Do I have to change my CPU??

[manjish]

hi guys
ive a problem........I have

ECS 945gct-m2(1066)v1.0

Pentium D 925 presler 3.0 ghz 4 MB L2 cache

1 GB ram


I'm planning to get a graphics card and it will most probably be a HD4830 512 MB
i will not be playing games in high resolutions.i have a 17 " CRT ha.

so my questions are:

1>
do i have to change the cpu??if yes what will be a decent processor for me??i am in a very tight budget as i am a student from not-so-developed country.guys help me out

and of course my board does not support OC.
2>
i tried to find out if my board supports the 45 nm chips(eg wolfdale) and 2*2 GB ddr2 or not but couldnt confirm.
as i have to order parts from US i cannot return it if it doesn't works
so guys shed some light please

 

[Mondoman]

No, you shouldn't have to worry about the CPU. One of my PCs is a Pentium D945 (3.4GHz, but otherwise similar to yours) + 8800GS graphics card, and it works well for 1280x1024 Call of Duty 4. Your CPU is slightly slower, but the graphics card should be faster, which is more important for gaming.
The one thing you *need* to add is more RAM. 1GB is too little for gaming, and since it looks like your MB only supports up to 2GB as 2x1GB, that's what I would install. Be sure to get RAM rated at 1.8-1.9V and not higher (higher voltage means it's factory overclocked and may cause compatibility problems). Corsair makes some good (but inexpensive) RAM for that, such as: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145590

 

[bige420]

Your probably going to by seeing some bottleneck with ur GPU. I had an HD4830 and a Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (which is probably somewhere around ur CPU) and I had a bottleneck.

 

[gamerk316]

Even C2D's are starting to show signs of bottlenecks with the newest slate of cards. A GPU upgrade can't hurt, but you need a CPU upgrade at some point to get the most out of your rig.

 

[manjish]

thanks guys
ok so i think my processsor will do the job well for few months hah

and some of my questions are still unanswered....

does my board support 45 nm chips.....???

 

[Mondoman]

The ECS website should have a "CPU support list" that lists which CPUs are supported by your MB.

 

[manjish]

thanks......and it didnt hah

 

[Mondoman]

When you Google your MB model, the first link is the ECS web site entry for your MB. Down on the left side of that page is a box of "Related Links" - click the "CPU Support" link and you're at the list.

 

[manjish]

thanks mondoman .....i already did that and the board does not support 45 nm chips

 

[Mondoman]

Sorry, thought you were saying there was no CPU support list. Enjoy the new graphics card!

 

[manjish]

thanks