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Partial upgrade. Suggest a CPU.

M

Magnetoman

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 8, 2008
Messages
79
My system is currently:
XP Pro SP3 (no plans to use Vista)
C2D E6550
Gigabyte P35-DS3R (Rev.1.0)
2 GB RAM
XFX GTX 260 (Core 216)
Silverstone Zeus 750W PSU
Dell 24" monitor, casing, lots of HDDs, etc etc.
Everything stock.

I upgraded the video card last weekend, and I think the system could probably do with a CPU upgrade to make it more balanced. What would be your suggestion?

I was think along the lines of a E8500 or even better (cheaper:p) E8400 which I think will go well with the mobo. I would prefer not to change the mobo, but I can bend that rule if it's really necessary.

Would a E8400 and an additional 1GB of RAM balance out the system?:)

No plans to O/C at all. This rig is used primarily for gaming, Photoshop CS3 and movies.

Thanks for any advice.

PS: I live in SE Asia, so prices here are bit more expensive than the US (~10-20%), so take that into account.
 
I personally would hold off and do a more substantial upgrade to i7 in a few months. I'm pretty much in the same boat as you (using an e6400 and a gtx260 with 2gb of RAM).
 
joeshmo1985 said:
I personally would hold off and do a more substantial upgrade to i7 in a few months. I'm pretty much in the same boat as you (using an e6400 and a gtx260 with 2gb of RAM).
Click to expand...

That is one option, and a good one.
I was hoping to use the E8400 or E8500 as a stop gap until a more comprehensive upgrade around April/May next year.
 
Balanced? if your cpu can run the games you play (maintaing minimum FPS above playable), you are good to go! What would a faster one gain you other than a higher 3dmark score?. Balanced just means they will both become too slow at about the same time. It is usually much more cost effective to replace each part as it becomes too slow rather than trying to keep them matched.
 
I'm going to do an upgrade to the 8400, already have 4gb ram on XP. Too bad it can't access all of it correctly...

I would recommend waiting for the i7 to drop in price also, I'll probably get one in a bit too.
 
RAM is so cheap you could do that, but I don't see the $170ish for the e8400 being worth it.
 
Yeah, it's not cost-effective to get the E8400 right now, even here in the U.S, when you have the E6550. It would not be that substantial of a performance improvement.

More RAM doesn't hurt but save the rest of the money for a Core i7 build.
 
Looks like the consensus is to hold off on the upgrade to E8400 for now.

I installed FC2 and FO3 yesterday, and briefly tested them (more comprehensive tests this weekend) and both run fine at 1920x1200 with most settings maxed.

So, I think I'll put in 1 GB more of RAM which is cheap, and postpone the CPU upgrade to early next year.

Thanks for the advice all. Much appreciated.:)
 
You might want to get 2GB more RAM, rather than 1GB, otherwise you'll be stuck in single-channel mode (ie, half the memory bandwidth) on that extra 1GB. I know 32-bit XP can't see 4GB of RAM, but it's better to have 3GB of RAM in dual-channel than some in single channel. DDR2 is very cheap these days too. 2 decent 1GB DIMMS can be had for as little as $25-$30
 
travbrad said:
You might want to get 2GB more RAM, rather than 1GB, otherwise you'll be stuck in single-channel mode (ie, half the memory bandwidth) on that extra 1GB. I know 32-bit XP can't see 4GB of RAM, but it's better to have 3GB of RAM in dual-channel than some in single channel. DDR2 is very cheap these days too. 2 decent 1GB DIMMS can be had for as little as $25-$30
Click to expand...

Good point. Thanks for the tip.
I will get 2x1GB sticks then, since I am already running the current setup with 2x1GB in dual channel mode.
 
Sorry for bumping up my own thread., but just as an update: I tested FO3 on the existing configuration, without even a RAM upgrade, and it runs perfectly! At 1920x1200 with ultra high settings, 4x AA and 15XAF, HDR on, VSync on, view distance maxed, it runs without a stutter. Min FPS as indicated by FRAPS was about 32, and max 60 (Due to VSync I presume).

OMG, this game looks amazing with all the eye-candy turned up :eek:

FarCry2 runs very smoothly too, although I couldn't care less...I doubt if I'll play that anymore.

EDIT: So, no upgrade until it's time for a core i7 system. Thanks to all for knocking some sense into me:D
 
When the CPU becomes too weak, video settings won't matter. That is actually one of the best ways you can tell. When lowering the video settings doesn't make the game run faster, it's probably a cpu bottleneck.
 
Jakalwarrior said:
When the CPU becomes too weak, video settings won't matter. That is actually one of the best ways you can tell. When lowering the video settings doesn't make the game run faster, it's probably a cpu bottleneck.
Click to expand...

I Agree
 
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