CPU Upgrade time?

[Dead...Again]

I am not getting very good FPS in BF BC2, so I was thinking of ways to improve it. I have an EVGA GTX275 video card, which should handle the game pretty well. As a result, I am considering buying a new CPU for my computer, but I am not sure it would be worth it. I thought I'd get your opinions.

I have an ASUS P5N32-E SLI Motherboard (680i chipset). I currently have an E6600 OCed to 3.2 GHz. From what I can find, the only quad cores supported are Q6600 and Q6700, which doesn't really seem worth it to me (if I can even find either of these; can't get them from Newegg). The fastest Core2 Duo it supports is the E8600 (3.3GHz), which I have heard I should be able to OC to at least 4GHz. It sells for $286 on Newegg. The question is: would it be worth it? Will I see that much of an improvement? I am kinda thinking that if I can't go to a quad core it wouldn't be worth it. What do y'all think?

[Duke{CLR}]

I'm not sure how much you would gain from upgrading to those CPUs and if that would relate to a better FPS or not. I remember reading your FPS thread and it seems strange that you are getting that performance from that video card. I suppose if you were able to get one of the chips for a good price it may be worth a try.

[darth_nevus]

Before you swap procs. What OS and how much ram? If its vista and 2gb or less, get more ram before a new proc.

With that card, it shouldn't be proc issue, as i have a 8800GTS 512(my 640 went down in flames and this was my "RMA" present. Bastages.) and pretty much the same CPU, and my FPs is very stable 50+.

E6600 C2D is still a very respectable cpu for gaming.

Any other processes you can nuke before running the game?

Also, whats your defintion of "not getting very good frame rates"? it sounds like a rude question, but everyone has a different tolerance. Myself, 35 and below is unacceptable. tell me i'm faking it, but i can see the difference between 35 and 50.

[Qicmee]

Listen to these experienced guys (not so much to me), but I wondered, is your fps much better when you reduce video quality & resolution? If yes, then the new cpu might not help much.

However, if reducing video quality doesn't help much, this link gives some how-to details to reduce the cpu load,
"downgrade the samplerate of my soundcard (it was 48khz with 24bit to 44khz at 16bit) and unistalled AC3 filter (wich was kind of filter to all sound), then I got my GREAT fps boost."
http://forums.steampowered.com/forum....php?t=1183705

Supposedly, BFBC2 heavily exercises the cpu for its audio (more than other games).

[Pumpkin_Jack]

Supposedly, BFBC2 heavily exercises the cpu for its audio (more than other games).

I have surround sound set-up in my gaming room and i would imagine BC2 does drain on you cpu a bit with audio because i can actualy locate a chopper just through sound where as other games MW2/TF2/L4D2 only will allow exactness of a general whereabouts(left/front/right/back)

[{CLR} ObiTroy]

I have surround sound set-up in my gaming room and i would imagine BC2 does drain on you cpu a bit with audio because i can actualy locate a chopper just through sound where as other games MW2/TF2/L4D2 only will allow exactness of a general whereabouts(left/front/right/back)

I picked up some 5.1 speakers at Best Buy a couple of months ago... very good price-to-gaming-experience ratio, love them. Much easier to tell where shots are fired from, especially behind you .

[darth_nevus]

Ha! I did it the Ghetto way.... 6.2 Surround sound + SB Fatal1ty = Winnage.

2.1 on the front,

4.1 on the rear,

I LOVE it. I can hear an APC firing up at its spawn point from the other side of the map.

Though, i still get knifed, and shot, and everything else because i spend so much time listeningto everything.

Though, BF2 isn't set up specifically while SB is. i wonder if this would kill my frame rate as well... i play with it set at 2.1

[Duke{CLR}]

I use headsets on my laptop and the vascetemator so this could be part of it. I do notice on speedfan that 4 cores show constant activity so maybe that's part of it.

D&G why don't you post you full specs.

[Dead...Again]

Other relevant stats:
Win7
4GB RAM running at 1066MHz
X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatality Pro connected to a headset


I am getting between 20 and 40 FPS. I would prefer around 60.

I am running the game at 1600x900, but I tried 1920x1080 and it didn't seem to make much difference.

I haven't tried nuking any processes, but I'll look into that tonight.

[darth_nevus]

This sounds SUPER dumb.

Whats your AA at? If its 0, set it to 2x or 4x.

I'm not sure why, but lately, i've heard of folks having BETTER Fps by enabling AA, even if its not maxed with the 2xx series cards.

I can't explain it. i have my own theories why, but at least for me on my dinosaur, i got better fps with it enabled than without.

lastly, make sure BC2 is using hardware renderer for sound.

[Dead...Again]

I'll try enabling AA.

How do I make sure it is using the HW renderer? I don't remember seeing an option to set that.

[drunken_chef]

eh, isn't most of the sound on bc2 processed by the CPU? everything I've read says it is.

[marvindecrain]

eh, isn't most of the sound on bc2 processed by the CPU? everything I've read says it is.

Yes most sound is processed by CPU, and with my PC im getting 40-50 fps before - now i lowered sound quality in windows settings to 16 bit which gave me 10-20 more fps in game .
My rig:
AMD 64 bit x2 4800 2.5Ghz (oc to 2.6 GHz each core)
6 Gb. Ram DDR2 800
ATI 5770 1Gb
onboard HD sound 7.1