Building a new PC

I'm in the research process of building a new PC specifically for SL. I though I read some where that SL doesn't exactly react well with dual core processors. Can anyone verify this?

I'd like to know before I begin to buy components.

Thans in advance.

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This may be the wrong forum for this kind of question. If so my appoligies.

I can verify this for you.

I'm running a dual core AMD 939 3800+ processor with crossfire technology in place I have to run a program that sets my affinity in order for my SL to run without everything stuttering. The same goes for my hyper threaded pentium processor laptop and my dual core pentium processor Machine. My single core pentium processor machine has no issues and my single core AMD 939 3800+ processor had no issues before I upgraded.

I hope that helps you...oh, and invest in an Nvidia card if this is strictly an SL machine wit 512 mb video ram if you can swing it and a 1gb in system ram.

I'm an ATI loyalist (don't flame please) but I find that SL looks percents better on ndvidia cards.

And yes I'm sad that I have so many machines running SL...but my boyfriend uses one, I use one when home and I use my laptop on the road, and I sneak it in at work

Hope that helps.

I agree with Sandra. I upped an ATI from 7500 to 9550 and pleased with it but should have gone nVidia.

Was confirmed to me today by colleague that dual and above CPU's need specifically written code to utilise advantages.

Thanks for the quick replies.

I already knew about going exclusively with Nvidia regarding the video card. I wonder why SL has such problems with dual core processors?

Carolyn, it's not just SL, EverQuest 2 and even WoW experience some issues with it, and that's because the programs were designed to run efficiently on one processor thread.

My single core hyper threaded laptop still has issues with SL and the reason is... I'm guessing... the operating system or some logic like that is trying to spread the work of the program across the dual process causing some things to process faster than others (one processor is operating more efficiently thus faster than the other with a fuller load?) And so with hyper threading as that technology emulates dual core processors.

So don't think it's SL's fault so to speak, I do hope they eventually code for it but I'm not worried about it at the moment since I can work around it. I believe Torley Linden wrote an excellent work around article for dual processor Systems and myself I use a program called RunFirst.exe that I use to start up my EQ2 and SL instances. What it does is set my affinity for each program essentially forcing them to utilize only one processor.

So if you're building for SL strictly for the here and now then a cheap AMD or Pentium single core is the way to go...if you want to build for the future then go with the best hardware you can afford and work around the software limitations until they're corrected. Some will disagree with me, but you'll find that no matter what you buy, it's obsolete the moment you look at it, so why not spend your money on the best you can afford?

Sandra,

As long as there's a reliable work-a-round for the dual core, it only makes sense to go with the most advaced processor, especially for future software enhancements. As you reffered to, what is the latest and greatest today, is obsolete tomorrow. Truly a run away technology syndrome!

There is really no point in not getting a dual core processor these days. Software applications and games haven't really taken advantage of dual cores, but it seems that both Intel and AMD are slowly phasing out single core processors. I suspect that in 5 years (or less), single core PC processors will be a thing of the past.

The biggest problem with dual core CPUs is the fact that they rely upon the operating system to communicate properly with them. There is technically only one true processor in there. The other processor is considered a logical or virtual processor. Dual core is 100% reliant on the operating system for proper operation and that can lead to threads getting jumbled up which can cause a dead lock processing condition which is why many applications have issues. It isn't the application having issues per-say, it is more or less the system not knowing which thread to actually process if one happens to get duplicated among the 2 cores.

As for the topic:

Regardless of what people will say about hardware, verify 100% that any video card you plan on buying is 100% compatible with the main system board. The majority of manufacturers have what is called a Hardware Compatibility List for each of their main boards. This list contains parts which have been tested and have shown to be either 100% compatible or some that have been tested and may have issues. If a video card you like is not on the list for a particular main board model, then there is a chance that it will have problems and not function 100%. The biggest reasons if any to check regardless if anyone wishes to take this into account are:
1: You ordered parts online - you pay to have them shipped to you. If they do not work as planned and are not defective, you will have to pay to ship them back and either suffer a restocking fee or at the most, have to pay more for another model and pay to have it shipped back to you which will also cost time and will cost more in the long run.
2: You buy local. The part is fine but is not compatible, you will most likely pay a restocking fee due to that and the business has the right to refuse taking back the part at all since it was opened.

I see your 5 years and reduce it to 1 year. There was a time I predicted that Pentium II and III processors would be as abundant in bargain bins as old floppy drives were. That came to a reality faster than even I imagined. If you are ever looking for any older Pentium II's, let me know, I have about 10 of them lying around my home workshop not doing anything but collect dust.

Thanks for using geek speak to verify my statement, but I have to disagree with you about buying local...

I personally have done business with Newegg for many years now and everytime I've had an issue with hardware, they rma'd it and sent me a pick up ticket. Can't beat that with a stick nor can you hardly beat their prices... And restocking fees only matter if you buy something and then decide you don't want it. At least for me that's ALWAYS been the case.

I usually deal with TigerDirect, bought all the parts for my last system through them, I will have to check out Newegg though, thanks for that heads up. Usually I don't have a problem if the part is bad with getting an RMA, the biggest problem I have heard a lot was if the part is not defective but the problem lies with ordering a part that isn't compatible as many places run you through diagnostics before issuing RMAs to verify. There are places that do charge a restocking fee if the part was purchased in error on your part, best to check their return policies I guess as each company is different.


During my 10 year and going stint of working as an IT professional, I have seen many different companies with oftentimes a big difference in return policies. I usually find that online retailers are a bit easier to deal with than local brick and mortar shops. It is even easier if you can gain an account with a company like CDW or Insight (such as if you have vendors licensing etc).

Actually, that's not entirely accurate, but close. You're thinking of Hyperthreading, which is actually managed by the bios/firmware, and the operating system actually sees two processors for all intents and purposes, which is how pre-hyperthreading OSes (Win2k) can function perfectly on HT processors without major driver installations. And a chip with hyperthreading is basically a single processor with some fancy load-balancing.

Dual Core processors, on the other hand, are an entirely different animal. And a dual-core processor actually has two independant processor cores on one piece of silicon. Which is why, when they were nearing release, there was a huge debate about whether, for licensing purposes, they were to be considered one-processor or two-processor machines.

The issues present with applications using hyperthreading (like SL) are also present with dual-core processors because, as far as the operating system knows, both are dual-processors, and the OS hands out commands accordingly. This part you were right on, the OS has to do the work of assigning tasks. However, this usually isn't a huge issue, the technology to do it has been around since Windows NT and is continually improving.