Q: I currently have in my system a AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+. I'm thinking about upgrading to a AMD Phenom X4 Quad-Core 9500 but I'm not entirely sure about the differences between the two other than the obvious that is 2 additional cores, but the dual core processors work at a higher frequency than the quad core ones so I'm not entirely sure whether the difference will be significant or not? any info on the improvement i might get would be appreciated. Thanks! Forgot to mention, not sure if its relevent or not but i mostly want performance for playing games/music/instant messengers at the same time. My current processor cna manage this but i just wanted an improvement.
A: For games and regular apps like web browsing/music, a higher-clockspeed dual-core outperforms a lower-clockspeed quad. For DVD encoding, movie editing and rendering in 3d design programs, quad-cores perform much better. These two CPUs are pretty close in gaming performance- only 1fps difference in Prey, and 4fps in quake- in both cases the 5600+ is the winner. Going to an Athlon X2 6000+ would provide a nice boost, while switching motherboards and going with a Core 2 Duo E8400 would give a much bigger boost. Take a look: