Does having a dedicated graphics card decrease CPU Usage?

IamShub

Reputable
Mar 16, 2015
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4,510
Hi, I have an old computer that I use for web browsing, watching youtube videos (not in very high resolution), web programming and also now I'm going to do desktop and mobile application development.
I am using Intel Pentinum D 820 processor, GigaByte GA-G31M-ES2C Motherboard, 4GB DDR2 RAM, Samsung 850 Evo 120GB SSD and 450W Power Supply. My operating system is Windows 8.1 32 bit. Though my system runs smoothly most of the time and I'm quite happy with my system performance, my cpu usage sometimes especially when using heavy compilers shoots up. Since I'm using maximum RAM on my motherboard and also a SSD I want to know where more I can upgrade. I can't upgrade the CPU because of financial issues. Also upgrading the CPU means upgrading the motherboard and RAM and that's too much of cost for me.
will using a dedicated graphics card will increase my system performance? I've never used a dedicated graphics card in my whole life as I never enjoyed playing games. so I've no experience with graphics card.

 
Solution
For development buying a used Core2 Quad Q9xxx would be your best choice. Your current CPU is a 95W 2.8Ghz dual core. Your motherboard supports all the way up to a quad core 3Ghz CPU. A Q9550 would be the same clock speed, same power envelope but double the cores and SIX times the on chip cache.

If a Q9xxx CPU is too expensive then a Q8xxx would be the next best choice. I would start hunting E-Bay for used CPUs.

BigBadBeef

Admirable
Graphics and compute core are not intercompatible. Changing your graphics card will not free up your CPU, the only exception is AMD's mantle compatible product, which you cannot afford anyway.

But what it does do is that it frees up your RAM, but that may or may not have any bearings on performance of whatever you're doing.
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
For development buying a used Core2 Quad Q9xxx would be your best choice. Your current CPU is a 95W 2.8Ghz dual core. Your motherboard supports all the way up to a quad core 3Ghz CPU. A Q9550 would be the same clock speed, same power envelope but double the cores and SIX times the on chip cache.

If a Q9xxx CPU is too expensive then a Q8xxx would be the next best choice. I would start hunting E-Bay for used CPUs.
 
Solution