Processor for games

[hmp2k]

Ive a 939 3800+ x2 @2.0ghz with a 7900gto card, 1gb ram ddr 400.

Would an increase in cpu speeds ie e6600 increase fps to make a difference at 1280x1024?

My mb is an asrock 939 dual-vsta (ali chipset).

ive seen another asrock mb - 4core dual-vsta.

Do cheap boards like these have an impact on performance or is that down to processor/gpu/ram combos ?

Assistance appreciated

 

[jattdb]

As a general rule with most games, the graphics card will be the major performance determinant. Unless the starting CPU is just terrible or the game is very CPU intensive, upgrading the CPU will not boost FPS much. Certainly not as much as a similar expenditure on a graphics card upgrade.

 

[hmp2k]

Would a motherboard impact performance based on chipset? ie nforce/intel/via/uli?

 

[hmp2k]

Advise me on something like rct 3 that drains my system at 1/3 of a park full. fps on the game drops from 100 to around 15.

What would be ideal in this position to get the fps up to respectable figures?

 

[speedemon]

Is your ram in a dual channel config. also what kind of modules. check timings if you can. dont know what kind of game you are trying to play but check the settings. a 7900 gt/o will run that resolution no prob, but a couple major gfx settings you really dont need will kill your fps. If you can turn these settings OFF or low. smooth shadows, shadow resolution, anything to do with shadows will hurt the 7900. also keep in mind raiseing the resolution with all eye candy gets kind of tuff with 256mb, but that depends on the game.

 

[hmp2k]

I looked at the eye candy bit and reduced it but fps didnt rise as much as expected. There has to be a bottleneck somewhere or is that just the game ?

 

[geofelt]

Some games neel lots of memory. If there is much hard drive activity when the FPS drops, a shortage of memory is likely. No cpu or vga card can overcome insufficient memory.

 

[zeapoorte]

If your motherboard coud overclocked you CPU ,Im sure you can get atleast
7% more FPS

 

[hmp2k]

i can overclock the cpu to 2.3 with no probs though ive never tried 2.4, which is the avge around this time of the year.

i oc'd to 2.3 then could not power off the pc until i resetted the cmos and got it back to default 2ghz.

Not tried it since.

im convinced that the cpu in my system is rather slow for gaming. i should be looking at a 3ghz cpu or e6600 cpu

Someone tell me if im wrong or just plain nuts!

 

[Twisted_Sister]

i can overclock the cpu to 2.3 with no probs though ive never tried 2.4, which is the avge around this time of the year.

i oc'd to 2.3 then could not power off the pc until i resetted the cmos and got it back to default 2ghz.

Not tried it since.

im convinced that the cpu in my system is rather slow for gaming. i should be looking at a 3ghz cpu or e6600 cpu

Someone tell me if im wrong or just plain nuts!

depends on the games u play.. RTS are generally more CPU intensive than FPS.

 

[Kurita]

I'd say at the moment upgrading to a new processor socket isnt worth it, as you will have to upgrade motherboard, processor and memory, basically making you buy an entire new system. If you are really wanting a new processor, I'd recommend waiting until AMDs next stuff is released as even if it isnt more powerful than Intels offerings, it should cause a bit of a shake-up in processor pricings at least.

Upgrading processor in your current 939 MoBo is an option, but new 939 processors are becoming scarce. If you can find a good deal on a high end one (X2 4800+ or so) then go for it, otherwise not worth the money.

If you are planning to upgrade processor later (6-9 months time), its also worth OCing your current processor a little more (including upping the voltage a little). Not only will it run faster (making the upgrade a little less needed) until you need to upgrade, the shortening of the lifespan will be negated by you buying a new processor. Same can be done with memory if you are going to DDR2 in your new machine (careful of heat here though if your RAM doesnt have heat spreaders)

I'd say for upgrading just pour your money into getting a better 3D card for gaming, something like a X1950XT or 8800GTS. At very least they can be transferred across into your next system if your current rig restricts them.

If you really want to see if your processor is limiting your system, try decreasing the multiplier and see if it has any effect on your games performance. Slight differences do appear even when not CPU-bound (normally a couple of FPS) though, but if performance drops linearly alongside a drop in CPU power then you are CPU limited.

Most of the points I made are null if you play Supreme commander though, as it enjoys its CPU power...

 

[BaldEagle]

Ive a 939 3800+ x2 @2.0ghz with a 7900gto card, 1gb ram ddr 400.

Would an increase in cpu speeds ie e6600 increase fps to make a difference at 1280x1024?

My mb is an asrock 939 dual-vsta (ali chipset).

ive seen another asrock mb - 4core dual-vsta.

Do cheap boards like these have an impact on performance or is that down to processor/gpu/ram combos ?

Assistance appreciated

Not a huge difference, the GPU will be more commanding in terms of noticable performance. Invest in a 8800 GTS or X, or wait for the R600 to come out in the 2nd half of this year. (A little poke here, the R600 is terribly late, it is suppose to hit shelves in May after being delayed from a March Launch).

Any bets on if the r600 is actually out in May. I bet it's paper launch and you won't see them until July.

 

[YO_KID37]

R600s are to Paper launch this month or the first week of April.

