AoC: Reviews?

[The Ponzzz]

Ok, so it's been live for a bit now, and I know some of you Beta'd. How is the game play? Fun factor, etc?

I ask because I was watching a friend play and I sort of went, "...meh!" I really wanted to get into this game, but watching him play, I wasn't getting the rush to play at all.

So, shine some light for me, give me your reviews. Pros and Cons. No game is perfect, so please tell me what you think is the worst feature if you think the game is a 10 out of 10.

[Itachi]

From what I played I think it will will turn out ok, especially being the first of the two heavy hitting wow challengers running the gauntlet ( AoC and warhammer ) I would have liked to have got further in the game and I still have it installed but I dont feel like upgrading my comp just so I can piece together a shitty review. If you have the hardware, I'd say check it out. There are a lot of aspects of it that I think will make for great gameplay, but I'll just stick with wow until there is a for sure replacement.

[Parkbandit]

I'm liking it. It's still kinda buggy, but the game play is worth it.

[crazymage]

i like it ive barely played since the release though not for lack of want though!

[kheldarin]

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/ageofconanhyborianadventures?q=age%20of%20conan#us ers

Personally I'm loving it.

[The Ponzzz]

For those that like it. List some Cons to the game. List the Pros.

[Warriorbird]

The Alpha and Beta were bug FILLED. The game changed course several times and went through a bunch of fixes and I still feel like it is a work in progress. The hardware reqs are still high enough to scare many of my best gaming friends away from playing it.

Most of the beginning of the game is blissfully serious grind free... later on it creeps in and creeps in hard. I wish there'd been more grind avoidant ways to deal with some of the issues they did. More minigames would be welcome.

After being pissed about ranged/melee imbalance.... I switched to ranged... and then they nerfed ranged... so I switched back to melee.

This is a somewhat glorious work in progress in the end. The PVP is a hoot and you can avoid it if you so choose with some effort if the ganking gets too extreme.

[CrystalTears]

I know y'all love the ganking, but that's just not my thing all the time. And it looks like that's the main gist of this game. Plus it's bloatware so I'm not trying it out.

[Kefka]

From what I've seen so far, the night missions seem very linear. Does that change in later levels?

[Alfster]

I'm personally loving the game right now. They're patching the game just about every day so many of the things that annoyed me are being fixed.

[Warriorbird]

You can take it a very non ganking direction with work. It becomes more of a resource grind late game.

[Parkbandit]

You can take it a very non ganking direction with work. It becomes more of a resource grind late game.

That's basically what we're doing in CotM.. we're just going into higher level instances with rapid respawn rates and just farming experience every night. I've gained 10 levels in 2 nights. Level 46 now.... and still way behind most. :(

[Warriorbird]

Pretty much our strategy now and we're not entirely thrilled with it. We take breaks to go wipe out idiots who can't type.

With that said... we wiped a bunch of actually talented people out before lunch and it WAS thrilling. We're all curious about how things will change when the Xbox 360 version drops.

[Parkbandit]

Pretty much our strategy now and we're not entirely thrilled with it. We take breaks to go wipe out idiots who can't type.

With that said... we wiped a bunch of actually talented people out before lunch and it WAS thrilling. We're all curious about how things will change when the Xbox 360 version drops.

is the Xbox version going to be played on the same servers? I can't imagine Xbox bring powerful enough to run the game with the same power of a high end computer does.

And I agree.. it kinda sucks to spend 4 hours in an instance running around in a big circle and killing the same things over and over and over again... but it's far more efficient than going out and getting repeatedly ganked by the level 70+ gank squads who are just out there to slow down the progression of other guilds.

[Warriorbird]

They claim they'll open different ones... but it'll be simultaneous PC/Xbox. I bet the 360 graphics will be doggish and you'll need FIOS to have a good link. That kinda makes me sad... but it really lowers the cost of entry and might make the game huge.

[The Ponzzz]

FFXI did it. The PC's version was always a huge step up, but you played with everyone on the same servers.

Hmm. As for these reviews, I think I've sort of been talked out of playing. Using the GRIND word makes me cringe.

[Celephais]

It sounds like they're grinding to skip content...

[AnticorRifling]

It sounds like they're grinding to skip content...

