Looking for a new CPU mostly for MMOs

[Betatest]

Hey there, my current CPU which is Phenom X4 II 940 BE 3GHZ really does not fit it anymore, I mostly play MMOs, well, only MMOs and for that you need really beast CPU. I was thinking of i5-2400/2500 or should I wait and see how the new bulldozers turn out? Rest of my rig - GTX 460 1GB, 4GB of RAM DDR2 (would also need to buy DDR3), Fusion Bulk 550W, W7-64bit. Basically I am looking for a cpu that will run most (all) MMOs really well as I think my GTX 460 is enough for all of them. And for budget, I really dont know, but I can not afford i7-2600 or anything of that sort.


I would also like to mention that I am not really planning on OCing, I have no experience in the field and I do not want anything melted or destroyed.

Many peopel are saying that the low framerates in MMOs is caused by my GTX 460 1GB, I still think it is the combination of DDR2+CPU.

Thanks in advance

Regards

 

[EliteRetard]

If you want to jump to Intel you need a new MOBO CPU and RAM...that seems rather expensive just to add some FPS to an MMO.

Im thinking money might be better spent on an SSD. Youve got a Black edition AMD CPU, which means its VERY easy to OC. Without messing with any other settings, you could change the multiplier on your CPU to gain a few hundred MHz. Worst case you do accidently melt something, but you were going to get a new MOBO CPU and RAM anyway. But if you ask for help in OCin people here can pretty much take you step by step so nothing breaks. You can get a good bit more speed out of your current setup.

 

[imaheadcase]

The gpu is fine and the cpu. A SSD will help, but just upgrading to 8gigs of ram would make a huge difference in a MMO, loading textures and the like. Cheap enough upgrade to.

 

[Betatest]

For example when I am playing Aion the usage of memory never went above 1.5 I believe, I might be wrong and buying another 4GB of DDR2 seems like a major waste since it is really really outdated.

 

[GammaLaser]

SSD would definitely help if you are often loading zones or some such, not so helpful if you need to increase FPS.

 

[Betatest]

It is not as slow, it is really great, zoning for example in Aion takes from 3-5 seconds which is really great, I am more worried about performance/fps.

 

[cebalrai]

Hey there, my current CPU which is Phenom X4 II 940 BE 3GHZ really does not fit it anymore, I mostly play MMOs, well, only MMOs and for that you need really beast CPU. I was thinking of i5-2400/2500 or should I wait and see how the new bulldozers turn out? Rest of my rig - GTX 460 1GB, 4GB of RAM DDR2 (would also need to buy DDR3), Fusion Bulk 550W, W7-64bit. Basically I am looking for a cpu that will run most (all) MMOs really well as I think my GTX 460 is enough for all of them. And for budget, I really dont know, but I can not afford i7-2600 or anything of that sort.


I would also like to mention that I am not really planning on OCing, I have no experience in the field and I do not want anything melted or destroyed.

Many peopel are saying that the low framerates in MMOs is caused by my GTX 460 1GB, I still think it is the combination of DDR2+CPU.

Thanks in advance

Regards

A big old quad Phenom II can run any MMO ever made at very high settings. You far exceed the recommended specs for Aion with both your CPU and GPU. Also, not sure where you're getting the notion that MMOs need a "beastly" CPU from. They're typically designed for the broadest user base possible, meaning they run well on middling mobile CPUs and even single-core processors. You can easily run WoW at 60 fps on a $28 Sempron @ 2.6 ghz if you turn settings down (and aren't trying hi res).

If you're getting low fps on that rig it's because you've got malware screwing with your system or some sort of configuration problem.

By the way, what kind of fps are you getting? And is it consistently low or high with lots of dips?

 

[Andres3605]

Aion has really low system requirements (recommended CPU is Athlon 64 3000), are you having performance/fps issues other than server lag in super populated areas?

