Thread: A little something about CPU and its priority in gaming

Hello everyone ,hope everythings fine .I am posting in TG after a long time .Jai hok ,today i want to raise a question i hv been wondering about for so long ,maybe something all of you hv at least wondered once .My most recent config lies :
Intel core 2 duo E4500 2.2 ghz
Ram-4GB
GFX-HD 6870

AS you can see,cpu is an absolute bottleneck .I am getting like 55-65-70 in recent games like Crysis 2,Acreed brotherhood with all the details maxed out .So my question ,the resolution i am playing at (1366 into 768) is not that much demanding anyway ,And i am ok with my everyday pc performance.And I dont play cpu intensive ports that much .So do i really need to upgrade now ?I know after some 2 years games may even not support my cpu anymore ,but even if i upgrade the cpu now ,how much will be the gain ,some 10-15 fps ?coz i cant go for i-series,that my mob wont support .

Sorry Monty, though your E4500 CPU may pose a bottleneck, But at such low resolutions of 1366 into 768 you wont see any big improvement that would be worth the money, even if you upgraded to a Quad Core 775. At those resolutions you are not even properly utilizing your GPU's power and the games details. You should think about upgrading to a larger display first, preferably something thats around 22" and native to 1920x1080 or more. And then maybe you can think about upgrading the rest of your PC. But I think if you are happy with the PC's performance then you should stick to what you have for now. With games its more about the CPU speed / GHz than the number of cores, So a 3.5 GHz Core 2 Duo may be better than a 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Quad. since "most" games can only utilize 2 Cores, BF: BC 2 being one of the few exceptions.

So think about that and before you upgrade the CPU, upgrade the monitor. And if you feel the processor is bottlenecking, then you could overclock your E4500. It should easily do around 3Ghz on the stock cooler, and around 3.4Ghz - 3.5Ghz under water.


My Advice.... Overclock your CPU... See if you are liking the improvements in your games, then upgrade to a 22" monitor and run your processor overclocked around 3Ghz - 3.2Ghz until you can upgrade in two years..

I want to say something about overclocking. Monty if you are from Bangladesh you should avoid overclocking. Because overclocking is not good in Bangladesh because the weather is hotter than before! I have seen 3 people who did overclock their CPU and all of the CPU were burnt!! Their overclocking way was not wrong I believe.

If you have a AC room you can overclock I think . About upgrading your CPU my suggestion is to wait. Upgrade your CPU when you need to upgrade it. Now you have a good config so no need to upgrade it! Maybe after 1/2 years you would upgrade it.

Monty bro m sorry to say but why u bought this card??this card isn't good enough it doesn't have enough head room....I guess u spend almost 18k...u could've bought GTX 460 easily....well itz ok u bought just change ur CPU

Originally Posted by Zaid

Sorry Monty, though your E4500 CPU may pose a bottleneck, But at such low resolutions of 1366 into 768 you wont see any big improvement that would be worth the money, even if you upgraded to a Quad Core 775. At those resolutions you are not even properly utilizing your GPU's power and the games details. You should think about upgrading to a larger display first, preferably something thats around 22" and native to 1920x1080 or more. And then maybe you can think about upgrading the rest of your PC. But I think if you are happy with the PC's performance then you should stick to what you have for now. With games its more about the CPU speed / GHz than the number of cores, So a 3.5 GHz Core 2 Duo may be better than a 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Quad. since "most" games can only utilize 2 Cores, BF: BC 2 being one of the few exceptions.

So think about that and before you upgrade the CPU, upgrade the monitor. And if you feel the processor is bottlenecking, then you could overclock your E4500. It should easily do around 3Ghz on the stock cooler, and around 3.4Ghz - 3.5Ghz under water.


My Advice.... Overclock your CPU... See if you are liking the improvements in your games, then upgrade to a 22" monitor and run your processor overclocked around 3Ghz - 3.2Ghz until you can upgrade in two years..

fact is,i really dont mind gaming @1366.even if i upgrade,i am extremely unlikely to go beyond that .i am suing original intel dg33fb ,and so far i hv found out,it doesnt support setting fsb from bios .any other wat it can be oclocked ?