I read it as grindind to skip going to areas that would result in ganking. So there is an option of doing something other than grinding but during prime times or heavy pop servers those areas would be gank fests and a way to get around that is to grind other areas.

[Me]

My review take it for what its worth.

Graphics are nice but very video intensive I am always putzing with my gamma to lessen some leakage in some areas.

Questing Good:It is nice and they really help you find where you need to go with crop circles for mob drops or even X's to a specific place. Under 20 and at 30 and I forget on the higher levels you have what are called destiny quests you solo these so you can do them at your leisure without fear of gankage. I even go back and finish earlier quests just because its fairly easy experience. Bad: spawn rate for somethings take like 15 minutes and because there is only one it is easily grabbed by a group that just walks up.

PVP - good if you like pvp there is tons of it on pvp servers. Solo you are basically bait. In groups you can have some fun battles.
Bad: PVP servers there are currently no restrictions no rules so someone can rez camp you for however long they want. You can move your rez spot which is nice but if you are traveling and thats the only path major pain. They are supposedly coming out with jails and punishment for certain things but I am sure that is not top of their lists. Other than a few times I just roll with the punches.

Banks, Ah mail etc still buggy. Guild Houses can be destroyed currently which is not supposed to happen or you can go to build it fail and you lose all your supplies which took quite a lot to gather. So yeah buggy.

Money - doesn't seem very easy to get and things are expensive. But we shall see I am still fairly low level.

Guilds seem very important here like I said loners stand out. So help from guildies whether grinding, leveling or getting a persistant ganker off of you works.

All in all I am having fun. But as we all know these games do not really mean anything until you cap so lots to see.

Zanti

[Ashlander]

I'd be liking it a whole lot more if I could decide on a class to play. Oh and for the spawnrate, have you tried hitting different instances of the same zone Zanti? Doing that helped me a bit in the newbie zones, not sure how it works with higher level areas though.

[Me]

Good Idea the whole idea of instances is one of the things I have trouble grasping.

Zanti

[Parkbandit]

It sounds like they're grinding to skip content...


Not really to skip content but on a pvp free for all server, it's far easier to hop in an instance and mow down shit without the threat of a gank than it is to go out and solo do quests and get gang raped by roaming gank squads. The content is actually pretty good.. I do quests if I'm off for the day and can do it with low population and minimal gank threat.

[Ashlander]

On a side note, has anyone tried the cultural pvp server Bane yet? Been wondering how that's working out compared to the FFA pvp servers.

[Ashlander]

Just saw a Andraste on Omm.....let's hope it's not the real one...

[Parkbandit]

On a side note, has anyone tried the cultural pvp server Bane yet? Been wondering how that's working out compared to the FFA pvp servers.

We were all going to roll on that server until it was changed to cultural the day of early release.

Personally, I had no interest in being told what faction I could and could not gank.

[Deadelf]

I'd ordered the limited edition in April an was one of the people Funcom screwed over/around. So on the day it was supposed to open I guess if I'm recalling that was 20th of May, I canceled my order since the software hadnt shipped and told Funcom to remove me from the mailing list.

The game looks truly interesting and I'm all for mass gankage. :> Plus seige warfare and mounted combat just sounded awesome. In a few months once they have more bugs worked out, I'll have to give it a try. Be a walking gank target for Falgrin and crew. :P

[Parkbandit]

I'd ordered the limited edition in April an was one of the people Funcom screwed over/around. So on the day it was supposed to open I guess if I'm recalling that was 20th of May, I canceled my order since the software hadnt shipped and told Funcom to remove me from the mailing list.

The game looks truly interesting and I'm all for mass gankage. :> Plus seige warfare and mounted combat just sounded awesome. In a few months once they have more bugs worked out, I'll have to give it a try. Be a walking gank target for Falgrin and crew. :P


That's because u r dum. My game didn't get here until like the 21st or 22nd I don't think.... but you don't need the actual game to play. I downloaded the game, starting on the 14th of May. About 10 patches later, I was up and running on the 17th... 3 days before due to preordering.

[Deadelf]

No Funcom screwed the hooch and dropped the ball Falgrin. And when I tried to find out what was going on I got no where, repeatly. And on the date of release they actually canceled my account as they did with quite a few from what I read.

