CPU recommendations & Q's

[Baseley09]

Hi dudes, need to get some CPU advice, my motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H, there is a supported CPU list here http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...aspx?pid=3447#

I'm currently running what was the most budget AMD Athlon II x 4 620 Quad Core 2.6ghz (think this retailed at ?99!), gaming wise would this be holding me back much, i'm using it in conjunction with a 1GB HD 5770 @ 1920x1080 usually.

If it's worth swapping out the CPU, what on the list would be a worthwhile upgrade, not necessarily interested in how many cores, just shear grunt.

Cheers.

[abigsmurf]

That CPU and GPU seem a good match to me, I'd be suprised if the CPU was bottlenecking the system

[Baseley09]

Oh really, maybe the card isn't satisfying my needs, seems to be hit and miss I can max out say BC2 & Bioshock 2, but still struggles with Crysis Warhead.....Lost Planet 2 completely rapes it especially on DX11 mode, like 19fps on med-high. Farcry 2 I can get decent results but ideally id like to max it out. I'm only running a 380w PSU, could this be a factor, maybe not getting enough juice?

Regardless, the PSU needs upgrading, also a factor maybe I can only use 3.25gb of my ram from using WIn 7 32bit, need to get 64bit installed asap.

[abigsmurf]

A way to test if the CPU is bottlenecking is overclocking.

A 10% increase in CPU speed for a system with no bottlenecks should have a negliable effect on frame rates (1-2fps), if the frame rate jump up notably, your CPU is holding you back.

[Baseley09]

I have attempted the OC process on a few of my systems, total noob in that zone, appreciate the input however .

[abigsmurf]

One of the simplest ways to OC your CPU is to up the multiplier in the bios. Your clock speed is the multiplier x the FSB. So long as it isn't set at the maximum you should be able to up it 1 or 2 with minimal risk of stability issues (always make sure you know how to reset the bios though , just in case it won't boot).

[monel]

I have a crappy Phenom (1) Quad Core, would a new CPU improve emulation a lot, and what is a good choice? Currently I'm at 2.2ghz non overclocked, and I think I need 2.8 or above for PS2 emulation etc. It would allow playing PS2 games on my PC rather than set it up for the TV. Any advice much appreciated and I'm sorry for posting in this thread Baseley, rather than make a new thread.

[abigsmurf]

You're probably very limited with your motherboard as to what upgrades you can have as I'm guessing it's limited to a narrow range of AM2 CPUs. May be worthwhile replacing the motherboard at the same time (just a warning, if you've never built your own PC before, replacing the motherboard is the single most time consuming thing you can do).

You can get a Sandy bridge motherboard and a Core i3-2100 and RAM for around ?190 (and you can save a bit more if you ebay your old parts). That should be pretty good for PS2 emulation (although some games are still beyond even the top of the range CPUs)

[monel]

Yep, willing to replace the mobo, will look at my options. Hmmm. Thanks mate.

[abigsmurf]

Check out Toms Hardware for guides on the best CPUs for each price range. They did an update fairly recently,

[SuperBeatBoy]

I picked up a Phenom II X4 965 BE recently and it does the job greatly. Great OC cpu too. Got it up to 4.1ghz without any problems. But set it at a comfortable 3.8ghz at the moment as i don't really need to OC that much right now. Default is 3.4ghz.

Also seeing as it was mentioned didn't realise PS2 emulation is possible. Anyone know of a good emu?

[monel]

I think it's PCSX2 (not sure though), but it uses 2 cores mainly so Intels are often recommended. I haven't really used it properly but there's speedhacks for certain games and other ways to configure it to get a boost. There's been a couple of threads discussing it here so a search might help. I think the recommended minimum speed is 2.8 gig so you should be OK.

[SuperBeatBoy]

Thats for that mate. Just tested it out on ZoE: 2nd Runner and it looks fantastic and runs with no frame drops! Never thought PS2 emulation would look so good!

[eastyy]

try arcana heart 2 if you have it runs better on the pc then on the ps2

[monel]

Haha I'm a bit jealous Zero, my CPU can't handle it. Can anyone tell me if the Intel Core i3 motherboard/CPU bundles are worth it? They're going for 200 quid-ish overclocked to around 4gig+, but I thought a Core i5 would be preferable? The latter costs a lot more, though.