Gaming CPU?

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OK folks, so my friend wants me to build him a system strictly for gaming, Using AM2 technology he wants to go for Dual Core.....

What would you guys suggest?? Just to get you involved. I use a 5200+ Dual core..... Anyone have any input on this?

Cheers folks

 

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AMD has long held the performance crown. However, Intel has left no doubt that they have taken the lead with their Core 2 Duo processors. New architecture, cool running, heavily overclockable. I highly recommend it - I use one myself. But don't believe me... check out the performance comparisons found all over the Web.

 

Oh i know the core 2 duo's are good. But he has everything except the CPU now. So AM2 it will have to be.................

 

That's too bad. He should have done his research first... THEN bought stuff.

So, if sell-and-repurchase isn't an option for him... why doesn't he just buy the best AM2 proc he can afford? Always go for the best "bang for the buck".

 

What budget do you have left?

 

£300

 

I know the 5200+ AM2 dual core has 2 x 1mb level 2 cache. But just wondered if anyone has any other suggestions for gaming?

 

There are... but when you limit yourself to AM2, you limit yourself to that socket. You pretty much have your decision made for you, do you not? Just get the best bang for the buck from among the processors that fit that socket. I don't know of any good UK sites for processors, but here's a list of them from a US site: link

 

Looking here:
http://www.savastore.com/products/components/processors/socket-am2/

at the bottom of the page you have either the 5200 at £270 or the FX62 at £470 (not sure why the 4400 is in the middle of them)

However using the F.E.A.R benchmark here:
http://tomshardware.co.uk/cpu/charts.html?modelx=33&model1=430&model2=464&chart=170

The FX62 is just behind the C2D 6600
(http://www.savastore.com/productinf...avastore&product_id=10291255&pid=207&rstrat=0)
With the 6600 being around £260 cheaper.

I assume the only limitation to AM2 at this point would be the mobo. Therefore I would suggest using some of the £260 saving to buy a highspec mobo for C2D, selling the existing AM2 mobo and maybe putting the remaining sum towards the gfx card if this hasn't already been bought.

 

And, thus, my reasoning for suggesting the C2D.

Thanks, Chris!

 

Question?

With gaming, is it more important to consider the CPU or the GPU? I know of course the CPU is all important and the better the, well, the better. The reason I ask is I recently upgraded my GPU (as I purchased F.E.A.R., funnily enough) and the difference was astounding, and I made no changes to my CPU at all (which is an AMD XP2800, so not the fastest bunny in the hutch)

Am I right in thinking that a good GPU takes a lot of the work away from the CPU? Can a trade off occur in the amount of work the GPU does compared with the CPU while gaming?

Sorry if this sounds vague, I'm new to this particular side of things

 

That sounds about right to me... but i'll like to have further clarification aswell please.

 

I think it must be. Playing F.E.A.R. on my old GPU, I was averaging 16 fps on the lowest settings, which is nothing, I am now averaging 161 fps on mid/maximum settings, still the same CPU, RAM, motherboard and everything else.

 

Both. The CPU does a lot of the calculations (spatial calculations, physics, AI, etc), and the GPU does display calculations. Yes, upgrading your GPU *can* make a world of difference... but so can upgrading your CPU... or your memory... or your disks (provided you're upgrading interface or spindle speed). It all depends on where your bottleneck is.

Some of the calculations performed by the CPU include physics computations. That's why there are physics processor cards that are just now being released. Not too many games take advantage of them, but they're starting to grow in popularity. And their use will certainly take the burden of those calculations off the CPU.

EDIT: I played F.E.A.R. on a P4 2.4GHz with an X800 and could run with decent frame rates. After upgrading to a C2D with an X850 (almost the same specs as the X800), I experienced a huge boost in frame rates - much more than could be accounted for by the small GPU upgrade alone.

 

Excellent, thank you

My old card was a pony Gefore FX 5200, which even when I bought brand new nearly 3 years ago was only 36 quid, so I think my main failing was there hence the massive boost in performance. I upgraded to a Geforce 7600GT which made a hell of a difference

I was playing F.E.A.R. on Saturday, one cut scene made me bloody jump out of my skin and I spilt boiling hot tea down my front. Sod it!!!!!!

 

Two things were working against you with regards to your GeForce FX 5200 card:

1) You had an FX card. Those traditionally have lower framerates than non-FX cards.

2) You had a 200-level consumer series card, which is typically used by non-gamers. A 600-level card, found in your 7600GT, is used by your average gamer. 800- and 900-level cards are for gamers that demand great performance. I think you've already seen my post where I talk about the different "levels" of video cards, but for those who haven't seen it, it's here. You can also compare video cards by checking out the Compare Cards tool at GPUReview.com.

EDIT: Ain't F.E.A.R. awesome? Can't wait to play the expansion.

 

lol - I've tried playing the FEAR demo on my PC...

AMD3200+
1GB RAM and um..
X300 PCI-E Graphics

I set all the detail levels to maximum and providing I don't try and move in game it looks great

 

Gotta agree with you there. I am not a huge graphics junkie but this blew me away, the water and sonic details are amazing

I completed FarCry before getting the new card so may go back and re-do it with proper visuals

 

FarCry is visually stunning, and I really dig being able to come at a situation from any angle. I once skirted the perimeter of an area, climbed up to a high ridge, and picked people off one by one. POP... POP... POP...