When to Upgrade The CPU

[clutz]

Right now I got a Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Brisbane Processor with no chance to upgrade it with the current motherboard (dell system, checked already).

I basically use it for games and can run games pretty much on high w/ no AA on.

I got 4gb of DDR2 800mhz RAM and debating if I should save money now and just get a AM2+ MOBO w/ AM3 compatibility and just use my current 4 sticks of RAM (1gb each).

My Question is simply this: When will games get to the point that you need a quad core system in order to run them at max settings? Or, is my system (especially the processor) good enough for another year?

Current System:

BFG Geforce 260GTX 216 video card
DVD Drive
Wireless PCI card
550W Antec Neowatt power supply
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ processor
4GB DDR2 RAM

Thanks in advance.

 

[englandr753]

Are you having any problems yet? If not, then its still good.

Honestly, there may be a game or two that would work better with 4 cores but is that really a good enough reason to spend 400+ bucks for 1 or 2 games? Probably not, unless its a sequel to a game you are addicted to and your system cant handle it.

Personally if you aren't having any issues now I would stick with what you have for the next year or so or until issues begin to arise.

I have a quad and I see 1 core getting killed on certain programs (usually video decoding) and the quad really doesn't help any at all. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th cores are at 3-10%.

I love the idea of having a quad but it doesn't always do what you expect it to do especially if the software you are using isn't coded to utilize multi core cpus. Theres still a lot of programs out there that aren't.

See if you can hang on until the next gen processor is release and then compare your options then. You will get more for your money at that point and probably have 30% more performance that what you can buy now for the same money.

I have been through the upgrade rat race for a long time and have settled with the Q9550. This will be my system until it simply wont run games and programs I need to run. Its a total waste of money more times than not to upgrade all the time...

 

[clutz]

I've been thinking about that too. Just I just wanted to get out of this blasted Dell case.

Thanks for the replay and I will probably wait for a bit.

 

[clutz]

Best answer selected by CLUTZ.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey