Multiple Processors

[Krawler]

the demo they had at the gamers press day was running on Dells that were packing Quad cores.

[stephen_wq]

FYI, I'm planning on getting Vista Premium which does support SMP (2 cores/cpus only).

Inaccurate. Vista Home Premium support 2 cores, but not 2 cpu's. Only Vista Ultimate and Enterprise will support multiple CPU's.

[Phopojijo]

I could be wrong, but I think that when an application supports multicore, it doesn't matter if it's 2 or 4 core(or 8 for that matter), it divvies up the processes.

Depends on how its run. You can only have a single processor per thread. If you game only runs 2 threads, you're doomed to 2 processors.

UnrealEngine to my knowledge though splits off some high-priority modules to other processors -- like physics, etc. There's nothing stopping Epic from dumping AI on one core, Physics on another (or two if Novodex wasn't lying when they said they themselves were multicored) -- vertex deformation and RAM-pushing on another core... etc.

So immediately its possible for Epic to have support for 3 processors just off what I can name. Knowing Epic does the most efficient path possible, I'm assuming whatever can be multithreaded -- will if given the chance. Why not? They split it off to 6 threads for the Xbox 360. There's almost nothing *in code* which makes multicore processors harder... assuming of course your application is split off enough to be put onto multiple processors.

[SleightOfHand]

Will it support 4 cores though?

Myself, I'm not absolutely convinced that Vista is the best gaming platform over the next 12 months and am sticking to XP.

I could be wrong, but I think that when an application supports multicore, it doesn't matter if it's 2 or 4 core(or 8 for that matter), it divvies up the processes.

[fafreeman]

i have dual core now toledo 4400 but i am sticking to XP untill more drivers are avalible for other programs i am running..and i wonder in unreal and UT would run under vista...

Pretty simple answer really. Vista its self needs 1ghz P4, XP needs 300mhz P2. Vista needs 512MB of ram bare minimum, XP needed around 128mb, yet could run on 64mb. Thus, no matter what, XP will gives games far more FPS since it needs far less system resources.

[Magwa]

i have dual core now toledo 4400 but i am sticking to XP untill more drivers are avalible for other programs i am running..and i wonder in unreal and UT would run under vista...

[rhiridflaidd]

Will it support 4 cores though?

Myself, I'm not absolutely convinced that Vista is the best gaming platform over the next 12 months and am sticking to XP.

[Hickeroar]

EPIC has confirmed this already, it will support multi-cored CPUs

but.. arnt u the guy that was raggin on PC's???? and how superior the 360 was??? what happend? did u get ur head outa ur ***?

Uhm, I think you're confusing me with someone else. I love my 360 but I'd NEVER say that it was in any way better than a PC... I railed on the PS3 in one thread, but nothing against PC's...

Thanks for the info though. I've been debating whether to go broke and build a gaming rig (my friend accidentally fried my current, but oldish one), or if I want to suck it up and deal with crappy console controls. I'm kinda leaning toward the "new pc" end of things though, assuming I get a decent tax return. Especially now that I know it supports MCP's...

[Krawler]

EPIC has confirmed this already, it will support multi-cored CPUs

but.. arnt u the guy that was raggin on PC's???? and how superior the 360 was??? what happend? did u get ur head outa ur ***?

[Hickeroar]

I know that largely, the "next gen" of games is going to take advantage of multi-cored processors. Does UT3 fall into that category?

I know UE3 definitely uses MCP on the 360 and PS3, but is the PC version of the engine set up to give me a performance boost if I get a multicored cpu?

FYI, I'm planning on getting Vista Premium which does support SMP (2 cores/cpus only).