how badly is my CPU bottlenecking me?

A

af1falcon

New Member
Hey guys, my computer has been slowing down quite a bit when I play games, not an insane amount, but definitely noticeable.

Here is my current setup::
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1.8Ghz
Vista Home Premium 32bit
2 GB of Ram (2x1GB)
Geforce 8600GT 256MB DDR3
All my Vista subscores are in the low to high 5's with the exception of my CPU which is a 3.7.

I was wondering if upgrading to something like a AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core would make a huge difference or at least a very noticeable one? Don't currently have the money to upgrade my motherboard, CPU AND RAM, so upgrading my CPU right now is my only option,

Thanks a lot :)
 
yikes, socket 939... well if you spend about $240 you can get a really nice motherboard and a processor (mine) that scores a 5.6 in vista, very easily.

($240 is a guesstimate, my processor is about $120 but you can get motherboards for under $70 that work extremely well.)
 
If you're playing newer games, your cpu and gpu are slowing you down. The Geforce 8600GT is a nice card for it's price and will fly through any older games np at all. But trying to play Crysis or anything else newer on it wouldn't perform the best. Still would be able to play low-medium for sure, regardless of the game.

Overall, I would say your Athlon 3000+ and 8600GT are pretty balanced for each other, as games are mainly gpu-bound rather than cpu-bound. If you could find a nice skt 939 X2 4200+ or so and upgrade your gpu to an 8800GS or even possibly a 9600GT, you would see a considerable performance increase in games. I am basing those suggestions on your ~$200 budget. Might have to hit up ebay for the X2 4200+ though.
 
I agree with OrionX. Your balanced, and would have to upgrade both cpu and gpu to get really good performance, though CPU first.
 
Upgrading to a dual core CPU would get a few more FPS. I got about 10 more on newer games when I went from a 3700+ to a FX-60 on the same PC. Upgrading your vidoe card will make the most differene though. I would go with a 8800GT or 9000 series. That way you could keep you motherboard.
 
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