Originally posted by: compnurd9
It is an AMD problem because intel dual core users are not having the problem and i am not using the X2 driver to get certain games to work.
Yes, X2's are the only dual-cores with this problem. Why?
Is it hardware?
or
Is it software?
If it was hardware, nothing would work. Reasoning leads one to realize it is software.
Causes:
1) Driver (AMD)
2) Load Balancing (OS)
3) Software (the actual games)
Why is intel immune, look at the 3 points I listed, and think about the past 4 years. What did Intel bring to the desktop that AMD did not? Answer: Hyperthreading which was/is dual core (1 real, 1 pretend).
Intel has more experience with the drivers, and Intel chips have better software support than AMD chips (why? Because of market share.) Programmers have learned to work with (or around) hyperthreading to make their programs work. Intel did have problems when Hyperthreading first came out, but they have no trouble now.
Give AMD time, the drivers and support will catch up. X2 is only a few months old. Also, look at the games with problems: how old are they and how old is the "engine" they are based upon?
As for a Hardware bug, I've heard a rumour that the X2 chip has a shared cache thats leads to problems. I can't confirm this at all, but one forum member claims to have proof. Maybe Anand will figure this one out for us (it has been a while since his X2 Blog entry).