[cheesepuff]

OK, my CPU is a E8500 @ 4GHz, and even at that speed, some games just suck up all the power in it. games like Mass effect, Gears of War and Armed Assault 2 use 100% CPU power all the time on this thing. so, i figure, 4 cores is better than 2 right? but then again, im not sure. i want MORE CPU power. would going with a quad core be better for me? how much more powerful would it be compared to what i already have? would it be worth it?

[SocialWarfare]

Don't think going quad is going to help you as none of those games are quad core optimized.

What are you using to measure usage anywho?

I will check my own out in in ArmA II

And no 4 cores isn't better then 2 for gaming, I dual core at 4ghz will murder a Quad that is overclocked to about 3.5Ghz

[cheesepuff]

ok. i thought they WERE quad optimized! in fact i could have sworn such a high CPU impact engine would USE 4 cores to its advantage. IM using my G15 keyboard to tell me my CPU usage. And armed assault 2 murders my Computer. i get less FPS on that game maxed out than i do on Crysis maxed out!

[cheesepuff]

Optimal PC System Requirements

• Quad Core CPU or fast Dual Core CPU (Intel Core 2.8 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or faster)
• 2 GB RAM
• Fast GPU (Nvidia Geforce 8800GT or ATI Radeon 4850 or faster) with Shader Model 3 and 512 or more MB VRAM
• Windows XP or Windows Vista
• DVD (Dual Layer compatible), 10 GB free HDD space

http://www.arma2.com/support/support-2_en.html

hay, i was right! it does recommend dual core