How important for gaming is a CPU and is mine good enough?

I am about to buy a new graphics card. However i only have an E4500 core 2 duo @2.2GHz. I have 2GB of RAM and my circuit board is listed below. Is this enough to play all up coming games? Should i buy a new processor or overclock? If overclock what heat sync? What speed would be enough to play all upcoming games?

Board: ECS G33T_M 1.0
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 080014 04/19/2007

I am about to buy a new graphics card. However i only have an E4500 core 2 duo @2.2GHz. I have 2GB of RAM and my circuit board is listed below. Is this enough to play all up coming games? Should i buy a new processor or overclock? If overclock what heat sync? What speed would be enough to play all upcoming games?

Board: ECS G33T_M 1.0
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 080014 04/19/2007

jeeinecho

I had a ECS notherboard once, i actually threw it out the window. (and i tryed to OC the E4500 on it with no luck)

Your CPU is fine for any card out today, it may need some OC but thats a simple thing on a E4500 with a multipler at 11.

The single biggest factor in a gaming PC alowing you to game well is the GPU, so to go gaming on a higher level need a higher level graphic card.

About the CPU, don't worry, but about the motherboard... im a little worryied there,and what GPU/PSU/Ram do you have?

I would upgrade the CPU as well, look at bencmarks. You can score up to 10 fps or more with a better CPU. Try and go for an E8600 or better nothing less than 2.8G for the upcoming series of games. Naturally they will still play with your current CPU, but trust me you will get a real boost from a new processor as well.

BTW what is your gpu? what kind of RAM?

I would upgrade the CPU as well, look at bencmarks. You can score up to 10 fps or more with a better CPU. Try and go for an E8600 or better nothing less than 2.8G for the upcoming series of games. Naturally they will still play with your current CPU, but trust me you will get a real boost from a new processor as well.

BTW what is your gpu? what kind of RAM?

psychot1c

Lock at benchmarks ;) , the E4500 @ 3ghz will be better than the highest dual core CPU from AMD. 6400+

To exchange the CPU would be a noob thing to do, better to OC it and use if for another year or so.

It will easy max any game with with good framerate, just as I said it's more about the GPU than the CPU.

You don't need a CPU take it out and run the games just on the GPU..purpleRz

What?

You don't need a CPU take it out and run the games just on the GPU..purpleRz

I can see this quote going into people's sigs lol.

You don't need a CPU take it out and run the games just on the GPU..purpleRz

Yeah, thats a GREAT idea...

It'll be just as good idea as hitting an Atom bomb with a sledgehammer.

XD

Oh and here is all my specs, remember i'm changing my GPU

NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT [Display adapter]
AOC 907 [Monitor] (19.1"vis, s/n C2078HA008546, August 2007)

So if i just OC my CPU it will be ok. What heat sync should i get to OC my CPU to 3GHz. Do i need another heat sync? I am going to get a ATI 4870 1GB GPU (which is meant to help processing power as well)jeeinecho

An Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7 should take your CPU to 3ghz easily, and, best of all, its only $20 on NewEgg.

But still if you can get a decent OC on the CPU (3-3.3ghz) it will not bottleneck cards out today. (yeah, even High-end cards 6-8 times as powerfull as the card you got now.)

My advice is to try get a OC to ~3Ghz, then get a Mid-End GPU (and mid end would be somewhere in the performance higher than the HD3850's performance.)

This settup would let you play most new games at High or even maxed out

But still if you can get a decent OC on the CPU (3-3.3ghz) it will not bottleneck cards out today. (yeah, even High-end cards 6-8 times as powerfull as the card you got now.)

My advice is to try get a OC to ~3Ghz, then get a Mid-End GPU (and mid end would be somewhere in the performance higher than the HD3850's performance.)

swehunt

I agree with this, getting a new cpu will see gains but nowhere near the price performance ratio of getting a new GPU.

Do Overclock the cpu, but I would really go for the 4870. You probably won't see the gains tomorrow, but in a few months time you'll be glad you got the better gpu.