I was supposed to be up and running on the 17th as well and yeah I'm well aware of how it "was supposed" to work. ;p I guess I need to actually step back and drop down to a 5th grade reading level for you to understand, I didn't think I needed to do so with you. You always came off as a semi bright invidivual. ;p

Actually I was supposed to be able to start character generation on the 14th. ;p Funcom did not communicate correctly with their customers, I couldnt post on the forums though I had an account that showed that I had the upgraded 5 dollar early download, the limited item etc. lol.


Hell I never even got the ability to download the software, the lack of communication on Funcom's part had to have had Blizzard and Turbine etc chuckling at thier offices. This isnt the first time that Funcom fucked the dog either, I did some research and they did the same thing with their previous game. Though their PR guy said that they had learned from that SNAFU and wouldnt have a repeat. In my opinion they did indeed repeat themselves.

Here is a link that I found when I was doing searches at the time for what the hell was happening. This guy as he found stuff out did updates, start towards the bottom and read up, it sums it up so that even you could follow.. ;p

http://www.spasticon.com/2008/05/20/age-of-conan-launches-my-account-cancelled/

Jim

p.s: Hell I didn't even get a confirmation email that my account was open, or a confirmation the bb. It was just open when I went and logged in. ie: they didnt email to confirm about credit card or nothing. Not even an automated system.

[Parkbandit]

No Funcom screwed the hooch and dropped the ball Falgrin. And when I tried to find out what was going on I got no where, repeatly. And on the date of release they actually canceled my account as they did with quite a few from what I read.

I was supposed to be up and running on the 17th as well and yeah I'm well aware of how it "was supposed" to work. ;p I guess I need to actually step back and drop down to a 5th grade reading level for you to understand, I didn't think I needed to do so with you. You always came off as a semi bright invidivual. ;p

Actually I was supposed to be able to start character generation on the 14th. ;p Funcom did not communicate correctly with their customers, I couldnt post on the forums though I had an account that showed that I had the upgraded 5 dollar early download, the limited item etc. lol.


Hell I never even got the ability to download the software, the lack of communication on Funcom's part had to have had Blizzard and Turbine etc chuckling at thier offices. This isnt the first time that Funcom fucked the dog either, I did some research and they did the same thing with their previous game. Though their PR guy said that they had learned from that SNAFU and wouldnt have a repeat. In my opinion they did indeed repeat themselves.

Here is a link that I found when I was doing searches at the time for what the hell was happening. This guy as he found stuff out did updates, start towards the bottom and read up, it sums it up so that even you could follow.. ;p

http://www.spasticon.com/2008/05/20/age-of-conan-launches-my-account-cancelled/

Jim

p.s: Hell I didn't even get a confirmation email that my account was open, or a confirmation the bb. It was just open when I went and logged in. ie: they didnt email to confirm about credit card or nothing. Not even an automated system.


I guess my 5th grade education wuz more den you got.. since I wuz able 2 play on teh 17th. If u jus downloaded teh program, u got 2 play. Sorry u r 2 dum 2 figer it out lik i wuz. I mus b a genus.

[Insodus]

I'm installing now. Any suggestions which server to join?

Also, which class is one of the stronger melee classes?

[Parkbandit]

I've only played a ranger so far, but I've grouped with both assassins and barbarians and they both are good.

Some of us are on the Tyrany server.. but not sure if it's still considered "full" or not.

[Deadelf]

I guess my 5th grade education wuz more den you got.. since I wuz able 2 play on teh 17th. If u jus downloaded teh program, u got 2 play. Sorry u r 2 dum 2 figer it out lik i wuz. I mus b a genus.


Yep, me and thousands others. My error for thinking you wanted my honest opinion on what I and others experienced with Funcom and the pre-release and release of this product.

Jim

[Parkbandit]

Yep, me and thousands others. My error for thinking you wanted my honest opinion on what I and others experienced with Funcom and the pre-release and release of this product.

Jim

Dude, there were plenty of work arounds. I had to contact EBGames to get the code that allowed me to download the game. I had to get into their open beta system by paying for a service I have no intention of using. I had to download the game for 2 days solid because their servers were slow as fuck.

I'm not saying that Funcom is perfect.. I know they made plenty of mistakes. There were 3 people in our guild that had the same thing happen to them.. but they contacted Funcom and got it straightened out by the 17th.

If you wanted to play on the 20th, there were ways to get there.