*I'm thinking a April 1st launch (to let people think it as a joke) and then be available in masses along with lower end R600 models by May times.
*And Barcelona Benchmarks are to leak First week of April after the announcement of R600's launch(to keep the public Interest). This Stratigy would be perfect to start up AMD/ATI's momentum for their Barcelona-R600 PowerHour for H2 07

The back to back News of Products would be adopted from Bush and his
(I've Caught Saddam[Who knows maybe Osama is near by] and its only months to my second Election.. Strategy)

 

[slashzapper]

Wait for INTEL DOMINATION , latest news flash you will be able to buy a Quad 6600 for about 266$ .

And not the cpu will not impact your gaming to a any noticeable degree.

Suggestion ; Get a 8800 gts 320 Evga Superclocked . You can always step up later if required.

To check out the article on Intel Cpu Price Crash , go to the CPU section.

Zapper 8)

 

[makaka]

Your system is about right . u can overclock the cpu to about 2.6 ghz and your video card a bit and u will get over 10 % performance boost .
i personnaly do not suugest to got with 8800 card on Amd x2 platform since even high end core duo can't keep up with such card @ low resolution such as 1280x1024
cpu dependency here is clear how faster cpu make big impact in game

 

[z_dori]

if you want to increase your pc speed for gaming-
take a better Graphic card and expand your ram to 2G.

i have a 2.66GHz (on 478)!! with 2G ram 400MHz, and a 7600GS on AGP.
it suks right?
so no- i'm playing NFS Carbon or Most wanted on max graphic but without AA. (this needs CPU power).
even Company of Heroes and Test drive Ultimate.
all on 1280X1024.
the loading is quite long, but the game is fine.
almost like my friends with the dual core AMD & INTEL that they have.

my next sys will be like the XPS 710, but until then- with minimum money invested on imporoving the pc (only 1Gram more & the Gcard was like 1500 shekels=350$ 3 month ago) i'm enjoying games nicely.
Oh, and i don't overclock at all...

Dor.

 

[hmp2k]

Well, this is my point, at certain screen resolutions you will be limited by either the cpu or the gpu and or both gpu and cpu (maybe not at same time).

Ive seen some benchies that suggest at a res of 1600 x 1200 and above its strictly the gpu.

i cant remember where i had seen it but there was a benchmark done at 1920x xxxx (cant remember) and all fps scores differed by 1fps at the most.

The worst message ive seen in any game is ubisoft's f1rc that told me i didnt have enough video memory for max settings. This is a game thats over 4 years old!

i sometimes wondered whether my upgerade for gaming was really worth it. Then again, playing at full res of screen is better than downgrading to 800x600 because of shortage of hardware strength. Was impressed at doom 3 and quake 4's performance when upgrading from 9600 pro 128mb agp to 7900gto on pci-e.

 

[z_dori]

...

 

[kugi]

As a general rule with most games, the graphics card will be the major performance determinant. Unless the starting CPU is just terrible or the game is very CPU intensive, upgrading the CPU will not boost FPS much. Certainly not as much as a similar expenditure on a graphics card upgrade.

but the cpu can impack the video card's performance

 

[kugi]

Would a motherboard impact performance based on chipset? ie nforce/intel/via/uli?

yes they can

 

[Lionhardt]

agreed.

 

[david_uk]

Ive a 939 3800+ x2 @2.0ghz with a 7900gto card, 1gb ram ddr 400.

Would an increase in cpu speeds ie e6600 increase fps to make a difference at 1280x1024?

My mb is an asrock 939 dual-vsta (ali chipset).

ive seen another asrock mb - 4core dual-vsta.

Do cheap boards like these have an impact on performance or is that down to processor/gpu/ram combos ?

Assistance appreciated

It depends what type of games you play. If you play brainless first-person shooter type games (offline) where eye candy is all important, then graphics card will be more important. However, if you play more intelligent strategy-type games, then cpu will be just as important as graphics card. This is because cpu affects number and data crunching ability as well as AI. Slow processor = poor AI, whereas fast processor = better AI. I upgraded recently from socket 939 single core processor to dual core processor (graphics card and ram stayed the same) and my medieval total war game runs much better and without any stuttering during large battles with lots of units on the screen.

 

[YO_KID37]

You missed the news then:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/22/amd_pushes_r600_back_to_may/


The apparent new release month is May, people are taking bets that that is again pushed out.

I guess I have missed the news. WOW, AMD really has been pushing it too far. But my feeling is that this was the final Launch Push, this time AMD's Barcelona is to coincide with R600s(High to Low end) launch. Would make sense, if you buy a new AM2+ with a new Barcelona, you would like to have Great Graphics to compliment it.

 

[epsilon84]

It really depends on the game TBH. You really can't generalise all games into one category as they differ greatly in CPU requirements.

From my personal experience:

Single player FPS games and racing car type games tend to be more GPU bound. So Call of Duty 2, Far Cry, Half Life 2, Rainbow 6: Vegas, Need for Speed Carbon etc etc all don't scale much with a faster CPU. Any 3GHz/3000+ rated CPU will be able to handle these games at reasonable framerates, and the GPU tends to be the limiting factor in most cases.

Online FPS/RPG games like BF2/CS:S/WOW will benefit from a faster CPU as framerates can drop dramatically once there is a lot of action going on.

Simulation games like Flight Sim X or *cough* The Sims series are generally quite CPU bound as well. RTS games also often tend to be quite CPU bound, especially those involving a large number of troops. Try commanding a 1000+ man attack in Rome: Total War at highest settings and you'll see what I mean.

 

[hmp2k]

try building a full to the hilt park on roller coaster tycoon 3 and you will see what i mean too!