suitable cpu upgrade

steveagain · Sep 16, 2013

Hi folks.hope you can help me.I am doing an upgrade.pecs so far:
mobo-asus M5A78L-MLX V2
gpu - powercolor HD7770 1gZ DDR5
ram- 4Gb 1333Hz
I am using an Athlon II x4 645 cpu works well but little bit on the old side'
I was thinking of moving up to a 6300 cpu as thats in my price range right now
because in South Africa the cheapest one I could find costs $175.00
This will be mainly for gaming

geofelt · Sep 16, 2013

I suspect that a better graphics card will serve you better.

To help clarify your options, run these two tests:

a) Run your games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 50%.
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.

Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
set to 50% and see how you do.

If your FPS drops significantly, it is an indicator that your cpu is the limiting factor, and a cpu upgrade is in order.

It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system, and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.

The big advantage of the 6300 is added cores. Since most games do not use more than 2-3 cores, I don't think the extra ones will help.
Perhaps you can determine the sensitivity of your games to the number of cores. See if you can't disable one of your cores and see if it has an effect on performance. I suspect it will not.

steveagain · Sep 16, 2013

geofelt :

I suspect that a better graphics card will serve you better.

To help clarify your options, run these two tests:

a) Run your games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 50%.
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.

Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
set to 50% and see how you do.

If your FPS drops significantly, it is an indicator that your cpu is the limiting factor, and a cpu upgrade is in order.

It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system, and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.

The big advantage of the 6300 is added cores. Since most games do not use more than 2-3 cores, I don't think the extra ones will help.
Perhaps you can determine the sensitivity of your games to the number of cores. See if you can't disable one of your cores and see if it has an effect on performance. I suspect it will not.

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suitable cpu upgrade

steveagain

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steveagain

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