[ubuntu-uk] Quad core CPU for Ubuntu, is it worth it?

[Kirrus]

----- christopherrowson at gmail.com wrote:
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > I'm looking to upgrade my PC to something a tad quicker.  Now I'm
> > interested in going to a Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU (2.4GHz quad core).
> > Thing is, I'm not sure if I would really make use of a quad core
> CPU
> > (not to mention my other half wants a PC upgrade too and my budget
> won't
> > stretch to a quad core CPU and an upgrade for her PC too).
> >
> > I don't really play games (although I do use the occasional
> emulator),
> > but I do want to start doing things like video encoding (I have a
> pile
> > of DV tapes to convert to DVD) on top of my usual tasks
> (downloading
> > stuff, running the occasional virtual machine, playing music,
> browsing
> > the web).

Hi Rob,

The technical stuff behind multi-core processors mean that more processors are only really useful if you're going to be running a number of cpu-intensive tasks on your computer simultaneously (as each one will use just one CPU core, leaving the others free to be used elsewhere).