dual core 2 or quad

have a client that wants a kick butt system and im not quite sure if i should get her the dual core 2 3+ghz processor or the higher end quad core.

she has a business and they do a lot of work using adobes CS5 program which is by the way the most intense program ive ever seen. took an hour to install on a p4-3.2ghz with 2g memory. she also uses a cad program and the other things are normal email, word, excel.

which is better for her ???

 

i see by tomshardware site that the e8600 beats out all the quad core processor when doing a compare with photoshop cs3. this surprises me does this make sense to anyone.

 

petec

thanks man can always depend you on here. it appears the e8600 is not only a better price but will perform with photoshop much better. like the links say down the line when more apps. are written for quad than maybe but now the e8600 looks like the way to go and i will max. out the memory so this should be a screaming machine. going to order it now from dell seeing as i am a reseller i even get a few more bucks knocked off.

with dell you can only get the quad core on their vostro 400 machine and man that is a beast of a machine. with the dual core e8600 i can get the vostro 200 which is half the size and weight. much better i think.

thanks again.

 

petec

your new year is getting pretty close so you have a good party night also.

 

I would agree, most of her work would be managed very nicely with 8400, 8500, or the 8600 chip. I'm running the 8400 cpu with Velociraptor HDD (300Gb system-partitioned), 4GB 4-4-4-12 memory and it is a very stable, very fast computer (cold boot/shutdown both 25 seconds). Running all components at stock setting. I'm am very pleased with computer (see complete sys specs at left).
With that said, I would measure / question her phrase "Kick-butt" system. The new gorilla in the woods is Intel's i7 chip ... this cpu is a monster, REWRITES most testbed tables. At this time is untouchable in performance. To keep cost in check, I would suggest i7 920 cpu. Check out the major players for best mobo fit. You should be able to have hardware cost at either side of $1500 ... using some discretion. I would check out her CAD program for any compatibility issues with any selection you make.

 

towards a video card, such as the NVIDIA Quadro

I would put more $$$ towards a video card, such as the NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600. That made a huge difference with my engineers using cad

QUOTE=gghartman;435218]have a client that wants a kick butt system and im not quite sure if i should get her the dual core 2 3+ghz processor or the higher end quad core.

she has a business and they do a lot of work using adobes CS5 program which is by the way the most intense program ive ever seen. took an hour to install on a p4-3.2ghz with 2g memory. she also uses a cad program and the other things are normal email, word, excel.

which is better for her ???[/QUOTE]