Is my CPU bottlenecking my system?

[pous]

Hi everyone, I've got a relatively new (few months old) system right now and I'm starting to wonder if maybe it's CPU limited.

Here's the specs:

P180
EA380 psu
E5200 2.5ghz
GA mATX mobo (not sure on numbers)
4gb (2x2) g.skill pc2 6400
80 gb os drive
500 gb data/game drive
Asus EAS HD4850 512mb

LCD 1 = 20" 1680 x 1050 Acer
LCD 2 = 16" 1280 x 1024 Viewsonic (some old monitor from like 4 or 5 years ago)

Just been wondering if maybe it'd be worth the $$ to step up to a higher clocked CPU.

 

[aevm]

Try overclocking.

Here's a guide:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/240001-29-howto-overclock-quads-duals-guide

 

[pous]

I had thought of that, but wasn't sure if it'd be more worth it to go for a higher end CPU with faster stock speeds (hence faster OC speeds) and more cache.

Times like this I really miss my Q6600 g0... had it at 3.2 but sold to a friend and bought this current set up because I wanted to go SFF... but never actually got the small case to go with it... -.- *shrug* live and learn I guess.

Thanks for the reply 😀

 

[fullmetall]

hopefully you dont have bad temperatures.. you have a heatsink and thermal compound right?

 

[aevm]

Would you spend a weekend playing with BIOS options and running stability tests, or would you rather pay $280 for a Q9550? I guess it depends on how much money and how much spare time you have (and on how lazy you are, LOL).

Do you even need a more powerful CPU, especially a quad? What kind of programs are you running?

If you find the exact model of the MB you can look it up on Gigabyte's site and see which CPUs it supports. Start here, click the model you have, then click "CPU support list".
http://tw.giga-byte.com/Products/Motherboard/Products_List.aspx?VenderType=Intel&CPUType=socket+775

 

[pous]

To the first one, my HS is stock, but should be fine. Temps are around 45 on idle. (My room is always hot)

Would you spend a weekend playing with BIOS options and running stability tests, or would you rather pay $280 for a Q9550? I guess it depends on how much money and how much spare time you have (and on how lazy you are, LOL).

Do you even need a more powerful CPU, especially a quad? What kind of programs are you running?

If you find the exact model of the MB you can look it up on Gigabyte's site and see which CPUs it supports. Start here, click the model you have, then click "CPU support list".
http://tw.giga-byte.com/Products/Motherboard/Products_List.aspx?VenderType=Intel&CPUType=socket+775

As for this... I don't mind playing in bios and tweaking things, it's fun for me. I don't have $280 for the Q9550 but I could afford up to about $200 for a CPU. So either E8400 or Q6600 probably.

As for what I run... I like to play games (any new game) and listen to music, browse and or chat all at the same time. Lately I've been playing windowed and watching movies on my 2nd monitor. I don't do much in office, I don't compress files, and I don't really do anything fancy... just games and movies.

I'll go ahead and check my mobo but it's a fairly recent LGA 775 model that should support the E5200. I'll get the right model numbers and post back later tonight.

Thanks again for the replies.

 

[Nik_I]

if you can overclock, do it. the cpu isn't bad, it's just not clocked very high. if you can bump up the speed a bit, you'll get much better performance.

 

[Rosanjin]

I agree with Nik_I. The upgrade would not be worth it from a performance gained/cash spent standpoint. Best to overclock what you've got. Especially with a chip that's as overclockable as the one you already have. 😀

 

[aford10]

It's a good cpu to OC, but you'll want to get a aftermarket cooler. The stock one will really limit the potential.