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Cheepo Upgrade For My Purely Gaming PC

Firsttime

Firsttime

Platinum Member
Hey all, I'm long winded, apologies in advance. My current PC is fun and all but I'm looking for a little more performance from it. I'm thinking my CPU in particular is a little dated. Here are my system specs:

AMD X2 4200+ AM2 @2400mhz (I've only been able to overclock this bad boy 200mhz. So that was disappointing.)
MSI AM2 SLI Mobo
3 Gigs of Crucial DDR2 800 (3x1gig)
EVGA 9800gtx+ (Haven't tried OCing it)
200 gig Sata HDD
550 watt PSU

So that's pretty much it. I'm looking to get some more performance out of it. I like to game at 1920x1080 so I can for sure use some more power. I play games like CS:S, R6LV:2, L4D. Stuff like that. My source FPS isn't quite where I want it. At 1920x1080 with high details I don't quite stay above 40 sometimes which is kinda unacceptable.

I'm thinking my CPU is easily what's limiting me. I love overclocking, and the 4200's lack of OC potential is a real bummer. I used to have a 754 Sempron build with a 45% oc and that was fun for me. I do OC for the heck of it. So I'm thinking something along the lines of one of AMD's super fast cheap dual cores. I read Anand's article on the new $100 quads and what impressed me the most was the performance of the X2 550 BE. I was thinking maybe something along these lines would get me there:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.254103
(X2 245 Regor/Gigabyte Mobo combo for $126 for the anti-link)

People seem to be able to OC these pretty high (3.5-3.8 seems average) is the X2 550 BE worth the extra money for the chance to unlock more cores in a purely gaming build?

I welcome any advice on anything in my system. If you think you need more info please ask. I'm sorry to bother you all with such a low budget, sometimes I hate college haha. If you think I'm wrong and need a faster HDD or better ram or whatever please let me know.

Thanks for reading.
 
Does your motherboard support AM2+/Phenom II cpus? If so, there are a bunch of cheap/fast quad cores or tri-cores for you.
 
No, it's just straight AM2. Though the motherboard I linked to does support AM3. So I could do something like that then maybe upgrade again later down the road.
 
new mobo and a two or three core phenom should give you the bump you're looking for. video card is more than adequate for source games. hell, really, i'm surprised you have any problems at all, as is.
 
theres a biostar/x2 550 combo for $156, and theres a gigabyte 785/x2 550 combo for $165 i believe
 
It's not that source gives me "problems." I'm not getting the frames I'm comfortable with at high detail levels. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the low clock speeds on my CPU. If I understand right source is super clock speed dependent. It doesn't care about how many cores you have. My FPS dip into the 30's in high action areas online. Which I don't like. I mean I enjoy other games too I guess, I would like to be able to play Far Cry 2 with some more detail and maybe give Crysis or 1404 a shot.

I had been looking at the X2 550. Because of it's insane overclocking and the ability to unlock more cores. I may just go with that. It would probably be the best option given my low budget. The gigabyte board has decent reviews, I've never owned one of their's before, but everyone seems ok with their quality and overclockability? I like easy OC'ers. Other then what I have now (MSI) it's just been DFI Lanpartys.
 
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