My bottleneck decision

[linkfreak]

Hi all, well I decided on a system that I would be buying on newegg but then some very interesting videos I found on youtube showed that, "hey, look, you only need a good GPU to run games!" So yeah that's what I do, game on a 1280x1024 resolution. My current setup is:

CPU: AMD Sempron 3400+ (2.0 GHz)

Memory: 1.5 Gigs of DDR

GPU: ATI Radeon HD 4770 (just arrived)

My question is (I am in dire need of answers, this decision could potentially save me $200+ dollars) how much of a performance increase (in terms of frames per second) would I generally see in games if I upgraded my CPU to an AMD Phenom II X2 550 and the memory to a gig of DDR3?

I am in urgent need of help because I need to decide whether to just have my GPU and PSU or spend another $200 on the new mobo, the new CPU, and the new RAM.

Please help me, thank you.

 

[JimKiler]

My guess is 10 FPS if you upgrade but but it is hard to say, you need to find a review were they hit CPU bottlenecks like yours, try visiting Tom's hardware. Tech articles are interesting to read but I never seem to find them when I need them like in your current situation.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Most current video cards are bottlenecked by single core CPUs. An upgrade to a dual core CPU even if its only a 1.6Ghz CPU will show a good improvment. Also if your on XP you will want to have no less then 2GB of RAM.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,

You will see much more improvement in games if you get a newer CPU. The Sempron is a single core. Going to a dual core is a huge leap. You'll see nothing really going from DDR2 to DDR3 memory wise. I would suggest a simple Regor 250 CPU (3.0ghz), it's an AM3 chip, but is backwards compatible with AM2+ boards with a healthy 2MB of L2 cache. It's like $67. Monstrous power for the price. It will fuel that video card all day just fine.

Link

Keep everything else you have. This $67 upgrade will change your PC big time.

Very best,

 

[linkfreak]

Well, from what I've heard, my CPU can overclock to about 2.6 or so GHz, but I'm guessing that's not going to work and one of you is going to give me a metaphor about dropping a strong engine into some old car or something haha.