What game settings can you change if you are CPU limited?

[frozentundra123456]

Not sure if this should be in this forum or the PC gaming forum, but I will post it here.
I have an older off the shelf system that I cannot overclock, and it has a relatively weak CPU (E4500 at stock). The rest of my system consists of a 9800GT, vista 32 bit, 3gb of ram, and a 500 gb HD that is about half filled, mostly with games.

I think I am being limited by this CPU in a fair number of situations. I know how to compensate for a GPU limited situation (lower texture quality, draw distance, shader quality, etc.), but dont know how to compensate for a weak CPU. I game at 1440x900.
It seems that a lot of recent games, especially console ports, require a lot of CPU power, yet still do not have at all impressive graphics (Blops, anyone??).

So my question is, are there any in game settings that will compensate for a weak CPU and if so which ones will improve performance the most with the least effect on the appearance of the game.

 

[Blahman]

In my experience, not really. Most game settings relate to visual fidelity, not underlying game subsystems like loading, streaming, AI, game logic, netcode, collision detection, physics, animation, occlusion culling, sound, mouse/keyboard input, etc.

 

[aigomorla]

I have an older off the shelf system that I cannot overclock, and it has a relatively weak CPU (E4500 at stock). The rest of my system consists of a 9800GT, vista 32 bit, 3gb of ram, and a 500 gb HD that is about half filled, mostly with games.

http://www.overclock.net/downloads/255892-setfsb-2-0-a.html

You might get lucky with that, and be able to soft overclock, and not hard overclock though bios.

 

[Concillian]

Not very many settings relate to CPU load. There are some settings on some games, but it's specific to those games.