Is it worth it for me to upgrade?

[sprinj76]

Hello all,

The reason I ask is because when I play TF2 at 1680x1050 with everything turned on I slow down to under 30fps sometimes. It only happens when there is a lot of ppl on the screen with a lot of explosions happening.

I think I am very CPU limited with my current configuration (see sig), even though I'm overclocked.

I was thinking of upgrading to an E8400 or E8500 and overclocking. Can anyone recommend a decently priced SLI mobo for me? needs to run ddr2 memory, and have support SLI.

Thanks much for any input.

Other configuration suggestions welcome as well, just remember needs to be somewhat budget, under $250-275 total

 

[ou_phidelt]

The EVGA 750 FTW seems to fit your requirements well. Link It isn't labled as such at newegg but that it the part number for it a EVGA's website, link.

I am not very up to date on my AMD systems but I wouldn't think that chip at 3.2 would bottleneck that badly. But your GPU's are certainly up to the task for that game and resolution.

 

[gigabit]

780i A1 or FTW and a E8400 E0

 

[BlackEdition]

oddly enough i have the same (basically) system as the thread starter, and i have been thinking about an identical upgrade! what kind of performance increase are we going to be looking at?

 

[OC101]

A video card upgrade would be a lot more effective for that kind of resolution and max settings.

P.S. "With everything turned on" is overrated!

I am enjoying 200+ fps in source games with the system I have below. I play at the same resolution but definitely NOT "everything turned on".

 

[sprinj76]

A video card upgrade would be a lot more effective for that kind of resolution and max settings.

P.S. "With everything turned on" is overrated!

I am enjoying 200+ fps in source games with the system I have below. I play at the same resolution but definitely NOT "everything turned on".

Um, I don't think a video card upgrade would help me even a little. My cards perform just about the same as a 9800 gx2 and beats a 3870 ATI card . . . interesting statement you are making.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ3NSwzLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Thanks to everyone who posted. I think I am going to save and hold off for a more drastic upgrade down the line.

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

1680 x 1050 he is more cpu bound then gpu bound and 8800GT plays TF2 fine with most details up, when i had my q6600 and an single 8800GT i had no issues

what you also have to know is some customs maps are poorly coded, are te frame drops happening on stock maps of custom maps

 

[MadMan007]

Run task manager in the background and see if your CPU usage spikes to 100% on one or both cores while playing.

 

[don'tknow]

Keep in mind that the same clock speed on an X2 5000 65nm does not = the performance at the same clock speed on a 45nm e8xxx. Yes, that kind of a CPU upgrade will be your biggest performance gain, especially when you OC it to 3.8 - 4ghz.

As for CPU usage, I'm not sure if that really measures bottlenecking/performance because on my old CPU it never hit 100% while playing games, and same on my new CPU, yet this new one completely destroys my old 90nm in gaming performance.

 

[sprinj76]

1680 x 1050 he is more cpu bound then gpu bound and 8800GT plays TF2 fine with most details up, when i had my q6600 and an single 8800GT i had no issues

what you also have to know is some customs maps are poorly coded, are te frame drops happening on stock maps of custom maps

That's a good point. Mostly I play goldrush, gravelput, dustbowl, and badwater maps.

Run task manager in the background and see if your CPU usage spikes to 100% on one or both cores while playing.

I checked it out, and core 1 is spiked at 100% the entire time, and core 2 is running 30-40% while I play.

Keep in mind that the same clock speed on an X2 5000 65nm does not = the performance at the same clock speed on a 45nm e8xxx. Yes, that kind of a CPU upgrade will be your biggest performance gain, especially when you OC it to 3.8 - 4ghz.

As for CPU usage, I'm not sure if that really measures bottlenecking/performance because on my old CPU it never hit 100% while playing games, and same on my new CPU, yet this new one completely destroys my old 90nm in gaming performance.

I definitely know not to compare clock to clock with the AMD and intel chips. I know a stock E8400 would greatly out perform my chip at 3.2ghz.

Just not sure if this is a good time for an upgrade, i7 is coming out, I'm hoping in 6 months or so the old chipset (mobo's and cpu's) will come down in price.