 

[dma0991]

I don't think the CPU is an issue here as the Phenom II is quite capable of handling any MMO out there and when it comes to games, the general rule to achieve higher FPS is to get a better GPU.

I don't know about MMOs but from what I've heard there are games like APB which needs 4GB of RAM to be playable. The change from DDR2 to DDR3 would hardly make any difference to your FPS so getting more RAM could solve the problem. Another problem could be caused by high latency due to whatever problems your internet has.

 

[Betatest]

My settings in Aion are incredible high, even 8x AA, all shadows, almsot everything checked (Bloom etc...), when I am alone, I never dropped below 60 (the game is somehow capped at 65-67 fps and nope it is not because of VSYNC, the game is just capped there), but whenever I join a group of people for a dungeon (6 people for a dungeon) and we start fighting all of sudden the FPS drops to 30-35. I tried to change the settings a bit, but it does not make any difference, the only thing that helps a bit is to disable effects from other players. So yeah, I am having huge FPS dips. I can live with waiting 10s to load the main city before I can start exploring it, but, the groups are bothering me.

Edit: This seems weird to me, when I am on the forums of the certain game everyone is refering to my CPU being too slow for the game and my internet is fine, I never go above 30ms.

Edit2: And it is not cause by malware too, I have a clean system and I run scans everyday.

 

[cebalrai]

My settings in Aion are incredible high, even 8x AA, all shadows, almsot everything checked (Bloom etc...), when I am alone, I never dropped below 60 (the game is somehow capped at 65-67 fps and nope it is not because of VSYNC, the game is just capped there), but whenever I join a group of people for a dungeon (6 people for a dungeon) and we start fighting all of sudden the FPS drops to 30-35. I tried to change the settings a bit, but it does not make any difference, the only thing that helps a bit is to disable effects from other players. So yeah, I am having huge FPS dips. I can live with waiting 10s to load the main city before I can start exploring it, but, the groups are bothering me.

Edit: This seems weird to me, when I am on the forums of the certain game everyone is refering to my CPU being too slow for the game and my internet is fine, I never go above 30ms.

Edit2: And it is not cause by malware too, I have a clean system and I run scans everyday.

Well it's definitely not hardware related so no need to upgrade. Have you tried a couple different Nvidia drivers? Do a full uninstall when you switch drivers.

By the way your monitor can probably only show 60 fps. You'll probably want to cap it there if you can. But that's odd that you can only get 65-ish fps alone - you should get way more than that on a stress-free screen. Something is definitely wrong. Maybe take it to the Aion tech support forum?

 

[Betatest]

I have already asked, the game is capped there, it is in the game, other peopel are having it too, I do not know why is it like that, but it really does not bother me, the FPS drops are just annoying.

Edit: Aion's forum are dead, especially the tech forums.

Edit2: Lets take a look at LOTRO - I got EVERYTHING maxed (without AA) and I got 150 fps being alone, 70-80 in a huge town.

Hmmm, I decided to try out the OCing, it seems fairly easy (I hope so ), but I still have the box cooler, on what clocks can I get it with the box cooler, could I get it to 3200?

 

[GaiaHunter]

Just avoid exceeding 55ºC on the CPU.

 

[Betatest]

The cores can go above 55-60? Just the cpu must be at 55 max?

Hmmm, according to Everest my cpu is now at 45 without any overclocking.

 

[GaiaHunter]

What are your cores temperature readings?

I have an unlocked Phenom II X2@X4 so I lost my core temp readings and only have the CPU readings, but I believe the CPU temp was higher than the cores when I had it in X2.

Even though the stock cooler isn't that good you should still be able to raise the multiplier to x16 or x17 and be fine if you don't need to increase voltage.

Coolers like the CM 212+ and the Xigmatek Gaia are pretty good for the cost and should be able to take at least 10ºC off the temperatures and most likely 15ºC-18ºC.

 

[Betatest]

Right now, browsing web my CPU is at 44 and cores are at 47-48, when I play a game for about an hour or two, the cores are at 60 tops.

