I Love Multi-Core.

I’m listening to “Bark at the Moon” on iTunes, reinstalling all my games one after another, updating about five MMOs at the same time, burning a backup DVD, writing a paper for my English class, talking to friends on Trillian, talking to friends on Xfire and typing out this post all at once. If this were my old Pentium 4 Northwood, the computer would have crashed long ago. I’m currently using 75% of both cores on my Core 2 Duo. Overclocked at 3.0GHz a core, the e4300 die will handle just about anything. If the lowest end Core 2 Duo can do this much, imagine what current Core 2 Quads and the future AMD Phenom Quads can do.

Multi-core processing is the way to go. Even if you’re an old granny trying to send an e-mail or type a letter, a dual core processor would help speed things up a bit, especially if multiple programs are running at one. There’s no doubt that even the average teenage schoolgirl will have her AIM, iTunes, Internet Explorer and god knows what else up at the same time. Considering how most programs require a decent amount of processing power (especially media applications), a single core processor will ultimately fry under these demands.

If you’re a gamer, you either have a multi-core processor or want one. Games like Supreme Commander will all run single core processors to oblivion (speaking of Oblivion, that game will run single cores down too). Sure, these things require new motherboards if you haven’t made the switch yet, but it’s well worth the investment, especially considering how sockets nowadays are designed for drop-in upgrades. Take the LGA 775 socket for Pentium D’s and Core 2′s – that socket accommodates everything from the lowliest Pentium 4 all the way to the mightiest Core 2 Quad. AMD’s releasing processors with backwards socket compatibility – their new processors for socket AM2+ will run on a standard socket AM2 motherboard, albeit with the upgraded data bandwidth turned off.

It’s a clear choice. For your next PC, go multi-core, or die (your new PC certainly will).