Wondering truth about Asus Motherboard M4A78LT-M? PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!

[kincaid88]

It all started when I wanted to update my GPU. Someone tells me that Ill have to update my CPU in order to get a good GPU, but with the motherboard I have I mine as well just get a new motherboard! BUT I dont see how that is when I can get a new compatible high quality 4 core or 6 core processor for my motherboard? So why doesnt someone tell me whats going on? Am I being fed a load of crap or can I just get a new CPU, GPU, and a little more RAM??? (P.S. Already know ill need a new PSU also)

 

[tekman42]

What folks are referring to is that during intense gaming...the cpu can play a part in holding back performance of your video processing...for what you have a dual core 220 IS pretty small but your chipset isn't totally outdated yet. You have a chipset that includes HYBRID GRAPHICS.

Look at this chart...it tells you what graphic cards are good for your chipset.

http://sites.amd.com/PublishingImages/Public/Graphic_Illustrations/WebBannerJPEG/AMD_CrossfireX_Chart_1618W.jpg

If you want to upgrade your cpu...then by all means go ahead...but you sure DON'T have to...most gaming is GPU intensive not CPU intensive and with the hybrid chipset...you should be able to pick out a card from the list in your budget and play away...

When...AND ONLY...when you begin experiencing problems trying to play games that are definitely cpu problems...you will know...load times will be excruciatingly slow, scenes will be slow to shift to...you'll begin experiencing high temps for the processor and high utilization of both cores..like 90% or higher at all times in the games...that's when you know your processor is holding you back and you should switch to a more powerful processor.

Most games I'm aware of aren't more than 2 threads enabled as far as coding goes...how many threads a processor can process at one time...usually 1 thread per core...and with virtualization (which your processor can't do) makes the code believe there's two cores when there's only one..ie dual core seems like quad core...this is an intel trick...so with most games still optimized for 2 threads...your processor will be relevant for awhile...once you start noticing high percentage utilization of the processor continuosly you know it's time to start thinking about a beefier processor.

So go through that chart and pick what fits your budget and go for it!

Good luck.