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Thinking about upgrading, tips appreciated.

R

raoulvaz

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
111
Hi

I currently have a amd x2 6000+ with an 8800GTX (i can overclock the GTX fine, but for some reason i can barely get anything out of the processor). I mainly play Team Fortress 2 (a bit of call of duty here and there, and plan to play warhammer when it comes out) and I am starting school soon so im not going to be doing anything hardcore like running billions of processes at once warranting a quad core.

Essentially my question is would it be worth upgrading to Intel (I was thinking an e8400 or e8500) at this point in time, and would i notice a big improvement in game performance? My screen is 1440X900 so i really think im cpu limited (and notice it in games seeing as how when testing cpu speeds in benchmarks and the like they usually use 1280X1024, which actually has more pixels than 1440X900 but i prefer the widescreen) and do notice it when stuff gets pretty heavy (spamming in team fortress 2, airstrike in call of duty, i used to play WoW and when there were tons of people there was some choppiness).

I would be giving the processor to my family to use (which will be their first dual core, a MASSIVE upgrade from their 1.8ghz sempron) so it will not go to waste, however another question I had would be whether my video card is really impacting gameplay? I dont really think it is seeing as how when i play TF2 only one core is at 100% while the other hovers around 30 leading me to believe its not really multi-threaded, and i dont think warhmammer will be extremely taxing, let alone at my resolution (the only time the GTX really gets put through its paces is folding, go team 33!).

Any help is appreciated, im looking for something that wont break the bank (although if it seems to be a good deal ill spend a wee bit extra) but i wont need to upgrade for a while, which i can handle (my current rig is the ONLY thing that has had something top of the line or has been above 1000$, and ive been gaming for about 15 years).
 
I game at 1440x900 with, e3110 (e8400 variant xeon line )8800GTS 512 SLI and I don't max my CPU. The e8400 is pretty cheap now and is a decent OCer if you do that.

As for your 2nd core @ 30%, that's still a good amount for a second core. If the game did not use multi-cores, it will be around 1-5% (just based on Windows threading to it). You're obviously taxing your core0 to the max which is causing some game play performances issues. I really don't see the 8800GTX being a botle neck for you at that resolution.

Your obviously willing to switch to Intel (good move) so, pick up a new mobo, a e8400, and just save your PSU, memory and 8800GTX. You'll notice a performance boost.

What are you looking to spend? How much memory do you have? Are you considering Vista x64 w/4GB ram?
 
Your system is fine and I would wait until Intel's Nehalem before upgrading.
Team Fortress 2 is not the most demanding game (especially at 1440*900) and I believe that upgrading would be a waste of money.
Keep in mind that the human eye cannot see higher than 60FPS. Therefore, 30FPS->50FPS is a significant upgrade while 70FPS->150FPS is not perceptible.
 
Thanks for the replies.

@bigdogchris: Im looking to spend around 400 or so (seeing as how the e8400 is on special for 169 at ncix until the 12th (which is really tempting me), which will leave a good chunk for a decent motherboard and perhaps some ram. Right now i got 2 gigs and am using vista 32, although i would definitely consider getting 4 gigs if i did a small system upgrade and switching to vista 64 now that its a bit more mature (in comparison to when i tried it). What motherboard would you recommend for overclocking the e8400? I dont really have experience overclocking processors as this system is my first real gaming system, but the processor barely overclocks at all. I got 2 sticks of corsair xms2 at 800mhz with 4-4-4-12 timings, so (from what i read) id need to overclock the processor a certain amount for the memory divider to keep the ram at around 800mhz because im not sure how well it will overclock. What motherboard would you recommend? I really doubt ill be going SLI with another GTX (unless i can find one for retartedly cheap, but it would be mainly for fun) or buying new cards for a while since im staying at this resolution, so im not really looking for one of those tri/quad sli motherboards, just something that will let me overclock the processor to good amounts. Id even get an aftermarket cooler just to keep the temperatures down, as the GTX with the HR-03 makes the case enough of a furnace already :)

@RadXge, I was considering waiting for Nehalem but when would the processors similar to the 8XXX line be coming out? I was under the assumption that those would be coming out much later (not to mention the new socket, having to get ddr3, and a fairly expensive motherboard). Also, my game usually runs at about 70-80 fps if NOTHING is going on (basically standing still in the spawn room), but when things get heavy it gets super choppy (tanks down to 15-30, and when theres alot of people onscreen its roughly 40). I know at this resolution games are pretty cpu bound, and thats pretty much my problem; its as if my processor cant really keep up, and also this current system would be used right away by my family so it isnt really a pure performance upgrade.

