will a CPU upgrade make that much difference??

droach75 · 07-19-2004, 08:16 PM

Hi

i have a 2 year old machine with a AMD Athlon XP 2200+ CPU, a GeForce 4600 video card, and 1GB of ram. i am looking forward to doom3 and was thinking of upgrading my CPU to the Athlon XP 3200+, if it was gonna double my speed i would happily hand over £130ish. i know Doom3 should run fine on my machine, however i would like to set the settings to the MAX. All my games at the mo run fine what with my GeForce and ram

But looking at the speeds of these chips, there dosn't seem to be that much difference between them, i may have read them wrong, but i believe my current CPU works at 1.8GHz and the 3200+ is at 2.2GHz, thats almost 25% faster, that sounds quite a bit, but not much increase in speed really in 2 years?

am i wrong?,,, will i notice it,,,

i use my PC mainly for photoshop, surfing (sadly no broadband in my area) but primerily gaming?

hope u can help make my mind up

Cheers

**Praetor** · 07-19-2004, 08:54 PM

Quote:

i have a 2 year old machine with a AMD Athlon XP 2200+ CPU, a GeForce 4600 video card, and 1GB of ram. I am looking forward to doom3 and was thinking of upgrading my CPU to the Athlon XP 3200+, if it was gonna double my speed I would happily hand over £130ish. I know Doom3 should run fine on my machine, however I would like to set the settings to the MAX. All my games at the mo run fine what with my GeForce and ram

I can tell you from personal experience Doom3 wll not run fine. Short of a GFX5700 or better you will have some problems with Doom3.

Quote:

But looking at the speeds of these chips, there dosn't seem to be that much difference between them, I may have read them wrong, but I believe my current CPU works at 1.8GHz and the 3200+ is at 2.2GHz, thats almost 25% faster, that sounds quite a bit, but not much increase in speed really in 2 years?

The clock speed isnt everything. Consider this: 5 rev/s in 1st gear vs 4 revs/s in 2nd gear (bike) ... there's a difference

You might want to up the RAM a bit too... Doom3 can chew up 800MB of ram before you know it

72montecarlo · 07-19-2004, 10:16 PM

The reason why the clock speed doesnt increase very much is because ur 2200 is a thorougbred chip with only 256l2 cache. If you got that 3200 it would not only be that much faster clock speed wise but it has 512L2 cache which would make a Tremendous Difference. None the less if you wanted to play doom at max settings you would need a 5959 or 6800/ati equivalent. But as praetor said at the least a geforce 5700.

**Praetor** · 07-19-2004, 10:18 PM

Technically you can PLAY Doom3 using the system you've got ... its just that you will have a cap of roughly 20fps (at 800x600)

4W4K3 · 07-20-2004, 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by droach75

i know Doom3 should run fine on my machine, however i would like to set the settings to the MAX. All my games at the mo run fine what with my GeForce and ram

it wont run "fine" unless you run 800*600 at medium settings. that geforce card wont run it decently and you probably need about a gig and a half of ram. i think you should forget the 3200+ and get a mobile chip. it'll overclock to 2.6+ghz on plain air...2.8+ghz on water...alot better than 2.2ghz $130 processor.

**Praetor** · 07-20-2004, 02:12 AM

Quote:

it wont run "fine" unless you run 800*600 at medium settings

You mean "low" detail

Even if you dont want to get a mobile, get something less pricey like the XP2500 or the XP2800 they'll hit 2.2Ghz no sweat and can easily go further

4W4K3 · 07-20-2004, 02:20 AM

a bit off topic...but i just got done playing splinter cell on my 9200...max settings runs perfect. quite odd how it runs so good. overheats though. i think i need a new cooler. lol i'd want to see this card or worse play on doom3 just for laughs..see who could get LOWEST fps lol.

**Praetor** · 07-20-2004, 02:32 AM

Shouldnt be too hard, get a P3-450 and a TNT Vanta.... those are the lowest specs before which the game wont install i believe. God.... it would take ages to just start the game and get to the menu LOL

droach75 · 07-21-2004, 12:22 AM

Thanks for the info, u have helped my make up my mind.

i will probably upgrade my CPU to the 2800+ and get some more RAM

**Praetor** · 07-21-2004, 12:38 AM

Glad we could help!

