Is a 3ghz 2x 1mb AM2 cpu going to be worth it over a 2.7ghz 2x 512k?

wardozer9

Distinguished
Oct 9, 2011
36
0
18,530
I have a Dimension E521 I do most everything on nowadays and I was wondering if anyone feels it'd be worth it to upgrade the 5400+ x2 Brisbane ( 2.7ghz 2x 512k L2 ) to an 89w 6000+ Windsor ( 3ghz 2x 1mb L2 ).

I do play games on this computer with an 8800GT 512 currently but will be upgrading to a 1gb card for the STALKER Complete 2009 mod which needs more vram to run properly.

I am running 4gb ram in the machine under W7 but using the 32-bit version so 3.5gb useable.

I mainly play Fallout 3, STALKER SoC with the Complete 2009 mod, CoD4, TF2, Mass Effect I & II, and CnC Generals ZH with the Shockwave mod.

I sometimes OverClock the CPU in the E521 to 2.9ghz ( max stable on stock vcore ) and that does seem to help a little with the stuttering in STALKER but not as much as a 1gb card probably will over my 512mb card.
 

BlacKHawK3

Distinguished
Oct 4, 2011
225
0
18,760
The difference is roughly the clock speed improvement; is the 10% worth what you will pay for a new (or used) CPU?

Also, are those games maxing out your CPU (or at least one core)? I would tend to think you would be GPU limited most of the time...