Originally Posted by ~!GODzMASK!~

Monty bro m sorry to say but why u bought this card??this card isn't good enough it doesn't have enough head room....I guess u spend almost 18k...u could've bought GTX 460 easily....well itz ok u bought just change ur CPU

hmmm maybe you are rite ...but i bought it for two reasons:
1.I really wanted to try an AMD card .And this one seemed perfect
2.GTX 460 is 16k,so 6870 seemed good as it was some 10 percent faster @ 18k(overclocking caps are also good )
jai hok,ekhon to hate ar taka poisha nai vai ,shob tp GPU er pichone dhaili disi ....maybe there will be some good cpus after 2 yrs and i will go for them .

Originally Posted by masromim

I want to say something about overclocking. Monty if you are from Bangladesh you should avoid overclocking. Because overclocking is not good in Bangladesh because the weather is hotter than before! I have seen 3 people who did overclock their CPU and all of the CPU were burnt!! Their overclocking way was not wrong I believe.

If you have a AC room you can overclock I think . About upgrading your CPU my suggestion is to wait. Upgrade your CPU when you need to upgrade it. Now you have a good config so no need to upgrade it! Maybe after 1/2 years you would upgrade it.

I think you have some misinformation romim.
You don’t need AC, and Heat doesn’t kill a CPU, Volts Kills CPU’s. There is no reason to avoid overclocking, I have seen plenty of Overclockers from the Arab region, and needless to say their climate is much warmer. On the modern CPU heat is not the isolating factor; the processor will shut down before it reaches to those kinds of temperatures that can damage it.

Heat is only relative when you want to achieve higher clocks, and as always you would want to try to keep it cool. Overclocking on platforms older than i7 1366, requires some skill. Like most people, either your friends possessed very little knowledge about the subject or did something wrong; maybe they over volted it, or they didn’t use a very good motherboard and PSU, or maybe they knowingly did it which I highly doubt.

No need to restrict yourself from overclocking just because you are in BD. Just wait till arnab gets his GTX465 and the 2500K, you will see him overclock it over 4Ghz.

Originally Posted by ~!GODzMASK!~

Monty bro m sorry to say but why u bought this card??this card isn't good enough it doesn't have enough head room....I guess u spend almost 18k...u could've bought GTX 460 easily....well itz ok u bought just change ur CPU

@ Arnab
Why is everyone saying sorry today? Is he going to Jail for buying AMD? The HD6870 is still a very good card; the problem is its price / performance ratio, that’s what most people buying AMD products think about… price / performance.
Stock for stock both HD6850 / 6870 are faster than GTX 460, but once all of these cards are overclocked to their full potential the GTX460 which costs less will beat the overclocked AMD’s.

Just look here: HD 6870 & HD 6850 vs. GTX 460 1GB: An Overclocking Study

AMD/ATI has eyefinity and MLAA, while nVidia holds the ground with CUDA and physX, but the HD6870 is just not worth the price since the 460 has more features, costs a lot less and performs better.

Originally Posted by Montydgr8

hmmm maybe you are rite ...but i bought it for two reasons:
1.I really wanted to try an AMD card .And this one seemed perfect
2.GTX 460 is 16k,so 6870 seemed good as it was some 10 percent faster @ 18k(overclocking caps are also good )
jai hok,ekhon to hate ar taka poisha nai vai ,shob tp GPU er pichone dhaili disi ....maybe there will be some good cpus after 2 yrs and i will go for them .

@Monty
He's right, You should have thought twice before buying it
The factory overclock is just a BS gimmick... It’s not really 10% faster at 18K, its slower, just look around the internet. The 460 ends up overall being equally fast; and sometimes the faster card. That GTX460 notorious for their overclock ability’s has the highest gains from overclocking and beats the overclocked HD6850 and goes head to head with HD6870 and even beating HD6870 at times.

Don’t get me wrong, the HD6870 is a very good card, but just not worth the price / performance when you can get the same out of a GTX460 which has more features. Performance & Features for the Price, I think that’s why people chose AMD. The GTX460 does that. Why else do you think they end up getting sold like hot egg’s around everywhere.

As I always say, never waste your hard earned money paying extra for factory overclocked cards, you can do the same with MSI Afterburner, no risks involved.

Originally Posted by Montydgr8

fact is,i really dont mind gaming @1366.even if i upgrade,i am extremely unlikely to go beyond that .i am suing original intel dg33fb ,and so far i hv found out,it doesnt support setting fsb from bios .any other wat it can be oclocked ?