[The Ponzzz]

Hey Jim! Good to see you around!

[Keller]

Dude, there were plenty of work arounds. I had to contact EBGames to get the code that allowed me to download the game. I had to get into their open beta system by paying for a service I have no intention of using. I had to download the game for 2 days solid because their servers were slow as fuck.

I'm not saying that Funcom is perfect.. I know they made plenty of mistakes. There were 3 people in our guild that had the same thing happen to them.. but they contacted Funcom and got it straightened out by the 17th.

If you wanted to play on the 20th, there were ways to get there.

Can you let the man vent his frustrations without showing him how stupid he is and how smart you are?

[Alfster]

Dude, there were plenty of work arounds. I had to contact EBGames to get the code that allowed me to download the game. I had to get into their open beta system by paying for a service I have no intention of using. I had to download the game for 2 days solid because their servers were slow as fuck.

I'm not saying that Funcom is perfect.. I know they made plenty of mistakes. There were 3 people in our guild that had the same thing happen to them.. but they contacted Funcom and got it straightened out by the 17th.

If you wanted to play on the 20th, there were ways to get there.

I was one of those people, and I was up and running on the 20th.

Granted, it's next to impossible to get a response from funcom, but I figured it out.

[Maerit]

I've been enjoying this game at a casual pace, and play on the cultural PvP Bane server. There are still plenty of ganking crews and other problems with it being cultural, but the nice part is that if you see any of your "faction" around, they generally jump into the fray to help save yer ass.

On a side note, I don't think ganking is all that hard to avoid. Here's a tip - Hiding can be accomplished by basically any class. You can put 100 skill points into hiding early on. The search ability SUCKS HORRIBLY. People with maxed out perception will basically fail to find you because searching is bugged and not working, or its intentionally fairly impossible to locate someone. I play a conqueror, so a soldier class is not that great at hiding, and it drains your stamina if you move. However, you basically just hide, move about 10 feet, and they can never find you. After a minute or two, they'll get bored and move on. I am only at level 34 right now, but when those level 70 bastards try to gank me I just hit "h" and let them pass. This option exists for every character since hiding is a trainable skill, its just way easier to use hiding as a "rogue" type character.

Also, you regen health and stamina while hiding, just at a much slower rate. If you are able to break away and escape before you die from a ganker, you can hide. Its not a bad tactic either - tactical retreating can actually win you a fight. If you pop a health potion right before you hide, you can basically regen to full before they get their health back up (provided you did some damage), pop out of hiding and finish the job.

The main problems with the game right now are:

1. 30-55 has a shortage of questing areas, and some there are times when you have to grind to make up the difference.

2. This game should not have left BETA yet, the bugs are incredibly annoying and consistent. Just things like the UI not refreshing properly and showing all debuffs and buffs on you that have expired, making it difficult to manage your character. Other things like pathing problems, abilities doing nothing, feats that seem to be broken, and the general lack of clarification as to what stats on your gear will actually do is frustrating.

3. No ability to macro means a lot of mouse-clicking nonsense that just slows down gameplay and makes it feel clunky. I like the combat system, but I'd like it 10x more if I could simply macro a few things like when I change my weapons, my hot bar changes at the same time... Simple things that just make gameplay more liquid could easily be accomplished with the most basic of macros that are not available unless you have the hardware to support it (I.E. the G15 keyboard). I am really concerned that they will never release the API(?? right?) to the scripting community either since it will be a console game, and those folks would not have the same ability to create scripts or macros as a PC player would. In the end, it may require the usage of a 3rd party macro program to press multiple keybinds at the same time in order to create the fluid gameplay I'm looking for.

If you haven't picked this game up yet, then wait about 2 months before grabbing it. They intend to fill in some content in the 30-55 range, and in the 70-80 range, along with adding more raid content and defining itemization this summer. I am hoping some of that will be accomplished in the next couple months. Bug patches happen almost twice a week right now, and they are rebalancing some necessary class concerns. Right now, this is a very incomplete game, and for anyone used to a high-level MMO like WoW or even Everquest, you'll find this one lacking in "comfortable" gameplay. You have to erase your mindset about those games, however, to enjoy AoC. It is not a gear grind (gear means very little right now), nor is it a pure PvE game. To find full enjoyment, you'll want to be immersed into both PvP and PvE communities, have a good guild, and build a guild city that has a lot of activity. For the solo artist, this game is going to be great for a couple weeks, and then it'll cease to captivate your attention depending on what content they manage to add. There's a lot of lore, though, and the quest content can be pretty enjoyable if you're paying attention.

