Dual Core Processor for Sims?

[Gamblor]

I don't have a dual core processor yet. It's the only thing I would need to upgrade in my computer but the question is before I buy it. Is it really worth getting one? Will it show a big improvement playing the Sims on my computer? Any advice would be helpful on making my decision.

Thxs,

[KatEnigma]

It depends. Are you running other things while playing? It won't help with just Sims- it only uses one core. But if you're running things that are eating up your processor while you're trying to play( Like Vista LOL) , then yes, it's worth it.

[Paperbladder]

It's really too bad that Quads are still extremely expensive and only in desktops.  Still, if you're choosing between a single core CPU and a dual core always get the dual core.  I've heard the performance is 22% greater but that was before the Core 2 was released.

As for upgrading your existing computer, I'm not sure.  Chances are the Core 2 Duo or Athlon 64 X2 won't work with your current motherboard if it wasn't a recent purchase (About a year I think).

[Gamblor]

The motherboard is new and it will support dual core. Vista I don't know if I will ever get that because I have heard it eats up loads of memory and uses every resource on your computer. I think I will stay with XP for now.

Funny how when you do a fresh reinstall on your computer before you add in all the updates and drivers and extra software for your system it runs so much faster then ever before.

To bad there isn't just one program that does it all and isn't such a hogg on your computer running programs you don't really need running.

[jfade]

The motherboard is new and it will support dual core. Vista I don't know if I will ever get that because I have heard it eats up loads of memory and uses every resource on your computer. I think I will stay with XP for now.

Good idea. I got a new laptop with Vista on it, a dual core processor and a gig of ram. Should be enough right? Certainly enough for any other OS. But not Vista.

Vista = Suck.

[Bain]

Good idea. I got a new laptop with Vista on it, a dual core processor and a gig of ram. Should be enough right? Certainly enough for any other OS. But not Vista.

Vista = Suck.

My understanding is you want a minimum of 2 gigs for Vista, optimum ram is 4 gigs

[jrd]

Back to the original question -- TS2 doesn't benefit from multiple cores at all, and in fact may run slower. Search this forum for a post on how to work around this (you need ForceCore.exe).

[msalwaysright]

Link to the extremely helpful post:


http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,7748.0.html

The advice in this post, & overclocking my graphics card(with NVTweak), made my game finally playable. Before making the changes, I was getting the Blue Screen Of Death 45mins to an hour from starting my game.