Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5400 in gaming

[mysticdream]

Is Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5400 good for gaming? At least at low-med settings for new games. My graphics card is hd4650 512mb ddr2 with 2gb sys ram.Thanks

 

[RyanGreener]

Depends on the game and if it is optimized for dual cores or more, and if the game itself is CPU intense or not. It's a decent CPU with good OCability, but IMO, that GPU might need an update.

 

[mysticdream]

Yeah but for now i cant afford for a new gpu.I want to play games like gta4 ,crysis,farcry 2 etc and I hope hd4650 can handle those games.Thanks

 

[RavenSEAL]

GPU > CPU

Either way, that thing is bad enough to bottleneck even an HD5770.

 

[edplayer]

does your motherboard have overclocking options?

I sold my Q9550 and am using an E5200 right now. Running at 3333MHz currently and its OK (probably will be sucky at GTA4 though).


that HD4650 will hold you back more though. What resolution are you using?

 

[mysticdream]

Yes
Asus P5KPL-AM/PS

 

[Rifter]

at low setting/res with no AA you will probably be ok except in GTA 4.

 

[Arkaign]

I've had that exact combo before, it was incredibly easy to take to 3.5-3.6ghz, although I had some pretty good DDR2 and a larger cooler than stock. It ran games really well, although some of the titles that can use (and need) 4 cores such as GTA4 might cough a little on it. Most games will be fine though.

Overclocked to 3.5-3.6ghz, it will be faster than a stock E8400 by a decent bit, and that chip is usually not the bottleneck in most gaming situations (ie; gaming at 1680x1050 or 1920x1080 with decent details on a midrange to high-end GPU).

Best advice, OC that sucker, grab a CM 212+ for cheap if you have to, and save up for a GTX460, GTX560, HD6850, etc as the next purchase. Going to a better GPU will be a much better jump for gaming than replacing the CPU, as long as you get it to at least 3ghz.

 

[mysticdream]

Will overclocking cpu help? I have a 17 inch monitor and i don't bother playing in low res

 

[mysticdream]

But for now i just want to know whether dual core e5400 is future proof in games ?

 

[Arkaign]

Will overclocking cpu help? I have a 17 inch monitor and i don't bother playing in low res

If you have a 17" monitor, you're definitely stuck playing low res (1440x900 or 1280x1024 at standard LCD resolutions for wide and standard shaped screens). A handful of outstanding 17" CRTs existed that could do 1600x1200, but that's too small for that size.

1440x900 is considered pretty low res these days, it's kind of the 800x600 in the late 90s.
1680x1050 is considered pretty average, think of this as what 1024x768 used to be.
1920x1080/1200 is above average, think of this as the old 1280x1024/1600x1200
2560x1600/etc are high end, compare to crazy stuff like the Sony 900 24" Wide CRT

Yes, overclocking will help a lot. Stock the 2.7ghz C2D w/2MB L2 (that's what it is, even though they renamed it Pentium Dual Core) is a little on the slow side, but once over 3.2ghz or so it is a lot more competitive with other common current Dual-Core processors. I'd say at 3.4ghz it's about as fast as the stock 3ghz E8400 (2MB vs. 6MB cache being the difference there).

 

[Arkaign]

But for now i just want to know whether dual core e5400 is future proof in games ?

Not really future proof.

Stock it's a little below average for current games, and will be a bottleneck fairly often.

Overclocked it's average for current games, but will suffer in games that run best on quads (thankfully for the dual-core folks these aren't super common yet). Most games will still be bottlenecked by GPU at high detail settings.

Plan to look at a new CPU/Mobo/Memory set in the next 12-18 months at the most, but get a bigger GPU (and if necessary, PSU) FIRST.

 

[Rifter]

But for now i just want to know whether dual core e5400 is future proof in games ?

no, not even close to future proof.

And a 17" monitor is low res so you should be ok at 1280x1024 or 1440x900 with that GPU/CPU on low setting. Except games like GTA 4 which need a quad core to perform well.

 

[RavenSEAL]

But for now i just want to know whether dual core e5400 is future proof in games ?

Not even close...

 

[mysticdream]

Thanks everyone for your help!