Should I upgrade my CPU to ge the best out of my PC?

[Flightsimluke]

Hi there,
I am wondering if I should upgrade the processor in my PC
I play some games on it (sims 3, FSX, FM2010 etc)

Here are the current specs:
2.7ghz Athlon X2 215 AM3
Pegatron all Am3 mobo
4gb DDr3 1066mhz ram
320gb hdd
Sapphire Radeon HD5670 512mb
Ocz stealthxstream 400w psu
I game at fairly basic resolutions (1024x768)
I have noticed some lag in FSX, but FSX is cpu dependent.

Would an AMD athlon X3 435 2.9ghz triplecore do the job better
thanks

 

[moody89]

More and more games and applications are starting to pick up on fully utilising multi-core CPUs. An Athlon II or Phenom II X3 would perform better than an Athlon X2. If the budget stretches you could even pick up an X4 for not too much more.

 

[unknown_13]

More and more games and applications are starting to pick up on fully utilising multi-core CPUs. An Athlon II or Phenom II X3 would perform better than an Athlon X2. If the budget stretches you could even pick up an X4 for not too much more.

Yes, whats your budget? You could pick the PII X4 955 for 160$ and it's going to give you much better results, both in gaming and multitasking

 

[randomkid]

Hi there,
I am wondering if I should upgrade the processor in my PC
I play some games on it (sims 3, FSX, FM2010 etc)

Here are the current specs:
2.7ghz Athlon X2 215 AM3

Would an AMD athlon X3 435 2.9ghz triplecore do the job better
thanks

Your rig seemed pretty decent to me although admittedly the CPU is a bit on the low end. But if you are able to play your games at decent framerates ( >30frames per second ) at your preferred games setting (high or very high), then there is no need to upgrade to a new CPU. At 1024x768 I think your current CPU is not being a bottleneck at all. In any case if you feel some lagging in games, you can overclock your CPU to 3.2GHz and I'm sure it will get you to where you want. I have a spare rig with an Athlon X2 5200+ OC at 3.2GHz and it plays Crysis Warhead very well ( with 9500GT & 2GB DDR2 800Mhz ) at mainstream setting, 1280x1024 resolution. Your rig is better than mine so I bet it will perform even better.

 

[abhishekk89]

you should definitely upgrade ur cpu... before wecan suggest u anything plz give us ur budget ??

 

[Rubberbband]

Your system seems well balanced and probably performs fairly well for the games you indicated you play. If you do chose to upgrade your CPU then your video card will become your bottleneck. Your power supply is a little on the low side if you were to upgrade your video card....it becomes an endless cycle like a dog chasing its tail. I would suggest you ride this rig out for another year and then do a major upgrade all at once to see a marked improvement.

 

[Flightsimluke]

Thanks
My budget is about £70/$110
Not much.
btw i only bought the psu and gpu about 3 weeks ago, and 400w seemed enough

 

[randomkid]

Thanks
My budget is about £70/$110
Not much.
btw i only bought the psu and gpu about 3 weeks ago, and 400w seemed enough

Try playing on it first and get a real feel of how it performs. If you dont like it, then you can get a new CPU but it will be a small improvement in gaming if you choose the X3 435. Meanwhile you will have a good X2 415 just lying around which will be a waste...

I really think you do not need to upgrade. At least not until you tried your current set up.

 

[Raidur]

Yeah guys don't forget he's using a 5670. Won't need much cpu power in gaming to keep up. (Although I guess with your super low resolution you'll see some increase in performance)

 

[Flightsimluke]

tried it, and got avg 53fps on sims3, 34fps on CoD MW2, and 23fps on FSX. Thanks to flight simulator's performance reading, i would apparently be ideal with something like an Athlon X2 250 or overclocking my 215 from 2.7ghz to about 3ghz. But i haven't a clue about overclocking.

Thanks for all the help

 

[randomkid]

But i haven't a clue about overclocking.

Well, that is quite easy to remedy...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclocking-guide,15.html
The guide is old and gave examples for overclocking old CPU's but the general ideas given in the beginning still applies.

Once you get the basics, you can search specific threads, reviews or tips about overclocking the X2 215.

 

[Flightsimluke]

thanks for all the tips!

But.....

Should I wait until the next line of processors come out?

 

[raygungothic]

FSX is a performance nightmare. It won't run THAT fast on... pretty much anything. Even fully patched it makes poor use of multiple cores, and it gets processor limited a lot more than a lot of modern pure games which tend to stress the graphics card more. Some of the guys in FSX forums... well... the quest for more frames in that terrible piece of code is eating their lives.

 

[randomkid]

thanks for all the tips!

But.....

Should I wait until the next line of processors come out?

Why don't you try to OC your CPU first and see if it improves your FSX fps. If it does, then it means your bottleneck is on the CPU. If it does not increase after OC'ng your CPU, try to OC your GPU and see if it will increase the fps even a bit. THis way you will know which is bottlenecking you in FSX.