 

[GaiaHunter]

That might be a bit hot - you could see if there is dust inside your case, around the fans, on top of the CPU heatsink (on my Athlon X2 stock cooler I reduced the temps by about 5-7ºC just by removing the dust from the heatsink), etc.

 

[EliteRetard]

With the stock cooler, you can try for 3.2-3.4GHz thats a 16 or 17x multiplier. Above that you might need more voltage. Unfotunately the stock coolers dont have allot of headroom and youve got a 125watt CPU (allot of heat to dissipate). You might not be able to OC much at all with the stock cooler just because of heat.

I think overclocking is worth a shot though, you can learn a few things and absolute worst case you can still upgrade. Youll need a better cooler to overclock further, but you can get a nice tower cooler for 30$ that should handle anything you can. With just a little voltage and multiplier adjustments you should be able to get 3.6GHz, a 20% raw speed boost. Besides the multi there are more advanced overclocking options that can boost your performance as well...a total 25-30% is fairly common (takes allot more time/patience though).

If your CPU is really the bottleneck you should be able to easily notice a speed boost of that size.

 

[Betatest]

I am aware that the stock cooler is really really bad, but I would like to try to get it to atleast 3200 and see if there is even SLIGHT performance boost. Right now I take every single fps boost I can get. Is there any super easy to follow guide how to OC the BE you could recommend? Or is it just really going to BIOS, set multiplier to 16x save settings and reboot?

 

[dawp]

you should be able to reach 3.2g easy enough and if you're worried about heat, just do it for a couple of hours to see if there is an improvement and drop it back to stock until you get a better heatsink.

also, what are the temps in your room? if they're on the warm side, so will your cpu temps.

also 2, what board do you have? that could limit you OC ability.

 

[GaiaHunter]

I am aware that the stock cooler is really really bad, but I would like to try to get it to atleast 3200 and see if there is even SLIGHT performance boost. Right now I take every single fps boost I can get. Is there any super easy to follow guide how to OC the BE you could recommend? Or is it just really going to BIOS, set multiplier to 16x save settings and reboot?

As a initial step, yes, going to bios and setting the multiplier to x16 is enough.

There a few guides, like Dolk's.

 

[EliteRetard]

The base clock should be 200MHz and the default multi 15x (15x200=3000MHz).
So yeah for just 200MHz it should be find the CPU multiplier setting, set it to 16x save and reboot. Not sure how much you know, do you have an idea of what your looking for?
Usually in an advanced tab, or youll find a CPU option that says automatic/manual and activating the manual option pops up the settings you want. As long as you dont choose to save anything it wont hurt to poke around in the BIOS.

Dont suppose youve got an extra fan laying around? A simple temporary solution is just to hang another fan pointed at the CPU to help remove heated air from the area. If theres no fans in the side panel you could always take that off too. If the CPU gets to hot temp sensors can kick off your rig/restart it/ throttle your CPU back or sometimes the computer will just crash. So if you have any problems like that its most likely the stock cooler just cant handle the truth

If you start going into mid 60s and the computer hasnt stopped you Id say play it safe and stop. Your computer isnt going to melt, but over long term those temps can do damage.

 

[Betatest]

Okay, I changed the multiplier to x16 and now I am at 3.21GZ and I think I hitted heating issues as nothing is running and I am already at 54 cpu and 55 cores.
If I want to go back to the original clock speed, do I just go to BIOS and change it to AUTO again and thats it?

 

[GaiaHunter]

Just open that case to see if that the inside isn't a big dust bin.

 

[tulx]

A good aftermarket cooler for overclocking and an SSD would definitely improve the general feel of the system. Still, 30-60 FPS is perfectly fine. You can even play shooters with no problems at 30 fps, anyone who tells you different is talking out of his ass.
Generaly, your PC is in a good shape (at least the hardware). The Phenoms are highly overclockable, so it should serve you well for at least a year, depending on what you want to play.