Which should I use?

J

Jaraldo

New Member
Hello, I'm a poor college student and can't afford a new computer. I'm not someone that knows a lot about computers, either...and I don't need much. I like to play Call of Duty on my PC, but that's about as intense as I get.

Anyway, I have two older Dell machines that were manufactured late in 2006. One of them is a Dell Dimension 9150 that has a Pentium D 820 processor, and uses an Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ gpu. The other is a Dell Dimension E521 and has an AMD 64 X2 Processor with an Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT gpu. Which should I use?

I know the AMD is the better processor, but I cannot move my GeForce 9800 over to that machine because of the way Dell designed the tower. It doesn't fit inside.

Right now I'm using the Dimension 9150 with the Pentium D as my primary machine, but it has been getting bogged down quite a bit lately--especially when playing Call of Duty. I'm certain the processor is my bottleneck.

I've been tempted to switch to the Dimension E521 as my primary machine; however I'm not enjoying the prospect of having to downgrade my gpu...would I get better performance out of Call of Duty and other graphic-intensive programs if I switched to the better cpu?

RAM is not an issue. If I switch PC's I'll move my RAM from my current computer to the other.

Thanks!
 
do you have a budget for upgrades if necessary?
You may see a slight decrease in performance going to the E521, even with the better CPU. What I would suggest though, would be getting a after market case and PSU, and fit it with the 9800 GTX+. that would actually give you a increase in performance.

And could give you a chance to upgrade the GPU later.
 
Unfortunately I do not have the budget for any upgrades. I have too many expenses at this point to justify purchasing anything. :/
 
Is there a good, free benchmarking program that you know of? If anything, I could set both systems up and see which one performs better overall.
 
in which case, you may want to look into what is causing your pentium D computer to slow down.
Try running Malewarebytes full scan on it, to see if you have any maleware slowing you down. Also clean out the junk in the registry and such with Ccleaner (its freeware).
 
I just did a clean install of Windows 7 the other day. I should be good in that area.

I think the processor just can't keep up. I do a lot of graphic design and it seems to bog down from time to time when running multiple Adobe CS3 products. I have the "All CPU Meter" gadget running, and it shows that both processor cores are maxed out.
 
 
it was no trouble at all.

And, if your looking to get gaming performance, you might want to look into selling the one or both of your current systems and building a more current one.
 
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