Understanding 'Turbo' in new CPUs

There are many parameters one has to look for when doing a purchase of Processor these days. Gone are the simpler days when a MHz label would be suffice. now u have to see all the tech, no of cores, caches and what not to see what really suits ur needs. And add one more parameter to this list with addition of "Turbo" modes to the processors. This article demystifies the meaning of turbo and difference between AMD and Intel to decide what is better for gamers.

[Lord Anubis]

will there ever be a Nitrous oxide edition? :P

I remember when the first dual cores were not faster than the HyperThreading single cores in the beginning. This only cuts power to the cores that are not being used. They gotta innovate because we are a long way from people really needing a gazillion cores on a single chip. only photoshop and video editing software from adobe takes use of it :(

[karlowma]

Hardware is light years ahead of software at the moment. Blame proprietary implementations (like video game consoles) if you like. I do.

[mrv321]

Blame the dwindeling hardcore market, I mean on % the number of people with super computer are low... why make a game for them? I mean there's plenty of gamers with very good PC's who can run BC 2 at a good framerate and good graphics, this is the majority, if your a high tech PC owner which would you rather.

A game with ran at 30FPS and AA... or a game which ran at 60FPS and 8xAA? Just because the physics and other not required bits of a game havent caught up doesn't mean high tech PC gamers and seeing and advantage, you must also consider the community at large you may only upgrade every 4 years. Scaling can only go far without breaking a game. While the people with REALLY impressive computers may not get the best they are defiantly not regretting their purchase. I mean they'll wake up one day, boot their computer load up a recent game, put it in on normal and realize that it's only using 10% of the computers power.

[Hideo_Kojima]

Code written for consoles often works better and more efficiently on PCs too.

If anything consoles push software development.

Piracy of every singel piece of software on PCs is what is slowing it down more

[mittwaffen]

Is an idiot; If he was a pc gamer he wouldnt be saying that.

Consoles have a largely negative impact on pcs.
Lets see what we've beem losing.

-Map Creation tools gone from multi-platforms(the ones that matter) (endless replay value gone).

-Dedicated servers have been destroyed from the servers we were use to if your lucky enough to have a game with them.

-High clarity graphics; alot of multi-platform games use very low end graphics engines that hamper what peoples pc's are capable of; Operation Flashpoint dragon for PC was a terrible port; the developers dont give high/very high options or if so dont give much of a boost at all. (Developers dont put time into the PC version visually.)

-Lack of proper UI design; so many times before when a multi-platform game is made we PC games get screwed on UI design or controls.

-Lack of support; patches use to be made quickly and effectively; because of multi-platform games patches are co-created and we are left sometimes months without updates to serious issues.

-Lack of evolved online experience; because when a Multi-plat is converted and striped of PSN/Live PC gamers are left with an unified game experience if the developer doesnt implement steam or games for windows live- which likely they wont.

In alot of ways consoles have seriously hurt PC gaming.

[Hideo_Kojima]

You call me an idiot yet you did not try to understand what I was saying.

I said that software on PC is not slacking because of consoles it is slacking because of piracy.

If multiplats sold more on PCs then you could be sure that developers wouldn't even bother with trying to work on consoles (especially consoles like the PS3 which are hard to get used to).

Why didn't MW2 allow dedicated servers?
Poor sales due to piracy.

Why don't multiplats try hard to push the PC extremely high graphically where it belongs?
Poor sales due to piracy.

Why are developers focusing more on consoles?
Because they actually make developers more money.

And no am not much of a PC gamer, haven't been for about 2 years now.
Does that mean I do not know that most console developers are more experienced at coding and those creating software?

[Montrealien]

that is so 1992..

http://coop.sigkill.com/~pr...

[dabri5]

WOH 2 floppy drives!? Someone was ahead of the curve.

[GodsHand]

LOL, I remember my first job at an architectes office had some massive towers, with like 6 bays, a tape drive, the real floppy drive those massive 5-3/4in media. 33.6 kbps modem, and of course the 'Turbo' button next to a lock key. What the lock did exaclty don't know, perhaps prevent the computer from being powered up or something. Oh yeah some wierd network configuration running in DOS.

[OpenGL]

The turbo button that once existed on computers was used to provide backwards compatibility for older applications.

[Setekh]

The level of grammar in this 'article' is appalling. It almost looks like a damn text message with all the stupid shorthand.
I certainly hope that no more posts from this site are ever approved again.

[jakethesnake]

Thank you for saying exactly what I was thinking!!

[mittwaffen]

Turbo is overrated; overclocking is where its at.