CPUs and Gaming

[stxve0]

Hi just had some questions for the community and was wondering if anyone out there can help me out..

with the recent launch of the new SB processors i was considering upgrading my current system

right now i have

pentium e6800 @ 3.3GHZ
asus p5b-e mobo LGA 775
4GB of DDR2 PC5300
MSI cyclone GTX 460 1GB
OCZ agility SSD

my primary monitor is a 52" Aquos running at 1333x768 res
i am attempting to sell this TV and upgrade to a 1080p TV but until someone will buy im stuck with it.

I use my PC for gaming and play all the latest titles such as Assassins Creed 2 etc. My framerate isnt perfect and i was wondering what i can do to maximize pc performance. I was considering upgrading to the new i5 2500K and a nice LGA 1155 board and some better ram. Would this be worth spending the 400+? would i be able to enjoy better performance and frame rates in my games?

any help and guidance that you guys can give me will be greatly appreciated.

 

[spentshells]

@720 P you are getting low frame rates ? what are you considering low ?

 

[yakri]

If you're getting low frame rates and want a immediate boost, you'd probably be better off getting another GTX 460 for SLI, or a GTX 570.

It would be better to buy a sandy bridge later after a graphics upgrade anyway, since they have just released, and you'll have a much easier time picking mobo's, finding combo deals, and getting lower prices, once the processor as been out for a while.


Also, it really depends on what games you're getting low FPS in and how low.

Some games almost ignore the processor, and others, like starcraft 2, use a lot of CPU juice.

 

[jpmucha]

Your GPU isn't a slouch... but in general, once you have a modern system, money is better spent on the GPU. You're already sporting an SSD...

A 2500K would give you double the cores at the same base speed with the benefits of the updated architecture, turbo boost 2.0, DDR3 bandwidth and increased max memory size... a lighter wallet, and the warm fuzzies... of course.

+1 to yakri... fully agree

 

[stxve]

Well i guess saying the framerates are low is an error, what i mean to say is sometimes the framerate dips out on more intense areas of the game, i dont know if you have played AC 2 but when you do the synchronize at the top of the building, it has a really large draw distance of all the buildings on the map basically, my framerate dips from 59 to about 20 or so. i want a system that can run butter smooth through all areas of the game. when running at 720 does it depend on my CPU more than it would at 1080p?

i was hoping that my CPU or my RAM would be the area i am lacking, as i just upgraded to the GTX 460 from an 8800gt, my board only has one x16 slot so SLI is unfortunately not an option.

if i get a SB proc, new mobo and DDR3 RAM, is the performance really going to be noticeable for gaming? or is it really negligible unless im doing video editing, cad, etc.

 

[Bladespirits]

There's been some benchmark showing improved scaling in SLi but beyond that you won't really see any difference in gaming with the newer CPU. I'd hold off if you feel satisfied with your current rig still. At the very least wait till Z68 mobo's to come in Q2 so you can make use of QuickSync if you ever get into encoding.

 

[jpmucha]

Well i guess saying the framerates are low is an error, what i mean to say is sometimes the framerate dips out on more intense areas of the game, i dont know if you have played AC 2 but when you do the synchronize at the top of the building, it has a really large draw distance of all the buildings on the map basically, my framerate dips from 59 to about 20 or so. i want a system that can run butter smooth through all areas of the game. when running at 720 does it depend on my CPU more than it would at 1080p?

i was hoping that my CPU or my RAM would be the area i am lacking, as i just upgraded to the GTX 460 from an 8800gt, my board only has one x16 slot so SLI is unfortunately not an option.

if i get a SB proc, new mobo and DDR3 RAM, is the performance really going to be noticeable for gaming? or is it really negligible unless im doing video editing, cad, etc.

Hmmm... let me know if anyone tried this all, because I just never have... If you don't know how 'multithreaded' a particular game is... would opening the Task Manager Performance tab before starting it... then checking the graph right after the 'extreme' action. If the game is using your 2 cores fully, there'd be a better chance it'd use 4 cores if available (like if you had a 2500K ). If its not really multi-threaded, then all a 2500K would give you (other than general architecture improvements and OC headroom) is a 10% turbo boost.

If there's a point where the draw distance drastically increases, there probably is a huge amount of new geometry and textures being loaded into the GPU's memory. It doesn't seem too out of order to believe the CPU/RAM (and maybe HDD if textures in storage?) plays a pretty big role in that transfer of info to the GPU. Once its in the video card memory, any lag would probably be due to the GPU bottlenecking. Does it get smoother after an 'upload period'?

For your last question, try checking Tom's CPU charts and see how a CPU from the E6800 days competes against an i5 or i7 (closest they'd have reviewed) in the sort of games you play. That'd be more of a real-world feedback than talking theoretical bandwidth and such.

 

[spentshells]

asus p5b-e mobo LGA 775 with a cheap 5700 or 5800 (if you can find one)
and they should overclock easily to 3.6 or 4.0 it will provide a big boost if you are going to spend more than 70 just save it and buy new stuff c2q is expensive when you can can get better equipment for the same price. Your card has all the juice needed for that resolution

 

[popatim]

...At the very least wait till Z68 mobo's to come in Q2 so you can make use of QuickSync if you ever get into encoding.

Quicksync is not an option for gamers, its only on SB chips that have the integrated video and then only enabled if the onboard video is not disabled. Sorry It looked very promising to me too.

 

[Bladespirits]

There's already software to get around the issue of having a graphics card and still make use of QuickSync. But it still won't help anyone with a P67 board since they can't make use of the graphic dedicated area on the CPU die and thus no QuickSync. So all it's useful for atm is H67 and eventually Z68 when it comes out in Q2.

 

[stxve0]

Best answer selected by stxve0.

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar