Help needed for processor/video card upgrade please.

[ihateusernames]

Hello everyone,

I need a little bit of help, and since I know you guys and gals are awesome, I kindly request your advice.

I want to upgrade my PC, specs below, and I was wondering if my motherboard would allow me to upgrade to a nice processor like an AMD ATHLON 64 X2 - 5000+ BLACK EDITION SOCKET AM2, or does it not support this processor?

Second question, I currently use an EVGA 8500GT 512MB, but this is not good enough for Call of Duty 4. I'd like to run CoD 4 at 1440*900 with all low graphics settings and get around 125 FPS average. Which NVIDIA video card, assuming I upgrade my processor to an X2 5000+, would allow me to do this, or at least get very close?

Thank you for reading and any advice,
C.

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Motherboard- Asus M2N-X Socket AM2 Nforce 520MCP
Processor- AMD AM2 X2 3800+
Video- EVGA 8500GT 512MB
Memory- 2GB OCZ DDR2
Sound - SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS

 

[taltamir]

"125 FPS" what kind of widescreen (1440*900) monitor do you have that is capable of 125 frames per second? LCDs are only capable of either 60fps, or 75fps. (well, its called hz in monitors... 60hz, hz = hertz = cycles per second = frames per second)

That mobo can definitely take that CPU. I would venture a guess that any AM2 / AM2+ AMD cpu will work... just upgrade the bios BEFORE you put in the new CPU. I would upgrade the ram to 4GB as well. maybe even get a 2x2GB pack for 6GB total, and vista 64bit to take advantage of it with its awesome caching algorithms.

 

[DSF]

An 8800GT or 8800GTS (512MB) should be able to handle what you want to do without a problem. Benchmarks aren't usually run on low settings, but look at some game benchmarks for those two cards and then keep in mind that you'll be seeing faster framerates than what the reviews show on high settings.

 

[ihateusernames]

I'm not an expert but I believe that CoD 4 frame rate is not the same as the actual monitor refresh rate (hz). If this were the case then nobody with an LCD would get above 75 frame rate, which is certainly untrue. I know a lot of people who report in-game frame rate as 250 FPS constant.

It doesn't say so on the link I provided, but according to the manual the motherboard only supports up to 2GB of memory so unfortunately I am stuck with that.

DSF that's the exact card I was looking at, the 8800GTS, but I am worried that having only 2GB of DDR2 will bottleneck it substantially. Would this be something I might encounter?

Thanks guys for your help I really appreciate it, my pc is so old and my budget not huge, so thanks for any input you can provide.

 

[DSF]

Even if people are getting 250FPS, so what? The human eye can't tell the difference past about 60-70FPS. (For most people 30-40 FPS looks smooth.) Even if the human eye could see a difference between 80 and 100 FPS it doesn't mean squat if your monitor can't display images that fast.

The frame rate people are reporting is the speed with which the graphics card is rendering frames, not the rate at which they're being displayed. As an example, my frame rates playing Counter-Strike will sometimes go to 150 or higher. Can I tell the difference between the game reporting 150FPS and 75FPS? You bet your ass I can't.

2GB of RAM is still fine for gaming. That may not be the case in the future, but it's not something that's going to noticeably hinder your gaming right now.

 

[nyker96]

I think for your situation, a 5000+ BE or even something better like a 6000+ chip will do nicely. You don't seem to OC, otherwise I'd suggest overclocking that 3800+ to a higher level. And the most important is your g-card, if you have $150 for it I would get 4850 else a 8800GT/512 will do nicely for your games.

 

[ihateusernames]

DSF the reason I'm shooting for such a high frame rate is due to the way CoD 4's engine works. If you get 60 FPS average, you don't jump as far as someone who gets 250 FPS. This is why having a frame rate of 125 or ideally 250 average is so essential to playing CoD 4 at any type of competitive level.

It allows you to jump to areas that are simply inaccessible to someone with a low frame rate, as well as the obvious benefit of your game not stuttering during scenes of intense action and smoke.

I'm glad 2 GB of DDR2 is enough, and I definitely don't overclock.

I'm going for the X2 5000+ BE and an 8800GTS 512, thank you all for your help.

 

[cyberfish]

2GB of DDR2 is certainly enough. That is what I have right now, actually.

DSF the reason I'm shooting for such a high frame rate is due to the way CoD 4's engine works. If you get 60 FPS average, you don't jump as far as someone who gets 250 FPS. This is why having a frame rate of 125 or ideally 250 average is so essential to playing CoD 4 at any type of competitive level.

Hmm. Where are you quoting that from? It sounds really weird. I have been playing CoD4 for months, too, intensively, and have never heard of such an issue.

*edit* If you are talking about places like the wall on Overgrown, or the ceiling of the sniper building in Creek, they are accessible to everyone if you know how (where to jump and such). Nothing to do with fps. */edit*

Another card to consider would be the 9600 GT, which I am using now. It performs similarly to the 8800 GT, and is dirt cheap (~$100 if you look hard enough). On highest settings, including AA, I get about 50 fps constant at 1280x1024. Only drops to ~40 fps when everyone throws smoke at the same time. I honestly can't tell the difference. 40 fps looks very smooth to me.

 

[ihateusernames]

cyberfish check out:

http://www.codjumper.com/tips.php

"There are some jumps which require you to use a 'FPS jump number', the most popular being 125 (other recommended numbers are: 76, 250 and 333). This is because the Call of Duty series uses a modified Quake 3 engine which allows you to jump fractionally higher at certain FPS levels. This little bit extra can be enough to access new places. Also remember that the higher the fps jump number, the higher you can jump."

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Besides it being there, it's just widely known by the Call of Duty 4 community, well at least known by those who take the time to look up semi-obscure little facts like that.

 

[SolMiester]

I use a factory overclocked 9600GT @ 1650x1080 & COD4 is beautiful with setting high....1440*900 is a low setting, I doubt you would need a GTS, a GT maybe.....