Which processor for desktop?

[Ankur]

I was looking forward for i7-950, it has 4 cores and 3.06Ghz to Turbo boost upto 3.33Ghz, where as the i7-860 and i5-680 break the 3.4Ghz Turbo boost barrier.
The 860 and 680 are probably 2 cores and the 950 is 4 cores. What are actually cores? Are they for multitasking? I need a good CPU for playing heavy games, only one game at a time. So are the 2 cores enough?
Today I was seeing many CPUs and thought about getting the 680 for the desktop.

 

[SslagleZ28]

If you going to go Intel and not AMD I'll recommend that you wait till Jan when Intel releases a new line of processors.

This was posted over in the processor section

http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/intels-2011-leaked-roadmap-unveils-19-new-processors-20100816/

 

[jgoff14]

I second the wait, but if you still want it now: i7 950 is better, 4 cores, 8 threads 8mb cache triple channel memory. i7 8xx are similar as 9xx but require the lga 1156 socket and therefore not the x58 chipset so no triple channel memory. The i5 680 is a dual core with 4 threads and 4mb cache. hope this helps!

 

[Orgazmo]

Intel Core processor family offers the finest and fastest Intel processors. The results of intelligent performance that suits the needs of home users and businesses, the Intel Core family automatically adapts to unique workloads and reduce energy consumption with intelligent energy-saving features.

what position do you hold at intel?

 

[linkin]

Wait for Sandy Bridge, about 10 days now. Not worth buying and building right now.

 

[jgoff14]

I also missed some of your post, cores on a processor allow it to multi-task as if it had that many physical processors. It creates 2 or 4 processors on one die. If the processor is hyperthreaded then it allows for multiple threads per core. All of those are hyperthreaded so they are able to perform two operations at once essentially doubling the speed. If you are browsing around the web you may see some sites list something as '8 logical cores, 4 physical cores' and it means the same thing. It would basically perform as though it has 8 'processors' but there is some math involved that shows the limit in the scalability so it isn't a real 8 processor computer but will significantly improve performance in an apple to apple comparison. Good luck!