[Warriorbird]

The scary thing is this, Maerit. There are thousands less bugs than it started with. The game has morphed into different shapes countless times.

[Maerit]

The scary thing is this, Maerit. There are thousands less bugs than it started with. The game has morphed into different shapes countless times.

This is very scary, I agree. And the debate on where this will morph now is the itemization debate. Right now, your gear means very little with the stat caps. People at level 80 are capping out in "green" or "uncommon" gear, they don't even need the rare "blue" items from instances much less epic stuff. While I don't actually want the game to become gear driven like WoW was, it is a constant discussion. They intend to make gear mean more, but how much more? Will people grind instance after instance to complete sets and win rolls, and will the PvE raider gain that distinct advantage over the PvP player because their epic gear is just better? I sure hope not, but only time will tell.

[Warriorbird]

I personally hope gear stays stylistic. I'd just like stuff to be broader and the 360 version to come so our guild gets full.

[Parkbandit]

I personally hope gear stays stylistic. I'd just like stuff to be broader and the 360 version to come so our guild gets full.

What server do you play on?

I'm just ok with the game so far.. but I think it's more of the guild I am in. Everyone is broken out into little cliques.. there's really not a concerted effort to help each other get to 80. Few cave groups.. but that's about it.

Sucks not playing with friends you know... that was the draw in WoW for me.

[Warriorbird]

Cimmeria. We're considering getting out though.

The friend thing is huge. A former college roomate of mine (and the first person in our guild to cap in this server) just quit and we're sort of unhappy with the "RP Events" so far.

[Parkbandit]

Cimmeria. We're considering getting out though.

The friend thing is huge. A former college roomate of mine (and the first person in our guild to cap in this server) just quit and we're sort of unhappy with the "RP Events" so far.


Yea.. I know Alfster and Littlefang currently in our guild... and that's it. A big part of the guild has been playing together for years.. so they do their own thing.

My wife went to Mexico with some girl friends this past weekend.. leaving me unlimited time to play. I think I've played a grand total of 3-4 hours all weekend. I really like the game.. it's just boring to play solo or with people you have no real connection with.

[Me]

yeah its tough being alone. And I can't play like some of these people so feel I am falling behind.

LF

[Parkbandit]

You can't play like some people, because you are still raiding in WoW!

I like most of the people in the guild, but the communication and group effort is non-existant.

[Alfster]

I think it'll get a lot better once everyone is higher level and the real guild shit starts, especially with the guild pvp shit that'll go on.

[Skeeter]

It's a bad sign when you're already hoping the game will get better down the line.

[Parkbandit]

I think it'll get a lot better once everyone is higher level and the real guild shit starts, especially with the guild pvp shit that'll go on.

Yea.. that's what I keep telling myself.. but solo grinding out another 26 levels seems rather daunting to me. I've never been a great leveler... my ADD kicks in and I either get bored, or pvp pulls me off questing.

[Parkbandit]

It's a bad sign when you're already hoping the game will get better down the line.

It's not the game.

[Skeeter]

I just remember WoW leveling being a blast. Quests aren't as engaging in AoC?

[Parkbandit]

I just remember WoW leveling being a blast. Quests aren't as engaging in AoC?

I never considered WoW leveling a blast.. nor did I remember GS4 leveling being a blast.

I'm seeing a pattern here...

[Skeeter]

GS4 leveling sucked. But I thought the WoW quests (not all of course) were very well thought out and engaging. Duskwood had some of the most entertaining quests in the game for instance.

I was curious if AoC had anything similar, or if it was all go kill 100 of these and bring me back their bones type quests.

[Trouble]

I think the leveling in WoW was awesome, the first time. I read every quest and enjoyed the scenery/zone progressons. Reading some of the quests even made my hair stand on end at times (yeah I'm an emo bastard, FU). The EPL/WPL, druid/shaman, and Nagrand (Thrall) quests were good for that. At cap and with my later toons, it was a pure unentertaining grind though. Ugh.

