How badly do I need to upgrade my CPU?

[imported_JeReMY]

Here are my system specs:

AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 333MHZ FSB
480W PSU
1024 DDR PC 2700
250 GB WD HDD
80 GB WD HDD
ATI X800XT AIW

I noticed that games haven't been running really smooth (really jumpy) but I am not sure if it is the CPU. I am only looking towards getting an athlon 64 CPU and am not looking to spend over $200.

 

[stevty2889]

Upgrading to an A64 would give you a boost in games. What resolutions are you running at. Have you tried overclocking? What games have been giving you trouble?

 

[imported_JeReMY]

I play anywhere from 1024x768 to 1360x1024. My cpu doesn't allow me to overclock it that much. (already runs at 1.6V) The main games that are giving me trouble are CS:Source, Half-life 2, Age of Empires 3, Call of Duty 2, Fear. I am pretty sure it is my cpu because I know my video card and RAM should handle it fine.

 

[Mogadon]

You can up the VCore to 1.9V easy as long as you have good cooling, I have mine running at around 2.03V. You should be able to overclock it a bit by only raising the FSB, if it's unlocked you'll be able to go higher by changing the multiplier too.

To upgrade you'd need to get a new mobo and CPU, something like the MSI Neo2 and a 3000+ or 3200+ venice or you could get the ASRock 939 board with an AGP and PCIx16 slot if you want to upgrade the video card later.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: JeReMY
I play anywhere from 1024x768 to 1360x1024. My cpu doesn't allow me to overclock it that much. (already runs at 1.6V) The main games that are giving me trouble are CS:Source, Half-life 2, Age of Empires 3, Call of Duty 2, Fear. I am pretty sure it is my cpu because I know my video card and RAM should handle it fine.

Look in task manger under commit charge, and look at the peak after running some of those games, if it is higher than 1gb, then you are using the hard drive page file, and that will cause stuttering. Mine for example has a peak of 1.85gb, so whatever I was running, would have been paging a lot if I only had 1gb of ram. I know half-life 2 ran better for me with 2GB or ram, but I run at 1280x1024 since it's my native resolution. That was with my 6800GT.

 

[AMDrulZ]

you might try getting a sempron 64 2800 (socket 764) cpu and motherboard..... they are cheap but should stomp that old athlon xp in the ground...... plus they overclock well run real cool have sse3 instruction's and are 64 bit not bad for a $ 75 dollor chip...... i recently went up to fry's electronic's in tempe AZ and got a Sempron 64 2800, an Abit NF8-V Motherboard..... And some Mushkin DDR 3200 memory for only 205 dollor's that's tax included...... and i can tell you that it would be be able to play the games you listed.......


just a thought......

 

[imported_JeReMY]

I just turned off all my virtual memory. I will see if there is a noticable difference there.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I don't think a CPU upgrade will make a huge difference for you, upgrading to 2gb of ram would probabally help more. And at the higher res 1360x1024 you are becoming GPU limited with the X800XT. Have you overclocked the GPU? that would help alot a the higher res.

 

[imported_JeReMY]

Taking the virtual memory seemed to help alot. I just played COD 2 @1360x1024, 2xAA, 4xAF, high details on a stressing level and it ran good. Also tested DOD Source and ran pretty smooth at 1280x1024, Full HDR, 2xAA, 4xAF, medium details and ran fine. MY pc should be fine how it is for now. Thanks for the help.

 

[RobsTV]

Upgraded from XP2400+ @ 2100MHz to Opteron 146 @ 2400MHz, and see almost no difference in gaming. Most benchmarks done at major sites confirm CPU upgrades do not help most gaming too much.

If system has slowed down, it could be from many things.
If you were planing on changing CPU/Motherboard anyway, might as well first try format and clean install of old parts.

 

[TGS]

I went from a 2500+ XP to a 3000+ A64, and noticed that my minimum FPS on Doom 3 went up dramatically. I was able to bump my 9700pro to 1024x768, up from 800xx600(which was choppy at that). I later upgraded to a 6800gt, so I can't give a comparison of other new titles. Just the boost in minimum frames seemed well worth it to me.

 

[rancherlee]

usually a processor upgrade will bump up you lower resolution frame rates which really doesn't help that much. depending on your motherboard you may be able to reach 400mhz FSB and that would help you ALOT, also don't be afraid to feed that chip atleast 1.85v as long as you can keep it under 60*c underload.

 

[the splat in the hat]

your cpu isnt drasticly out of date , but your pc2700 ram is !
Get pc3200 ram min, get 2 gigs min , 2700 ram is data speed problem for HL2, bf2 and the like , they like LOTS of ram and FAST ram , they hate being page filed to disc as ram now you have a data bus rate problem and the cpu is now talking to more different locations and if your hard disc are not sata even slower , latency latency latency , you could get a new cpu , if so l wouldnt go anything less that a dual core , but your ram is a must do update , l would fix ram first , people dont respect ram enough , in a sence ram is just an extention of the cpu , the more switches you give your cpu the faster it is given the data bus is matched, ram can double your system performance triple your bechmark scores , at the right level, my rule of thumb is when l buy a board l put the max amount of ram l can on it , my dual 4400+ has 2 gig , windows wouldnt run correct at 4 gig so l left it next board will have 4 gig.
Get fast ram your cpu will love you for it and your whole system will speed up , and l went 2 x 1 gig dimms , they work fine and fast , 4x 1 gig dimms didnt work .
Ram ram ram ram ram.............chunky games pc's....

 

[imported_JeReMY]

Well, the cpu is locked, but I am going to see if it is unlockable (I think it is) and then get the FSB speed up to 400mhz. Then I will probably upgrade to 1.5GB RAM. I can see that I need more RAM because I needed to use quite a bit of pagefile memory with Quake 4 on high settings.

 

[Mogadon]

To give you some comparison I can run quake 4 at high settings flawlessly with the system in my sig.

Out of interest - Do you keep up with the housecleaning on your system and do you have many background programs running?