer games come out that utilize dual core processors (and apparently Oblivion is one of those games), this whole argument becomes a moot point of course.

I am still wanting to see the benchmarks on dual core vs. single core on Oblivion. It will be interesting to see how well it is utilizing both cores. As I said before, up until now dual cores have not meant much at all from a strictly GAMING standpoint. It would be great to see the dual cores start to be used to their full potential!

Don't need to. That's what (reliable) benchmarks are for

This thread about RAM turned into a thread about single core vs. dual core...good stuff.

Well... sort of. It is a thread about Ram for Oblivion, and turned into a thread about CPUs for Oblivion. Bad, I know... but not THAT bad

Anyways, I think your question has been answered, hasn't it? That's the main thing. If it hasn't, let us know and we'll give you more guidance. If it has, then please, let us continue threadjacking

just out of curiousity, does Doom 3 take advantage of duel core?

@ Tedster: No.