Just how many brains does a PC need?

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

San Francisco, Jul 4 : to do the computing work, but because Intel and AMD had run out of room to increase the frequency on the processor, said Endpoint Technologies analyst Roger Kay.

Before Intel and AMD started selling chips with two or more cores, they had simply cranked up how quickly the transistors, the tiny switches that make up semiconductors, could turn on and off to process computing tasks.

But as chips ran at higher and higher frequencies, the processors began using too much power and generating too much heat inside cramped desktop and notebook PCs So now consumers choose from different dual- and quad-core offerings (AMD even sells a processor that has three brains). And prices for PCs from brand-name companies now range from $300 to $4,000 and more for a high-end extreme gaming PC With that sort of variety, PC makers like Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co and the processor makers have responded by placing all the different types and speeds of PCs into three basic categories that you can think of as every day computing, some performance and lots and lots of performance. What you’ve got is basically good, better and best, but the PC makers don’t like you to call it that, Kay said.

For those who want to surf the Web, watch online videos, store music and photos, watch movies, do word processing and e-mail and keep a home budget, a PC with a dual-core processor from either AMD or Intel should do the trick, analysts said But consider spending more for a quad-core system if you plan to edit HD video you’ve taken with your HD camcorder, have a budding musician in the family who likes to mix digital music tracks, or are into the latest hard-core video games that are especially taxing on processors and video graphics chips.