I've searched to death on google and still haven't got a good enough answer, so I was hoping that any of you could give it to me. For gaming, what performs better, a higher clock dual core cpu, or a lower clock quad/six core cpu? I'm looking for an upgrade from my 2.6 (oc'd to 2.8) dual core amd athlon to something else, but I still can't make up my mind : \ Any feedback is highly appreciated.

It depends heavily on the games you're talking about. Bad Company 2 takes advantage of Quad Core processors, for example. So, having a Quad Core for that game is going to be better.

We don't know whether or not Crysis 2 will support Quad+ Cores or HyperThreading, so that something that we'll just have to wait and see.

I personally prefer a fairly decent Quad Core over a Dual Core, just to be future proof. I have the Q9400.

Anyway, it just comes down to what your budget is, what games do you have and/or plan to get.

Iceman

You should go with a quad core CPU. Most new games today have support for more than 2 cores. But if you want it to work well with old games too you sould buy one with high clocks, or OC it.
I'm buying new PC in August. I'm going for the i7 930 2,8GHz quad core CPU. I'm going to overclock it to atleast 3,0GHz at once because the dual core I have now is on 3GHz. Later I will probably OC it to 3,8

Stick with an I7 Intel if your not skimpt on cash, or if on a budget stick with an AMD Phenom, $200 less for the power of an i5.

i5 and i7 is the way to go.
That new AMD 6-core is very, very good, but it doesn't have the awesome multi-threading of i5 and i7.
Anyway, cores don't affect gaming as much as you'd like to think.

Agreed with the points stated so far. No way i could go back to a dual core now. Majority of games i play now support the quad efficiently and so does the operating system.

Just finished slotting in my i5 750 today

multithreading isn't all it's hyped up to be

i would go AMD if on a budget and i7 if your not

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-gaming-cpu-core-i5-athlon-ii,review-31946.html

Flamers

i5 750 - X6 1055T = Same price
i7 860 - X6 1090T = Same price

Both AMD's get either beaten or destroyed by their Intel counterparts - http://www.anandtech.com/show/3674/amds-sixcore-phenom-ii-x6-1090t-1055t-reviewed/9

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-phenom-ii-x6-1090t-890fx,2613.html

i wouldn't say "destroy" using Crysis as an example is not good, its intel optimised, everyone knows that, other than that itsd very close with the AMD often beating the intel counterpart...

also i would go with a Phenom II X4

Flamers

You mean like the L4D2 results?

Not sure how you're reading the results but the only game the AMD beats the Intel in is MW2 and it's by 2-3fps (3-5%) at most.

look at the quads, that is far better value, and not even you can argue with that

Phenom II X4 965 (3.4Ghz quad) ￡143

i5 650 (Dual core 3.2Ghz) ￡138

enough said?

Flamers

the problem is, intel is produces cpu's which have a better quality.

AMD is cheap, compared to Intel.
The AMD Phenom II X4 CPU's are perfect for overclocking (got AMD Phenom II X4 920 @ 3,2 GHZ, no voltage addition)

i'd say both are good. but personally, I'd prefer AMD.

I would suggest you to look at the AMD-s new six core CPU-s, they are cheap plus they have much power to play all the games you need.

I'm personally getting an i7 930 in a couple of weeks, seems like it will last me the longest since it's pretty easy to over-clock when I might need that extra power.

I only have a Core Two Duo E6750 @ 2.7GHz. Needless to say, i want to slaughter myself when i play a Quad Core game. :O

I plan on upgrading to either a Core Two Quad (to save my motherboard) for Crysis 2, or if i really have to, i will upgrade to an i7 930 or something of the sort.

I thinl the best CPU right now is the Core i7, but I think the best budget cpu is the phenom II (I use one myself)

955 is the best priced cpu for gaming
at stock i5 n i7 same fps and its 50 n 150bux cheaper
google benchmarks

amd 6cores are bad in gamiing not enough cache for all cores
i5 n i7 same fps in games no games really use the 4threads
so dont waste money on a i7 if its just for gaming