I couldn't imagine leveling a toon in GS from 0 now that I've played WoW. If I didn't already have a 90-something character in GS, I likely never would have come back. Then again, as I've said many times, I was never really an RPer. I liked the social apsects of GS and it was the first multi-player game I had ever played.

So like Skeeter asked, are the storylines/quests in AoC engaging?

[Me]

Leveling in Wow was fun because we had a huge group from Gemstone and new friends and everyday it was a hoot. You rushed home logged on to find out someone was a bit higher and they stopped to get everyone else caught up. It finally started to break apart when we got in our 50's but within a week or two we were all raiding so I didn't mind leveling the first time. Second time was horrible I was so bored. Heh

AOC I don't understand the lore maybe. I haven't read any Conan books since I was a kid so maybe its because I don't know it very well. But in Wow even if you didn't read the books you figured out the history pretty easy.

LF

[Parkbandit]

GS4 leveling sucked. But I thought the WoW quests (not all of course) were very well thought out and engaging. Duskwood had some of the most entertaining quests in the game for instance.

I was curious if AoC had anything similar, or if it was all go kill 100 of these and bring me back their bones type quests.

Same exact thing in AoC. Difference is for me, I had people I knew and played GS with who were playing wow for the first time and we were all together. I had an awesome time learning the game on the Ardent Dawn server with a bunch of people who still post here.

AoC has the same exact method of questing.. go here, talk to this guy, go get this trinket from this bad guy by killing him and I'll give you a new sword.

[CrystalTears]

They're all human though. Boring!

[Me]

What I don't understand is that the human females are very nekkid and very graphic but the nekkid males have no penis's. That just seems wrong. Do those parts fall off when they are changed to werewolves?

LF

[Warriorbird]

The humans vary a lot, CT.

[CrystalTears]

The humans vary a lot, CT.
Unless they vary into a cow or an elf, it's not a lot. :tongue:

[Skeeter]

I would argue that a lot of humans change into cows.

[AnticorRifling]

The key to WoW leveling was to do it as slow as possible, that way when you capped the raid content was on farm and they just gave you all the stuff everyone already had....

[CrystalTears]

The key to WoW leveling was to do it as slow as possible, that way when you capped the raid content was on farm and they just gave you all the stuff everyone already had....
What are you trying to imply??

[AnticorRifling]

What are you trying to imply??
I was talking about myself getting to 60 and then stepping into MC for the Anticor loot fest that followed.

[CrystalTears]

Heh, I did the same thing. I lol'ed at myself.

[Some Rogue]

You two Ryasks sicken me.

[Some Rogue]

I would argue that a lot of humans change into cows.

Especially after they marry?

[CrystalTears]

You two Ryasks sicken me.
I'll cut you bitch.

[Alfster]

Same exact thing in AoC. Difference is for me, I had people I knew and played GS with who were playing wow for the first time and we were all together. I had an awesome time learning the game on the Ardent Dawn server with a bunch of people who still post here.

AoC has the same exact method of questing.. go here, talk to this guy, go get this trinket from this bad guy by killing him and I'll give you a new sword.

With AoC, I've found the 6 man instances that I've run to be far more entertaining than any of the early instances in wow.

I think this release was the perfect time for AoC, as I can dedicate myself to playing the game while not really losing anything in wow...just in case I hit 80 and find that the raiding is just not fun (same with seiges).

I can't bring myself to grind anymore in WOW because of the upcoming expansion, why grind for gear that won't mean shit the second you step into the new expansion?

[Skeeter]

Especially after they marry?

exactly

[Parkbandit]

They're all human though. Boring!

There's nothing wrong with human...

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e6/belike53/Nipples.jpg

[Celephais]

BAN PB ALREADY!?!?!?!

[Parkbandit]

BAN PB ALREADY!?!?!?!

Already? I think I'm overdue.

[Skeeter]

:bananahit:

[TheEschaton]

So, buying a new desktop, and I admit, I know nothing about hardware.

What's the difference between a quad core processor clocked at 2.66Ghz, and a duo clocked at 3GHz? The only other difference is that the cache on the quad is doubled at 12mb. Which one will run games quicker? Is there a point to getting a quad core clocked at a lower speed?

[Alfster]

stick to dual core for now

[Parkbandit]

So, buying a new desktop, and I admit, I know nothing about hardware.