@Monty
Fact is, the resolution you play does not require the HD6870. On that resolution only a 5770 is more than enough, there is no point of having the HD6870.

Unless you upgrade the display, whatever hardware you add to the PC is going to waste. Thats why I suggested is a display upgrade because you aren't getting the GPU's full potential @ 1366x768. It’s like saying "he I have a 15" monitor and a i7 2600K @ 5GHz and a GTX590, should I get another one and SLI?"

Just leave it as it is...you won’t be able to overclock on an intel board…So if you are happy you should just leave it for now it and enjoy your games…Dont worry about FPS and benchmarks, as long as you are getting 40 - 50 + fps and all games are running smoothly in their highest settings, why spend your time thinking how much more you could be getting…… Don’t bother with any upgrades for another year or two…Don’t spend any more money on that.. and please man..no more impulse buys, amnete student manush, abaar upor diye pagoler moton ulta palta poysha ar nosto koro na re bhi.. do more research next time and ask around a bit more before you make up your mind.

Like I did fau motherboard er pice kotto tk noshto korlam now shob e gone...tokhon Zaid vai er kotha ta shunle ekhon amar ei behal obostha hoto na

Originally Posted by Zaid

@Monty
He's right, You should have thought twice before buying it
The factory overclock is just a BS gimmick... It’s not really 10% faster at 18K, its slower, just look around the internet. The 460 ends up overall being equally fast; and sometimes the faster card. That GTX460 notorious for their overclock ability’s has the highest gains from overclocking and beats the overclocked HD6850 and goes head to head with HD6870 and even beating HD6870 at times.

Don’t get me wrong, the HD6870 is a very good card, but just not worth the price / performance when you can get the same out of a GTX460 which has more features. Performance & Features for the Price, I think that’s why people chose AMD. The GTX460 does that. Why else do you think they end up getting sold like hot egg’s around everywhere.

As I always say, never waste your hard earned money paying extra for factory overclocked cards, you can do the same with MSI Afterburner, no risks involved.




@Monty
Fact is, the resolution you play does not require the HD6870. On that resolution only a 5770 is more than enough, there is no point of having the HD6870.

Unless you upgrade the display, whatever hardware you add to the PC is going to waste. Thats why I suggested is a display upgrade because you aren't getting the GPU's full potential @ 1366x768. It’s like saying "he I have a 15" monitor and a i7 2600K @ 5GHz and a GTX590, should I get another one and SLI?"

Just leave it as it is...you won’t be able to overclock on an intel board…So if you are happy you should just leave it for now it and enjoy your games…Dont worry about FPS and benchmarks, as long as you are getting 40 - 50 + fps and all games are running smoothly in their highest settings, why spend your time thinking how much more you could be getting…… Don’t bother with any upgrades for another year or two…Don’t spend any more money on that.. and please man..no more impulse buys, amnete student manush, abaar upor diye pagoler moton ulta palta poysha ar nosto koro na re bhi.. do more research next time and ask around a bit more before you make up your mind.

hmm ......kintu brparta holo gpu ta kinsi nijer tutiony er taka diya .....jai hok ...i will try to spend the money better next time ...i would never ask dad for a 18k gpu ,coz he wont give it to me !!so,provided i am safe for next 2 yrs ,i am not bothering much about upgrades anyway ......!!!btw,do u hv any tutorial on how to use afterburner ?

.

Originally Posted by Montydgr8

hmm ......kintu brparta holo gpu ta kinsi nijer tutiony er taka diya .....jai hok ...i will try to spend the money better next time ...i would never ask dad for a 18k gpu ,coz he wont give it to me !!so,provided i am safe for next 2 yrs ,i am not bothering much about upgrades anyway ......!!!btw,do u hv any tutorial on how to use afterburner ?

ami chai manushder shahajo korte, tomi amar khub porichito ar tomar kosto kore tutiony kore orjon korar por aibhabe poisha na bhuje khoroch korata shune amaro khub kharap lage bhi...ha... If only you had asked me my bro...if only you had mentioned...I could have at least arranged a GTX460 to be made available at BD for you, and even if you wanted to pay, you would have saved around 12,000 - 13,000 tk..... afsoos.......jak......dont bother with upgrades and downgrades for now. I wrote a small tutorial on msi afterburner earlier this year, it should help you - How to Overclock Your GPU Using MSI Afterburner

...all the best...