07-19-2004, 08:16 PM	#1 (permalink)
droach75 New Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9	will a CPU upgrade make that much difference?? Hi i have a 2 year old machine with a AMD Athlon XP 2200+ CPU, a GeForce 4600 video card, and 1GB of ram. i am looking forward to doom3 and was thinking of upgrading my CPU to the Athlon XP 3200+, if it was gonna double my speed i would happily hand over £130ish. i know Doom3 should run fine on my machine, however i would like to set the settings to the MAX. All my games at the mo run fine what with my GeForce and ram But looking at the speeds of these chips, there dosn't seem to be that much difference between them, i may have read them wrong, but i believe my current CPU works at 1.8GHz and the 3200+ is at 2.2GHz, thats almost 25% faster, that sounds quite a bit, but not much increase in speed really in 2 years? am i wrong?,,, will i notice it,,, i use my PC mainly for photoshop, surfing (sadly no broadband in my area) but primerily gaming? hope u can help make my mind up Cheers

07-19-2004, 10:16 PM	#3 (permalink)
72montecarlo Silver Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Ohio Age: 20 Posts: 135	The reason why the clock speed doesnt increase very much is because ur 2200 is a thorougbred chip with only 256l2 cache. If you got that 3200 it would not only be that much faster clock speed wise but it has 512L2 cache which would make a Tremendous Difference. None the less if you wanted to play doom at max settings you would need a 5959 or 6800/ati equivalent. But as praetor said at the least a geforce 5700. __________________ Dell XPS M170 OS: XP Professional SP2 CPU: Intel Pentium M 2.13Ghz MOBO: Intel 915PM Chipset HDD: 100Gb 7200rpm Ultra ATA OD: DVD-RW CD-RW Burner RAM: 2gb DDR2 533mhz VGA: PCi16x Geforce Go 6800 Ultra 256mb GDDR3 SCREEN: 17' WUXGA Ultrasharp TFT 1920x1200 native AUDIO: 2 Speakers, 1 1" subwoofer

07-19-2004, 10:18 PM	#4 (permalink)
Praetor Administrator Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canada Age: 25 Posts: 19,951	Technically you can PLAY Doom3 using the system you've got ... its just that you will have a cap of roughly 20fps (at 800x600) __________________ ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, Q6600@3.7 / ASUS P5ND, E6400@3.8 4GB OCz Platinum XTC 8500 / 4GB CorsairXMS2 6400 5x500GB Seagate 7200.10 / 2x500 Seagate 7200.10 OCz 8800GTX 768MB @ 630/800 / 2x Galaxy 8800GT SLI

07-20-2004, 02:20 AM	#7 (permalink)
4W4K3 VIP Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Lewisville, TX Age: 20 Posts: 6,859	a bit off topic...but i just got done playing splinter cell on my 9200...max settings runs perfect. quite odd how it runs so good. overheats though. i think i need a new cooler. lol i'd want to see this card or worse play on doom3 just for laughs..see who could get LOWEST fps lol. __________________ My Computer I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe. Can I eat your brain? FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND :F@H Team 44358

07-20-2004, 02:32 AM	#8 (permalink)
Praetor Administrator Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canada Age: 25 Posts: 19,951	Shouldnt be too hard, get a P3-450 and a TNT Vanta.... those are the lowest specs before which the game wont install i believe. God.... it would take ages to just start the game and get to the menu LOL __________________ ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, Q6600@3.7 / ASUS P5ND, E6400@3.8 4GB OCz Platinum XTC 8500 / 4GB CorsairXMS2 6400 5x500GB Seagate 7200.10 / 2x500 Seagate 7200.10 OCz 8800GTX 768MB @ 630/800 / 2x Galaxy 8800GT SLI

07-21-2004, 12:22 AM	#9 (permalink)
droach75 New Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9	Thanks Thanks for the info, u have helped my make up my mind. i will probably upgrade my CPU to the 2800+ and get some more RAM

07-21-2004, 12:38 AM	#10 (permalink)
Praetor Administrator Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canada Age: 25 Posts: 19,951	Glad we could help! __________________ ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, Q6600@3.7 / ASUS P5ND, E6400@3.8 4GB OCz Platinum XTC 8500 / 4GB CorsairXMS2 6400 5x500GB Seagate 7200.10 / 2x500 Seagate 7200.10 OCz 8800GTX 768MB @ 630/800 / 2x Galaxy 8800GT SLI

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