CPU upgrade question for A10

[Jimmytime]

I've been thinking about upgrading to an i5 (Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz Quad-Core Unlocked) from a Core 2 Duo overclocked at 3.8 Ghz. My understanding is that A-10 doesn't take advantage of multicores. Just wondering if the newer technology (FSB and Memory) would increase framerates or would this just be a push as I wouldn't be upgrading video cards.

 

Has anyone made the leap and noticed improvement?

[Eddie]

It will improve performance yes, mostly because the i5/i7 series chips (especially the sandy bridge) over clock very well giving you a much high clock speed.

 

I switched from a Core 2 Quad to the setup below, and it made a noticeable difference. Although I will say that I upgraded the CPU/RAM a month before the GPU, and although the CPU etc made things a lot smoother the FPS increase was only around 10-15 at most. Adding the new GPU doubled the FPS even after upping the settings to max.

 

But it's worth remembering that the GPU upgrade alone, wouldn't have made that much difference without the CPU/RAM/SSDs to back it up.

[Jimmytime]

Cool thanks Eddie, odd that you went with the Trooper and not Aces High. I guess my Core 2 duo and old motherboard are the bottleneck, the GTX 470 is pretty new but I only get around 30 fps.

[Bolt-1]

Sometimes the upgrade is really worth it. (and sometimes badly needed) as in my case.

I went from having a Gateway 840 GM:megalol:. It had a Pentium D dualcore @ 3GHz, 4 gigs of ddr400 ram, and an Asus 8800GT 512 GPU. Running XP pro To what you see in my sig.:D

[EtherealN]

Another note is that the new Sandy Bridge chips do more "per clock" than the old C2's, so with all other things being equal, a 3ghz Sandy will be "faster" than a 3ghz C2D. There's added benefits as well throught he Sandies having an integrated memory and PCIe controller, while C2's had to "reach out" to the motherboard to interface with those things. (The PCIe controller "only" has 16 lanes though, so if you have two graphics cards they'll either have to run 8x2 or split the controls between CPU and chipset PCIe controllers. I don't know exactly how big an impact this has, though.)

[Rhinox]

...(The PCIe controller "only" has 16 lanes though, so if you have two graphics cards they'll either have to run 8x2 or split the controls between CPU and chipset PCIe controllers. I don't know exactly how big an impact this has, though.)...

Actually running graphics card in pcie-x8 does not make big difference:

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2011/test-grafikkarten-mit-pcie/4/#abschnitt_leistung

 

For those not speaking german: they tested given graphic cards in pcie-x16, x8, x4, and even x1 slots. Performance loss is very small (except for pcie-x1):

pcie-x16 -> pcie-x8: - 1-2%

pcie-x16 -> pcie-x4: - 4-7%

pcie-x16 -> pcie-x1: - 25-35%

Although the tests have been done with single card, I do not think there would be much higher difference even when running 2x gpu in sli/cf.

[Cooch]

I upgraded to the system you are thinking about. I was also running a Dual core. It is like night and day running A10, and everything else.

[Bodo]

It's one o those things me n a few mates are wondering what to do about upgrading.

 

We're all pretty much on Q9550s with decent GPUs. Best system is a Q9550 with a 570 card.

 

As you can see from my sig I'm just wondering whether I'd benefit from a better GPU or going all out and just going for an 2600K - or cheaper and maybe wiser- a 2500K?

DDR3 is surprisingly cheap and so are the motherboards. Seems like Intel want me to spend the bigger proportion of my (lack of) cash on the SandyBridge stuff...

 

Hmmm, what to do!?

[cichlidfan]

Hmmm, what to do!?

 

Do it! It is worth the difference. Even if you keep your graphics you will be pleased. You are upgrading the speed of everything between the disk drive and the GPU. I was on a similar rig to yours before what I have now. vvvv:thumbup:

[Eddie]

It's one o those things me n a few mates are wondering what to do about upgrading.

 

We're all pretty much on Q9550s with decent GPUs. Best system is a Q9550 with a 570 card.

 

As you can see from my sig I'm just wondering whether I'd benefit from a better GPU or going all out and just going for an 2600K - or cheaper and maybe wiser- a 2500K?

DDR3 is surprisingly cheap and so are the motherboards. Seems like Intel want me to spend the bigger proportion of my (lack of) cash on the SandyBridge stuff...

 

Hmmm, what to do!?

 

If you've already got a reasonably decent GPU, go for the CPU. AS long as you've got a good Motherboard, CPU & RAM setup that's going to last for a few years it gives you more flexibility to upgrade your GPU more regularly (with cheaper mid range models).

[Shaman]

Go for 2600K and overclock it. I eat DCS A-10C for breakfast @ 60FPS, at the airport with AI traffic in sight.

[Bodo]

Thanks for the tips. I get around 40FPS at Batumi with A10 and BS, which I play mostly, and I'm fairly happy with that. I think I'll try and sell my set up soon and put the funds in for something.

 

I think I'll upgrade in around 4-5 months, see what happens to prices of the current gen or ponder whether or not to spend a bit (lot) more on the next gen stuff.

[Bolt-1]

I eat DCS A-10C for breakfast @ 60FPS, at the airport with AI traffic in sight.

 

So do I. Isn't it a beautiful thing

[captainzim1]

The I7/950 is a very good chip over clock to 4.2 with settings at 20/200 1.35v. Stable and runs pretty cool at about 59c with air cooler full settings. Have a question how do you check for FPS in A10C and/or Black Shark?

Thanks John

[EtherealN]

You can either use shift-pause (I think it was... I tend to "just do it" and sometimes don't think about which key that was), or use an external utility like FRAPS to track FPS and frametimes over time. I prefer the second method since it lets me dump the data to disc.

[Jimmytime]

I bit the bullet and damn, it was worth it. I set the C2 duo at stock speed and was getting an average of 15-20 FPS. Overclocked at 3.8GHz I was getting 25-30 FPS in FRAPS. I haven't even overclocked the Core i5 yet and I'm seeing 60-70 FPS. Thanks for everyone's input, much appreciated.