Dual or Single CPU

[Derek]

A buddy of mine recently purchased a dual P3 933Mhz machine, used, with 1GB of Ram. He currently has a 1.2Ghz, single processor, machine. He wants to give one to his parents, buts will not believe me when I tell HIM to keep the dual machine for himself. So... I have resorted to external resources inorder to prove to him that a dual P3 933 machine will be much better than a 1.2 single CPU machine.

In a sense he is looking to get the best deal out of it for himself and then give his parents the left overs.

I recommended the dual. Please provide your experience and opinions.

cheers,
~L~

What will he be doing with the machine is what it usually boils down to. I would stick with the dual 933s unless we were talking about a huge jump in MHz like dual 933s compared to a 2GHz CPU.

What are the current systems specs for both PCs?

[Wolfram]

Tell your buddy to keep the duallie. Reasons:

1. Both aren´t fast enough for Doom3
2. Dual processing is WAY cooler

Honestly, I would stick to the "slower" machine, even if that 1,2 Ghz should mean 1,2 Ghz Athlon C. If your friend is into gaming, he will be able to play many titles on both machines and some on neither one. If he´s into video ripping or anything that takes much time, the dual P3 will not only outperform the single CPU machine in SMP capable applications but the system will still be usable during that long-time-operation and respond like it was idle (well, almost;)).

One last note on SDR/DDR performance: The difference is about 10 percent in games, given a benchmark that is cpu bound.

[Blueneko]

the dual machine wouldnt happen to be a dual slot 1 p3?

[Derek]

the dual machine wouldnt happen to be a dual slot 1 p3?

Good question!!