Build Advice Which processor (gaming)?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Karas, 29 Nov 2010.

  1. Karas

    Karas What's a Dremel?

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    I have a AMD athlon II x4 640 3.0ghz quadcore processor what should I upgrade to when needed? Which is best for gaming.
     
  2. Parge

    Parge the worst Super Moderator

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    Hi mate,

    What is your budget? When are you planning on upgrading?

    Tom
     
  3. Dae314

    Dae314 What's a Dremel?

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    Games are more reliant on your graphics card than they are on your CPU. Post up your whole build right now and how much money you're willing to spend on an upgrade and when you're planning to upgrade. That should be enough information for us to give you some good suggestions.
     
  4. Ph4ZeD

    Ph4ZeD What's a Dremel?

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    The CPU thats best for gaming is i7, without question. That doesn't mean its the best value or anything like that though.
     
  5. Instagib

    Instagib Minimodder

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    Let's assume that you're keeping the rest of your kit the same. Then a good AM3 cpu would be the Phenom II 965 BE @ around £125.
     
  6. Phoenixlight

    Phoenixlight What's a Dremel?

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    I disagree, two overclocked Xeon 5680's on an Evga Classified SR2 motherboard will provide the most performance for gaming.
     
  7. Parge

    Parge the worst Super Moderator

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    Right, but thats not a realistic recommendation is it.
     
  8. Ph4ZeD

    Ph4ZeD What's a Dremel?

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    It actually won't. The benchmarks support this fact.
     
  9. Phoenixlight

    Phoenixlight What's a Dremel?

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    Well neither is an i7-980x, but I was just contesting the point based on pure performance not on what anyone should buy.

    What benchmarks? from what i've seen they're better than anything else out there.
     
  10. Guest-56605

    Guest-56605 Guest

    Either an i7 930 or a 950 would do the job nicely depending on budget constraints of course...
     
  11. Yslen

    Yslen Lord of the Twenty-Seventh Circle

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    Meanwhile back on topic...

    A 3GHz AMD quad-core should be fine for pretty much any game. There are a few notable exceptions that require a lot from your CPU, but if you're not playing any of those don't waste your money on a pointless upgrade!

    The best way to check is to leave Windows Task Manager open on the performance tab while you hit up a game then pause and alt+tab out. If your CPU is running flat out then yes you need to upgrade, though if I were you I'd overclock as much as possible first.

    Chances are your CPU won't be limiting your games though, unless you have a very powerful graphics card.
     
  12. Deders

    Deders Modder

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    If you have an AM3 motherboard then a Phenom 2 will give you better gaming performance without having to upgrade everything.
     
  13. Karas

    Karas What's a Dremel?

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    Well, my budget would be around 200$ for a cpu but I wouldn't be upgrading for another like 6 months, but I like to think ahead of time xD
     
  14. Karas

    Karas What's a Dremel?

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    I know graphics cards are more reliant but I have a good one, but heres my build:
    AMD Athlon II x4 640 3.0ghz quad core (overclocked to 3.4)
    4gigs DDR3 RAM
    MSI 785GM-P45 Mobo
    EVGA Gtx 460 1gb Gpu
    1TB HDD
    550W Antec modular PSU.
    CM Storm Scout case

    My will to spend will be around 200$ for just CPU,
    I believe thats my whole build if you need any more info just ask,
    Thank you:D
     
  15. Deders

    Deders Modder

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    A Phenom II will give you better frame rates because of the L3 cache which Athlon II's lack. You should be able to put any 95w Phenom II in your motherboard. If you want to be sure, check this list.
     
  16. Jipa

    Jipa Avoiding the "I guess.." since 2004

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    http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=198529
    http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=198520

    Do you even have the build yet? You're already looking for an upgrade for a build you're getting for christmas? Sorry if I sound rude, but just take a chill pill for a change.

    and to the topic: Intels are faster clock-to-clock, but really it's all about the clock speed of the number of cores that the particular game can make use of. Any quad core, be it Phenom 2, i5 or i7, when overclocked to around 4 GHz will play games without significant bottle-necking.
     
  17. Karas

    Karas What's a Dremel?

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    Is it that big of a change with my dang athlon II? I already bought it, and can't really return it, will i like not be able to game? Im just gonna be playing like fallout and far cry and stuff, even if I can't run crysis i'll be happy but u guys make it sound like "Dude if you get a athlon you computers gonna say Screw off and go derp" lmao but atleast when I DO upgrade my processor I know what to get so thank you all:D
     
  18. Deders

    Deders Modder

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    You'll be able to play games no problem but you'll see improved performance when you upgrade.
     
  19. Dae314

    Dae314 What's a Dremel?

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    Phenom II for the unlocked multiplier.
     
  20. Marine-RX179

    Marine-RX179 What's a Dremel?

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    To be honest, I think you'd be fine with what you got, as you won't really notice huge difference with just a GTX460 1GB with a faster CPU, except in some hugely CPU bounded games such as Black OPs, WOW and other older games that uses only two cores.

    Unless you can sell your Athlon II X4 for a decent price, I wouldn't recommend "upgrading" going from a Athlon II to a Phenom II...as it is simply not that huge a improvement and Phenom II itself is not hugely faster than Athlon II architecture wise. If you were buying from stretch, then of course going for the Phenom II over the Athlon II...but if you already got a Athlon II X4, the least I would consider as a worthwhile upgrade is going i5 750/760.

    May be you can keep an eye out for 2nd hand i5 750/i5 760 and 1156 board in Jan 2011, as some people might be upgrading to Sandybridge and you might be able to pick them up for a bargain.

    Also, overclock your GTX460 1GB if you have not done so yet.
     

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