Computers - dual core vs quad core

[Paa Langfart]

I am going to purchase a new desk top computer primarily because I am running on an unsupported Windows operating system.  - The ones I am looking at are refurbished Dells - the quad core processors seem to be about $100 more on average than the dual core processors - is it worth the extra money for a quad core or do you think I really wouldn't notice a difference ?  I don't do any gaming .  Also should I get single or dual channel memory ?

[Zaximus]

1 hour ago, Paa Langfart said:

I am going to purchase a new desk top computer primarily because I am running on an unsupported Windows operating system.  - The ones I am looking at are refurbished Dells - the quad core processors seem to be about $100 more on average than the dual core processors - is it worth the extra money for a quad core or do you think I really wouldn't notice a difference ?  I don't do any gaming .  Also should I get single or dual channel memory ?

Unless you're gaming (even then not really) or doing visual editing or high demand calculations then dual core is just fine.   And personally I'd go for duel channel memory, as you'll see more of a performance increase from that than going quad core (because few apps are using those cores anyway).     Getting an SSD is a big speed boost as well.  

[Paa Langfart]

Um .  What is an SSD ?

[Zaximus]

1 hour ago, Paa Langfart said:

Um .  What is an SSD ?

Solid state drive.    It's basically flash memory and has almost replaced traditional hard drives.   It's much quicker and has no moving parts like regular drives, so less heat and less noise and quick boot ups into Windows.  

[Omega Atrocity]

Depends on what you're doing for sure, if it's just general web browsing dual core is just fine.

[WilmyWood]

For standard usage, web, email, etc. Dual core is fine.  Like others have stated, getting an SSD is a plus, so don't skip that.  Also, 8GB of RAM.

[hepcat]

Sometimes it says it's a dual core or a quad core processor, and the CPU is "hyper-threaded" meaning the OS recognizes it as twice the amount of processors. So you might have a quad core processor that the computer recognizes as 8 processors. That doesn't mean you have 8 processors though. Just a stupid fact I wanted to throw in.

[Mother Grabber]

SSDs are mostly good if you need fast read or write speeds, eg watching or editing large files like raw audio or video.  They won't help much for standard stuff, and are one of the larger premium price points.  They are very nice in that they produce less heat and are more stable, no spinning discs, but you won't notice much of a performance gain for general use.

The biggest bang for your buck is RAM.  I always get as much RAM as I can afford.  That will improve performance of everything on the system.  Upgrade CPU/cores next, for overall performance.

Again, depending on what you're doing, the graphics card can make as big a difference as anything else.  That's mostly for gaming and video playing/editing, however.  But with more and more video streaming going on, the graphics card can be very helpful to improve performance and quality.

 

[Paa Langfart]

Thanks to all for the advice !

[Snake]

I'm late but quad core all the way. You will thank me in 5 years. 

[frash.exe]

i won't touch anything lesser than an i5