AMD Quad/Octal Core Opterons - worth it?

[HawkEye1102002]

I am looking into upgrading my current computer from its old AMD Athlon 2200 CPU to a quad (octal with two opteron CPU) core computer so that I can do a veriaty of tasks from using LabView electronics software, graphics, computer modeling, Mathcad as well as the ability to play any game - I am looking at the AMD Opteron (Barcalona) with great intrest.

I understand that the AMD Opteron (Barcalona) is destined for server PC's and high end workstations, should I await the AMD Phenom desktop quad-core CPU (Which is a native quad core CPU as well as the Opteron)

Or should I be really power hungry and wait till AMD makes a native 8-core chip and have a dual CPU motherboard (meaning 16 core computer)

[YuriRuler90]

If you're going for productivity and power, go with the Intel Core 2 Duo Extreme series. They're a hell of a lot faster than the AMD chips.

Right now, it'd probably cost you at least $5,000 to even buy a basic setup for an octal-core.

It's stupid to buy an octal right now though. No games on the market use more than two cores, and even autoCAD won't make full use of anything more than four.