Need some cpu upgrade advice

[Captmorgan72]

Need some cpu upgrade advice

I have a single core Athlon 3400+ and I am thinking about upgrading to a dual core. My socket 939 MB can do it and I thought it would be a good cheap upgrade. The thing is will it give me a big performance increase or will I hardly notice the difference. The new cpu will cost me around $150. I am looking for a big increase in fps in the games I play.

 

[username_2067007]

Whether or not a second core is enough better to justify the expense depends on how new the games you want to play are. There just aren't a great many that get major benefit from multiple cores, and quite a few games that are still popular these days have more problems from dual cores than they should. The Witcher's Aurora game engine dates back fairly far, and what small amount of dual core awareness it has now was added by CD Project's programmers.

 

[Captmorgan72]

The whole thing that got me starting to think about it is Crysis. I bought this game and was reading that it likes dual core processors. I can play it but at the lowest settings with average fps of around 20. If I upgraded to a dual core would it bring those fps up?

 

[coelocanth]

Your processor probably won't have nearly as much effect on your FPS as your video card.

 

[Captmorgan72]

My video card is a nivida Geforce 7950 GT 512MB. I thought that this card is decent but my bud told me it's probably to weak for Crysis.

 

[vaernus]

If you were to jump to a good Intel Core 2 Duo processor, especially the new series that has launched, your graphics card would be able to handle Crysis. It may not do as well as say an nVidia 8800GTX but it's really user preference. But this would require getting a new motherboard as well.

 

[lopezni]

Actually, I think it will make a difference. Don't spent extra money on processors with higher clock speeds. I have a X2 3800+ @ 2.0ghz. I overclocked it to 2.3ghz so spending money for a faster core doesn't make a lot of sense. If you are going to spend the extra money look at the cache size that will make the greater difference.

 

[motemeal]

Out of curiosity- how much RAM do you have?

 

[bakleth]

Apparently, you can get up to 3ghz out of an Intel 1.6ghz chip (Custom PC has a guide this month). I've got an XP 3200+ single core and a 7900GT and I can get full settings on The Witcher and medium to high on Call of Duty 4. Not been brave enough to try Crysis yet, though! I'd try closing most other running processes, including virus protection, and ensuring there's enough cooling inside your case before splasing out on a new processor. As for RAM, 1GB should be enough if you're running XP or 2GB for Vista.

 

[coelocanth]

While you can run The Witcher on 1 GB, 2GB of RAM with XP makes a huge difference.

 

[username_2067007]

Whether or not a second core is enough better to justify the expense depends on how new the games you want to play are. There just aren't a great many that get major benefit from multiple cores, and quite a few games that are still popular these days have more problems from dual cores than they should. The Witcher's Aurora game engine dates back fairly far, and what small amount of dual core awareness it has now was added by CD Project's programmers.

You elected to avoid reading any charts at Toms Hardware. That told me you weren't interested in doing the upgrade yourself. Those benches don't include Crysis, but Supreme Commander, which is dual- core aware, would show improvement, just as pointed out in your duplicate thread (why start the other thread, when you had this one, already?)

 

[haydox]

Well CPU helps a lot in playing games, even if they cant use multiple cores. This is because all other processes are shifted to the inactive cores so the game has one all to iteslf. I upgraded to the system in my sig from an Athlon 64 3200+ single core and whilst each core speed is individually similar the fact i have 4 is mind blowingly different! I can now convert a film whilst playing with no performance hit at all, where as before my old machine would die. Sadly my CPU cost the equivalent of about $300 so a dual core is your best bet. Basically, upgrading from your current cpu to a dual core one should give you a big increase, although your graphics card and RAM may bottleneck it.I would also strongly recommend getting a new graphics card, the new geforce 9s are out now, but an 8 series (GTS and above) is still capable of taking crysis full on! If you manage to come into some money i strongly recommend considering a 3870X2 (what i use), it has twin GPUs which makes for some pretty insane gaming, TW on full graphics looks nice!

 

[Captmorgan72]

I have an Asus A8V board which limits me to AGP cards. I always thought that my 7950 GT was a good card. Are you saying it is not? What AGP card would give me the best performance for Crysis?

 

[bakleth]

The 7950 GT is a decent card, it's just that Crysis has some of the most demanding graphics ever seen. You'll be able to play it, but at a pretty low resolution. Don't panic, though. I play Witcher on a 7900GT at high settings and I can't get near Crysis, so you're not alone. You'd need twin 8800's to get anywhere near full settings, so unless you're prepared to fork out around 2 grand, you'll have to put up with what you can get.If you do want to upgrade, you should be able to get a PCIe motherboard and new processor (4200+) for around £100, but then you're looking at at least £150 extra for a decent mid range card. Don't forget to check the required amperage needed from your PSU either. Might be enough for a single AGP card but might not cope with anything more.