How good is a AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4600 MMX 3DNow (2 CPUs) ~

[WrekCreation]

Hi, could someone please explain to me if my Processer is the answer to my problems for gaming. ive got:

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4600+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 3072MB RAM
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 210
Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.100427-1636)

there is always a a bit of a lag and i was wondering if i need a better CPU or something else for that matter.

P.S . Memory is not the problem

Would really appretiate some help

thanks

 

[mosox]

What games?

 

[Shaun o]

In answer to your question the bottle neck is the GT 210 card.
First of all it uses DDR2 memory, and the card only has a 128bit data bus.

Most cards today use a 256bit data bus or more for graphics bandwidth.

 

[punnar]

What apps or games that are causing these lags? Or is the lag in general? Did you have these lags before?

Here are some things that could cause a computer to slow down (Lag):
(Besides not having enough cpu/gpu power for your app/games)

1. Overheating - When was the last time you cleaned the inside from dust build up?
2. Adwares - Cookies, add-ons, virus.
3. You've outgrown the cpu and just need an excuse to upgrade =).

 

[Wisecracker]

In answer to your question the bottle neck is the GT 210 card.
First of all it uses DDR2 memory, and the card only has a 128bit data bus.

Most cards today use a 256bit data bus or more for graphics bandwidth.

Might actually be 64-bit.

The GT210 is more of an HTPC card than a gaming video card. It's closer to a 9500GT, and it's one step above integrated graphics - meaning current games may only be played at low resolutions with medium to low detail. Anything above that would certainly introduce lag to your game play.

Your first purchase should be a new video card.

 

[WrekCreation]

Could you explain a bit more on that answer.

P.S . im not really that responsive with things like hardware ect.

 

[WrekCreation]

Thanks but ive been told a lot of things by other people saying i need to look into my cpu then its my graphic card ect. so if its possible could i get definite answers cause i dont want to have to go buy something and then the problem is still there.

 

[jj463rd]

Well you're CPU is definitely obsolete (older) but changing your video card to a more powerful model would do your system wonders.Like wisecracker said get a new video card (not too expensive make it under $100 for a balanced system).
See here.

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: November 2010
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850,2782.html

 

[Wisecracker]

For a card this cheap, and really -- it's cheap at roughly 30-490 USD is does come with a nice variety of connectivity on the form of SUB-D (analog VGA), dual-link DVI and HDMI. The GT 210 screams budget with its 16 stream processors clocked at 1402 MHz, while the graphics core operates at 590 MHz. It's armed with 512MB of DDR2 running at 790MHz. The board's memory interface is only 64-bit, with peak memory bandwidth of 12.6GB/sec -- which is roughly 10x less than your average high-end graphics card.

If you game at 1600x1200 or above you should purchase a 1GB video card with at least DDR3. For $50 this Radeon HD 4650 1GB 128-bit DDR3 looks like a good deal for you ...

Even better at $60 (after rebate): HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3

or

The Tom's benchmarks are a little misleading because they use much slower DDR2 on their HD 4650

 

[WrekCreation]

Thanks a lot gise. One more thing , would over-clocking help at all, is it safe to do and what are the the steps on how to do it.

 

[Wisecracker]

Yes. Overclocking will help but it is a little more tricky than that. If you have an OEM computer (like a Dell or HP) your options are very limited because of the limited nature of an OEM system BIOS.

There are also 3 versions of the X2 4600+. If you download and install CPUz we can find out a lot more about your system including the type of CPU, the speed of your memory and the motherboard you are using.

The different X2 4600+ CPUs have different voltage and temperature parameters -- and actually use different sockets to connect to the motherboard. We need to know if it is a socket 939 or socket AM2.

We could also give you much better information regarding your video card if you gave us the resolution and games you play, a possible budget, and whether you would like to move the video card to a new system in the future.

It would also help if you could remove the side panel of your computer and provide for us any information regarding your power supply - the manufacturer and total wattage would be great.