Does anyone know Intel's sort of "plan" on what kind of processors they are going to be releasing starting at the nehalem launch? Im a bit hesitant to wait for it especially with the 170 deal i can get, and also i dont know if whats going to be released will be in my price range, IIRC dont they release their extreme versions first, then budget later? Also, im not sure if this is just something i just sort of made up in my head from reading random stuff and not remembering it properly, but are the lower end processors not going to be overclockable?
 
No reason to consider replacing your GPU given the games you want to play and the resolution you're running. Nehalem won't be affordable for ~8-10 months yet, so I wouldn't angst too hard about that.

Pick up an E7200 or similar for ~$120 and a nice P35 based board second hand for ~$50, a Xigmatech HDT-S1283 ($35 + $7 for bolt-thru kit) or similar HSF and you sir are in business.

An 8800 GTX will hit well over 200, near to 300 FPS standing still at 1600x1200 in a source based engine (I know from personal experience), so (amazingly if you ask me) your CPU would appear to actually be holding you back.
 
Thanks for the reply. I was almost positive that the GTX wasnt holding me back because its a beast, thanks for confirming my suspicions about the CPU. The E7200 idea is interesting. Right now at NCIX it is 140 bucks, on the other hand though i can get the e8400 for 170 bucks. If im not mistaken the only difference is 3mb more cache on the e8400. Does that really make a massive difference in gaming?(basically 10 bucks per mb) I dont really care about those sysoft or sandra or whatever synthetic benchmarks, I use this computer for gaming above everything else, maybe watch some HD movies once in a while (which i can already handle) and was using Solid Edge, a CAD like program for engineering but wont need to use it anymore (which this computer handled fine using the video card). Anyone have some input as to whether that 3mb of cache is worth the 30 extra dollars? Ive looked around briefly but all I see is super pi and whatnot, nothing real that speaks to me as to whether it is worth it. Thanks for the replies so far :)
 
Hmm. I'd probably go with the E8400 for that price, as I believe it has been shown to OC higher (or at least more consistently) than the E7200. I was working on the assumption you'd be saving $50+ with the switch.
 
Ok, wow. Just a quick update. I leave my computer running idle during the night when I am downloading (usually the best time) and to make it as quiet as possible I underclock my GTX to exactly half of the stock clocks so that i can turn off the fan completely (i do half because riva tuner wont let me go lower). So I was going to do the same tonight before I was going to sleep, and lo and behold; it was already underclocked. Now the only reason i mention this is because I was playing TF2 today and noticed very little difference (it was a bit choppier but i just shrugged it off). It just further confirms that its pretty much only CPU bound at 1440X900, even with EVERYTHING turned on max. I put the e8400, some thermal paste (i think mx-2 or something) that heatsink you recommended and an asus P5Q pro in the cart, and its ready for checkout (i just need to transfer between accounts). Is that a good motherboard choice for overclocking? I dont mind getting it new, just wondering if anyone knows how good it is (I read some reviews and it seems to be fine).
 
I am generally not an ASUS fan, and I hear the P5QE is actually a better OCer than the Pro. Were it me I'd much rather get a DFI, Gigabyte, Abit, or even Foxconn or MSI board. I've had too many bad ASUS experiences. Then again, there are tons of people that love them, so if that's what you want by all means get it.
 
RadXge said:
Your system is fine and I would wait until Intel's Nehalem before upgrading.
Click to expand...

i'm also looking to upgrade within the next few months. i can wait on a new processor, and it looks like the "Nehalem" might be it. Is there any information on this new chip, and what the price will be? If anything the new processors will cause the price of the old ones to drop; which would be worth waiting for.
 
It doesn't matter if Nehalem is coming out before the end of the year. Some people don't want to spend $3-400 on a CPU. Nehalem isn't going to absolutely blow away current CPU's. An e8400 for the money is absolutely fine.
 
brent4president said:
i'm also looking to upgrade within the next few months. i can wait on a new processor, and it looks like the "Nehalem" might be it. Is there any information on this new chip, and what the price will be? If anything the new processors will cause the price of the old ones to drop; which would be worth waiting for.
Click to expand...

Key "facts*" about Nehalem :
- Has an integrated memory controller like AMD CPUs to finally get rid of the whole FSB architecture
- Will use two new sockets: LGA 1366 and LGA 1160, neither of which are compatible with current Intel sockets/CPUs
- Will exclusively use DDR3 RAM
- First Nehalem CPUs released will be nothing but quad-cores
- There will be a $300 Nehalem CPU at launch. However, more than likely there will be an artificial price inflation due to high demand and more than likely low supply. The other two Nehalem CPUs being released will be in the $500 and $1000 range respectively.
- Mainstream Nehalem CPUs aren't due out till Q3 2009.

* = Reasonably assured information.

Rumors:
- Possibility that only Nehalem on the more expensive LGA1366 CPUs will be capable of overclocking
- Being released in September rather than December
 
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