Dual or quad

[Jake Ironshirt]

My older machine will cost to much to add more ram, a bigger hard drive and overclock it. So now I'm looking at a new machine with new questions.
Dual or quad core that would be the question and does a quad core benefit the HD editing, rendering, burning to DVD etc process? I'm thinking either way I go whether dual or quad to get 3gb ram, 2.6ghz or faster and 400gb hard drive. The closest real store is 90 miles away so HP.com is looking to be the easiest. Any suggestions or explanations would be appreciated.
Thank you

[white_2kgt]

Depends on the software you are going to use. If you are using Vegas I would HIGHLY suggest getting the quad. Vegas will use all the cores for editing/rendering. Probably most of the other big players will as well but you should verify that before plunking down the extra $$$ for a quad, even though they have come down in the price quite a bit.

[Stefan_hv20]

Here's a start at Tom's Hardware

Compared with Pinnacle Studio 11 the Dual core E6850 would perform better than a Quad core Q6600. The best performing processor would be a Core 2 Extreme QX6850

But I agree, it depends on the software you would use.
And maybe Studio 11 will have a patch in the future with better support for Quad processor.

[JoeInBH]

Right now, video editing is one of the few areas where is actually makes sense to have a quad-core. Most games (the other highly-intensive task most people want to perform on their computer) only use 2 cores at most at this point. Go with the quad. Intel's Q6600 (2.4ghz) is priced very attractively.

[SGI]

Jack, as what others said. Vegas and Premiere will take advantage of Quad. In fact I just got a Quad. There's a great deal on a Dell Dimension 9200 with Quad Core 2.4GHz and 2GB RAM (add more RAM if needed) for $610+tax.

-=SGI=-

[jmorton]

Adobe can utilize up to 16 cores so by all means get the quad.

I just traded up my E6600 for a Q6600. Only problem is I have a P5W DH Deluxe and I'm getting a BIOS error. But there is a BIOS upgrade available. I'll flash my BIOS first thing in the morning. I don't expect to have any problems since there are many posters in other forums that have gotten the Q6600 with this motherboard and are very happy with it especially since this is an overclockers dream motherboard.

With the E6600 trade-in I paid $150 for the Q6600. Not bad, I think.

JM

[Numbox]

I'm getting Quad soon also

[XFR]

Definitely quadcore
Have a Q6600 with 4GB Team Xtreem DDR2, and it's fast!
I have it running very stable at 3.2GHz (400*8) instead of 2.4GHz

Some charts:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_20...=871&chart=432
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_20...=871&chart=431
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_20...=871&chart=441

[white_2kgt]

With the E6600 trade-in I paid $150 for the Q6600. Not bad, I think.

JM

Trade-in? Who trades in procs? I have the E6600 and want to get the quad.

[jmorton]

"Who trades in processors?"

These guys below do mail order, I believe.

I've been doing business with them for about 5 years. Although I can get better prices on many items at Fry's Electonics locally (Fry's is online as well,) certain items I buy from Allltech just because I can trade up. In particular CPU's. When money is short I buy the cheaper CPU so I can get into a new system sooner then when I have more money I upgrade my CPU so I make sure the motherboard I get is upgradable.

I see you are in Maryland. That's a long ways away. But anyway, that's what mail and telephones are for.

If you are inclined, Alltech Electronics Co., Inc. Lucien Mehanna 1300 E. Edinger Ave. Santa Ana, CA 92705 (714) 543-5011

I have an Asus P5W DH Deluxe motherboard. I just flash upgraded my BIOS this morning to the latest version and the Q6600 is now working like a dream. Let me suggest the Thermaltake TMG i2 heatsink fan, also. It'a a push pin clip mount just like the stock heatsink fan but this Thermaltake has 4 heat pipes and a big fan and is a big improvement over the stock heatsink fan.

By the way my Q6600 is the G0 stepping model which is the latest improved one and performs about 6% faster and consumes 6% less energy so runs a bit cooler, too.

JM

[Jake Ironshirt]

I'm struggling with trying to figure out and understand what machine is going to get the job done with HD editing. Some processors have high GHz but low bus speed and vice versa and others have higher L2 cache in MB? Not to mention shared memory in higher MB. I realize this is not a computer class 101 forum and I appreciate all the advice, comments and helpful suggestions you have given. Listed below is a HP M-8120-N with some specs, would this machine work out OK for HD editing etc with the HV20?
Hp has another Quad machine but with less stuff in it.

Processor brand Intel® Quad Q6600
Processor type Core 2 Quad
Processor speed 2.40GHz
Bus speed 1066MHz
Level 2 cache 2 x 4MB
Memory
RAM 3GB
Memory type (RAM) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)
RAM expandable to: 8GB
Storage/Drives
Hard drive size 640GB
Hard drive speed 7200RPM
Burns DVDs Yes
Lightscribe Yes
Expansion
Available 3.5" bays 0
Available 5.25" bays 1
Available PCI slots 1
PCI-express slots 1
Ports
USB 2.0 6
Firewire 2
DVI (Digital Video Interface) 1
TV tuner Yes
Internet/networking
Ethernet Yes
Built-in wireless Yes
Dial-up modem Included
Graphics/video
Video memory 623MB
Video memory type Partially shared

Ever since I got a HDTV and saw how good video can be I have to admit it's very addicting..much like vintage British motorcycles.
Thank you

[Jake Ironshirt]

My older machine will cost to much to add more ram, a bigger hard drive and overclock it. So now I'm looking at a new machine with new questions.
Dual or quad core that would be the question and does a quad core benefit the HD editing, rendering, burning to DVD etc process? I'm thinking either way I go whether dual or quad to get 3gb ram, 2.6ghz or faster and 400gb hard drive. The closest real store is 90 miles away so HP.com is looking to be the easiest. Any suggestions or explanations would be appreciated.
Thank you

Thanks to all for your suggestions, advice and input. I ordered a Hp m8120n with a quad q6600. I have no idea what vista is all about so I'll let the credit card cool off and learn that for awhile than order a HV20 in a month or so.
Thanks again

[gbitto]

Anybody check into using workstation/server class machines? I would think buying a true quad processor board and populating it with (2) XEON processors for now and adding (2) more when affordable would be better than a single processor with quad core technology. I've noticed a large spike in core temperatures on a duo-core when the two processor cores are running above 80%. With Pinnacle Studio (at least 9 and 10), processor utilization when making movie is 90 percent plus on both cores.
Just food for thought