Processor upgrades

[Advent]

I have a single core processor now. If I upgraded to a dual core, even if I went from 2.3 GHz to say 2.6GHz, would I see major or minor improvement?
And would I have to buy a whole new fan for the cpu, even if they're both by the same company?

[Jaarh]

I have a single core processor now. If I upgraded to a dual core, even if I went from 2.3 GHz to say 2.6GHz, would I see major or minor improvement?
And would I have to buy a whole new fan for the cpu, even if they're both by the same company?

You should see a significant improvement.
Any new processor you get should come with a fan/heatsink, unless it's an OEM order.

[vesseblah]

It'll be pretty big difference... but... If you have single core processor now, odds are it's not worth upgrading at all because your hardware is 10 years old and should be ditched to museum/landfill and replaced completely.

What are your current specs in addition to the number of cores?

[Dethh]

Not to mention I doubt his mobo will be able to run the CPU.

[Advent]

Oh it's not that bad. The CPU is an AMD Sempron LE-1300 2.30 GHz.

My motherboard can handle up to a 95W CPU, but if I got one that was, say a 125W, even if it is compatible (AM2 socket 90nm Windsor), would it fry the whole setup?

[Dethh]

Oh it's not that bad. The CPU is an AMD Sempron LE-1300 2.30 GHz.

My motherboard can handle up to a 95W CPU, but if I got one that was, say a 125W, even if it is compatible (AM2 socket 90nm Windsor), would it fry the whole setup?

Can you just list all the components like Vess asked so we can get a better idea of what you are working with.

[vesseblah]

If it's AM3 motherboard, fastest CPU you can put into it is PhenomII x4 945, also x4 8xx series will do. On AM2+ board you're kinda screwed since you can't use any PhenomII or AthlonII CPU.

You should take the power maximum seriously, and get 95W CPU at maximum. 125W will either just refuse to boot or fry the motherboard. Check out the motherboard manufacturer's website for compatibility list, or tell what is the exact type of the board and somebody else here can check it out.

[Advent]

MoBo: ASUS M2N68-LA (ATX) AM2 Socket Windsor 90nm
CPU: AMD Sempron LE-1300 2.30GHz
GPU: Onboard NVidia GeForce 6150 SE nForce 430
PSU: Destec 300W
RAM: 2GB (2x 1GB) DDR2 SDRAM

Was there anything else? I'm going to go look up a few upgrades. I haven't got a lot of cash on-hand. T_T

[vesseblah]

Okay, google says that computer is some HP's box which comes with Asus board. It looks like highest CPU you can use on it "for sure" (90% sure) is Athlon x2 5600+. It will be upgrade over current CPU, but it does not do miracles and raids will still be mostly unplayable unless you're playing on small screen resolution.

[Advent]

That's fine. I'm basically asking these questions because I have no idea what I'm doing. I've learned more from these boards in the past two weeks than I ever have in the last 6 years I've played WoW.

[glo]

Okay, google says that computer is some HP's box which comes with Asus board. It looks like highest CPU you can use on it "for sure" (90% sure) is Athlon x2 5600+. It will be upgrade over current CPU, but it does not do miracles and raids will still be mostly unplayable unless you're playing on small screen resolution.

It would be a massive upgrade. What exactly are you talking about? This entire game is very cpu dependent. The x2 5600 should almost double his fps. Just look at the specs between the 2.

Also, the game will not be "unplayable". Hell, I have a laptop sitting around that I use every now and then with a 2.2ghz celeron m in it, with integrated video that pulls 15+ fps fullscreen during 25 man raids.

[vesseblah]

It would be a massive upgrade. What exactly are you talking about? This entire game is very cpu dependent. The x2 5600 should almost double his fps. Just look at the specs between the 2.

Double fps means nothing if it goes up from 5 to 10 during raids. It's still mostly unplayable unless at lowest possible settings and 1280x800 or smaller resolution, and I would recommend against spending money on such a small gain.

[Advent]

Double fps means nothing if it goes up from 3 to 6 during raids. It's still unplayable and I would recommend against spending money on such a small gain.

I had a laptop before this desktop. If I lowered *some* of the settings to middle range, I would see 10-15 in raids, which is low, but decent. Honestly, a laptop with a 1.73 GHz processor was pretty bad, but if I kept it cooled, it was just fine.

Just a couple of questions, how new is DDR3 RAM? And how old is DDR2?

[vesseblah]

DDR3 came out few years ago, but the speed difference is not that big, nothing to worry about when considering the age of CPU you can upgrade to.

I can say from personal experience that I used Athlon x2 4200+ during ToC25 progress, and it was pure hell. On lowest possible settings (with spell details turned up to see fire on the ground) the game was running at about 10fps on 1680x1050 monitor. Doing anything more taxing like Ony25 would immediately disconnect because of the lack of power. 5600+ is not much better, and if you want to raid 25-mans or wintergrasp/tol'barad it's not worth it.

On the other hand if you're sticking to 5/10 mans you can run the game at low video settings at playable speed with new CPU and new graphics card.