CPU Limited

R

RevMen

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 22, 2004
Messages
460
Current Build

GA-EP45-UD3P
E6300 Wolfdale OC'd to ~3.8 GHz
4GB G.Skill PC8500
XFX 5850 + XFX 5850 Black Edition in CrossfireX and OC'd just a little
XFX Black Edition 850W PSU

After quite a bit of tinkering, Everything is stable and probably as fast as it's going to get without significant changes. It's been great for MW2 but now I'm getting into BC2 and I seem to be CPU limited. I get, basically, the same performance in terms of FPS in both medium and low quality settings. It's very playable most of the time, but when the battle heats up, things start to slow down. I don't think overclocking my 5850s any more than they are is going to give me anything other than instability.

So now I'm wondering where to go. The first idea is to replace the C2D with a quad of some kind. But I've got the C2D stable at 3.8 GHz, so I don't know how much improvement I'll see with a new processor. Could it be enough to make a noticeable difference in BC2?

The second idea is to move to a new motherboard and processor altogether. Even though it would be expensive, I would probably lean towards an i7 setup over an i5, if anything because it'd be more future proof. If I did that, would an overclocked 920 make me happy? Or would I want more processor to start with?

What would you do if you were me? I'd prefer not to spend more than $300 per component.
 
Ah! Very important information that I left out.

I have 3 1600x1200 monitors in Eyefinity, so 4800x1200.
 
RevMen said:
Ah! Very important information that I left out.

I have 3 1600x1200 monitors in Eyefinity, so 4800x1200.
Click to expand...

Yeah just about any quad-core CPU would help in BC2. Even the $100 ones.

From a cheap as possible standpoint, I'd just grab the Phenom II 925 + DDR2 AM2+ mobo and reuse the DDR2 RAM you have now. However, pending reviews, I would pick up the $200 Phenom X6 CPU + DDR2 AM2+ mobo and reuse the RAM. Or new AM3 mobo with DDR3 RAM.

Hell that's what I thinking of doing: Pick up the $200 Phenom X6 CPU + $85 Gigabyte 785G mobo and reuse my 6GB DDR2 RAM.
 
hmm this is very relevant to what I want to do as well!

are those AM2+ platforms good though?
 
distantstar said:
are those AM2+ platforms good though?
Click to expand...

Yes. They're based on the same chipsets as socket AM3 mobos. So there's really no difference between AM2+ and AM3 besides the differences in socket.
 
For dual CFX, I'd probably go with an i7.x58 unless the new hexcores do well in comparison (with dual vidcard configs). For now, just wait for the reviews.
 
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