What's the difference between a quad core processor clocked at 2.66Ghz, and a duo clocked at 3GHz? The only other difference is that the cache on the quad is doubled at 12mb. Which one will run games quicker? Is there a point to getting a quad core clocked at a lower speed?

Dual Core vs Quad Core CPUs
Building a new system rig? Looking for the right processor? Wondering whether Intel’s Core 2 Duos stack up against it’s own Core 2 Quad processors?

Digitlife has just published a new comparison benchmark article between Intel’s “old” Core 2 Duos and its Quads by putting them up against a wide variety of games, multimedia software and even web applications to see which is the better processor for your needs.

This time we’ll try our new test procedure in an interesting but “academic” research. This article won’t feature many new processors. All the four contenders belong to the Intel Core 2 family, and the main problems addressed in this article have nothing to do with the question which model is the fastest.

It’s very interesting to compare quad-core processors with dual-core ones, as the cheapest Intel Core 2 Quad (Q6600) already costs about $200. This price border separates CPUs for well-off users from popular processors on the Russian market. So common users may be tempted to buy a real quad-core processor, even if it does not operate at a high clock rate. We only have to find out whether it’s an objectively expedient decision. Of course, a quad-core processor will always be more expensive than a dual-core processor on the same core operating at the same frequency, it will consume more power and get hotter. Besides, a quad-core processor needs a more efficient and thus either a more expensive or noisier cooler, and probably a more powerful power supply unit… So, if the above-mentioned issues are not compensated by a serious advantage in performance, this whole idea will make no sense. That’s what we’ll find out in this article.

Our contenders include only two relatively new processors - Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 on Wolfdale core and Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 on Yorkfield core. If you are interested in details, you can read our article about Core 2 Extreme QX9650, which describes differences between Yorkfield and older quad-core Kentsfield. What concerns differences between Wolfdale and Conroe, they fall within the description in this article for the only exception - they are dual-core processors.

View the full benchmarks here: http://www.digit-life.com/articles3/cpu/intel-c2d-6600-7200-c2q-6600-9300.html

[TheEschaton]

Thanks for the article, PB. Might stick with the dual core afterall, save some cash.

Are you all running AoC with dual cores?

-TheE-

[Parkbandit]

Thanks for the article, PB. Might stick with the dual core afterall, save some cash.

Are you all running AoC with dual cores?

-TheE-

I am.

[TheEschaton]

Order placed.

[Celephais]

My problem with the dual core rah-rahing for games I've heard is that the dual cores outperform single threaded gaming, but not by a ton... most benchmarks you see are focused on making the CPU the limitation, very rarely is it... even if it was, 3.0Ghz vs 2.6Ghz is only a 15% clock rate increase ... so you'd go from 30fps to 35fps...

Personally I prefer the extra cores, because when they are utilized you're looking at a 73% clock increase (minus overhead). And as much as I game, rarely do I find my CPU being the bottleneck, the only times I see my CPU being a bottleneck I'm usually doing a lot, or doing something that does take advantage of multi-cores.

[BigWorm]

My problem with the dual core rah-rahing for games I've heard is that the dual cores outperform single threaded gaming, but not by a ton... most benchmarks you see are focused on making the CPU the limitation, very rarely is it... even if it was, 3.0Ghz vs 2.6Ghz is only a 15% clock rate increase ... so you'd go from 30fps to 35fps...

Personally I prefer the extra cores, because when they are utilized you're looking at a 73% clock increase (minus overhead). And as much as I game, rarely do I find my CPU being the bottleneck, the only times I see my CPU being a bottleneck I'm usually doing a lot, or doing something that does take advantage of multi-cores.

It's almost a linear increase in speed in linux for CPU bound tasks like compiling, but I don't know what Vista's process management is like. XP's blows hardcore; it was obviously not designed with multiprocessor/core systems in mind, thought I know Server 2003 improved on this a lot.

[Celephais]

The OS itself manages the multiple threads with very minor overhead; the issue is that most video games are programmed without any parallelism, so if you're playing a video game you could end up utilizing 100% of one core, and then 4% of another to cover background bullshit, and the other two just idle...

Intel's new nehalewhatever processors have this awesome ability where they will overclock one core, while stepping down the others if there is a single threaded application doing the majority of the work, keeping the CPU in the proper thermal envelope.