Is Core 2 Duo E8400 still a capable gaming processor

[vishalaestro]

i brought this system to my friend 4 years before
intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3ghz
coolermaster extreme power plus 460w
transcend 2x2gb 800mhz ram
zebronics antibiotic cabinet
seagate 320gb hdd
nvidia 9500gt 1gb
since his card was barely not enough to play any games at 1600x900 resolution i told him to buy a good card like amd 7770 but he told that i would would invest that money to buy a new cpu. so my question is ,is still the Core 2 Duo E8400 capable of running heavy games at 1600x900 res for an another 2 years coz once he buys a new card he won't be able to anything to his system for an another two years.

 

[whooleo]

Something like 3.3GHz is easy to achieve on the stock cooler (that's how I have my friend's E8400 setup). But if you want to go higher an after market cooler is a must.

 

[iceclock]

300 megahertz overclock doesnt do much, if hes gonna overclock might as well aim for 600mhz or +, and is gonna need a aftermarket cooler

 

[whooleo]

300 megahertz overclock doesnt do much, if hes gonna overclock might as well aim for 600mhz or +, and is gonna need a aftermarket cooler

That's what I suggest. Especially since you can get this chip up there easily with a Cooler Master Hyper TX3 or 212.

 

[iceclock]

well tx3 isnt that great but the evo 212 is quite good 😉

 

[whooleo]

well tx3 isnt that great but the evo 212 is quite good 😉

Hey now! I have the TX3 on a Pentium D 925 OCed to 4GHz and it keeps it in the 50s to low 60s, that's good for a Pentium D!

 

[iceclock]

im surprised its alright but hyper 212 alot better in terms of cooling

 

[miggtt699]

Actually if you want my opinion on it, it's a really great CPU (of course not comparing to newer architecture CPU's) if you overclock the **** out of it. Example, I am using a E2160 (pretty old now) O.C to 3.08GHZ (FSB limitation) and I have a 9600GT 1GB GDDR3. I play Far Cry 3 @1024x768 with "optimal" settings and I get around 30-36 FPS, If I bump up the graphics, to high, I get 25-30 FPS, so you should be expecting a CPU bottleneck from an old processor with a newer graphics card. But if you keep it nice and cool at at least on the 3.6-3.8GHZ zone, you'll be fine.

 

[miggtt699]

AN ULTIMATE UPGRADE
ESPECIALLY FOR CORE 2 DUO

-The First thing would be replacing your mobo (Gigabyte GA-G41MT-S2PT Motherboard)
- Using a ddr3 1600 F S B supported 8 GB Corsair Vengence Ram stick (4 X 2 as equal loads decrease heat)
-use water cooling solution like Corsair H40 Cooler which costs less and cools more
-water cooling will enable overclock of upto 4.5 Ghz but i would recommend 3.8 Ghz
-stress n blend test it for 12 hours under orthos.
-Use a discrete Graphic card such as HD 7970 or HD 7950
-if possible replace ur SMPS for a new 600w PSU

NOW UR PC WILL RUN LIKE A STEROIDS INJECTED HORSE

That's really unecessary. A better cheaper upgrade would be a:

-Upgrade your motherboard to a 1600MHZ capable FSB.
-Upgrade your CPU to a C2Q Q6600 G0.
-Buy a water cooler (crosair H40).
-GTX 460 is more than enough.
-Overclock the C2Q to 4.0 GHz.
-The ram upgrade you mentioned seems okay.
-And the PSU also seems okay.

You'll get more PriceXperformance.

 

[vishalaestro]

Best answer selected by vishalaestro.

 

[vishalaestro]

Actually if you want my opinion on it, it's a really great CPU (of course not comparing to newer architecture CPU's) if you overclock the **** out of it. Example, I am using a E2160 (pretty old now) O.C to 3.08GHZ (FSB limitation) and I have a 9600GT 1GB GDDR3. I play Far Cry 3 @1024x768 with "optimal" settings and I get around 30-36 FPS, If I bump up the graphics, to high, I get 25-30 FPS, so you should be expecting a CPU bottleneck from an old processor with a newer graphics card. But if you keep it nice and cool at at least on the 3.6-3.8GHZ zone, you'll be fine.

i will be using this cooler http://www.deltapage.com/products/Cooler-Master-CPU-Fan-%252d-INTEL-i7-%7B47%7D-i5-%7B47%7D-i3-%7B-LGA-1155%7B47%7D1156%7D.html this is the amount of money i have when i buy a new 7770 i will overclock the cpu to 3.5ghz since my mobo has only 3 power phases .is this a good idea?can i overclock to this speed using this cooler?