Brought a TigerDirect barebone

[TheArmoredFatboy]

Well this will be my old system:
athlon 3500+ (2.2 ghz single core)
2gb of ddr 400mhz ramm
x1650 pro
windows XP 32-bit home
Res. 1440x900

Frames in games:

TF2: (either low or high its the same)
about 30-100 fps walking around
20 fps when in intense action

L4D: (only models is on high everything elses is on low with slight AA)
40-50 fps shooting mild zombies
30-35 when tank and final missions

Garrys Mod: lets say 20-50 since there are many game modes

Dark Messiah Might and Magic: (medium settings no AA
25-35 when walking around
20 fps in actions

-------------------

This is the system i brought from tiger direct a few days ago, for $500
Pentium D 965 (3.7 ghz dual core)
EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW -mobo
BFG GTX 260
4gbs of DDR2 - 800mhz from OCZ
550 Watt PSU
Ultra blaster X mid tower
Res. 1440x900
-------
seperately i brought a CPU fan and two 120 mm fans since the case with the bare bone doesn't come with fans

So, I don't care so much about crysis those type of games I'l just get on the consoles till i get a new CPU and a 64 bit OS, which i can just wait for christmas for where i can get a 3rd gen Itouch and a new CPU. but I do care about how well different my system will be from the old one will it be substantial? I mean from a single core to a dual core i know its not the best and is old technology but my old CPU is about in the same Gen as the one in the barebone.

Questions:
1.) Will TF2, and L4D hit 80 fps average? with good settings don't really care about AA

2.) With me having a 32 bit OS do i have to remove a stick of 2 gb of ram or can i just leave it in there and keep it at 4 gbs, will XP be smart enough to make it 3 gbs of ram and 800mbs of video ram?

3.) How badly will my CPU bottleneck my GPU and what CPU should i be in the look out for? I'm thinking of probably getting a Quad core at around 2.66 ghz if it drops down in price before Christmas.

 

[xthekidx]

1. You will probably be able to max out those games. Unless you have a nice monitor that has a refresh rate faster than 60FPS though it doesn't matter, that is the max speed for most monitors so you will be capped at 60FPS in whatever game you play, even if theoretically you are at 110FPS or whatever.

2. XP will use as much ram as it can, you don't have to manually manage it. Just leave it all installed.

3. I don't know what motherboard you got, so cannot recommend a chip to replace it. Your CPU will not likely make a huge bottleneck for your system though, even though its older technology its pretty fast still. Interesting that you could still buy that processor though, I was sure they had discontinued it. You got an unlocked multiplier on that chip, so you might consider getting a good CPU cooler and overclocking a little, I'm not sure how far the Pentium D's could go though.

Edit: Looks like that chip can OC alright, 4.4ghz seems to be reasonable to expect out of that chip with decent air cooling.

 

[TheArmoredFatboy]

Sorry forgot to add the mobo, i have a EVGA nForce 750 SLI FTW mobo it uses 775 socket chips
*edited original post with mobo

 

[xthekidx]

That motherboard should support any LGA 775 Core 2 Chip you want, so take your pick. Best gaming chips are probably the E8500 for Dual cores, Q9550 for Quads.

 

[mcnuggetofdeath]

That pentium is going to kill you. I had my old pentium D 820 OC'd to 3.9GHz and only got appx 20-30fps in Far Cry 2 with an overclocked 4850 (700 mhz core/2.4Ghz mem) I then purchased an E7400 which I overclocked to 4GHz and now get appx 50fps on very high settings @ 1920x1080

 

[belial2k]

I don't think the cpu will hold you back too much at low res. I have an old Pentium D in my HTPC @ 720 on a 4850 and although I don't play any games with really hard graphics engines with it I never have fps issues. I would say as long as you stay away from the system crushing games you'll see a huge improvement over your old system.

 

[jsc]

Yes, an E8400 at 3.0 GHz. is at least two to three times faster than a Pentium D. Much more efficient architecture.

 

[xthekidx]

Yes the Pentium D architecture isn't the greatest, but its not horribly slow. If you OC to 4.4ghz or so I don't think it will cause much of a bottleneck. A core 2 CPU would be preferable, but you can get by on that chip for the time being just fine I think.