Add graphics card or upgrade CPU ?

riggie · 9 Dec 2010 at 22:22

Hi Everyone,
I have been running Call of Duty MW2 @ 1280x1024 with no problems at all with my current set-up (see sig below)
But I have been reading on here about "Black Ops" which is a cpu hungry game.
I am getting the game soon, It's on my list to Santa, but I was wondering if adding another 8800GT for around 40-50 quid was a good idea or would it be better to invest in a faster cpu ? say Q6600 or something because one review says this game runs well on the Quad cpu's, I could sell the old E6550 conroe to recover some cash.
Or should I wait to see if the game runs first ?
Going to see if there is a demo to download !

cmndr_andi · 9 Dec 2010 at 22:31

Hi there,

If you are talking specifically about Black Ops, then that game is a CPU heavy beast. If you look at this review (with a top-end graphics card so it is only the CPU that limits performance) the Q6600 (@2.4GHz) is a lot faster than even a 45nm Core 2 Duo E8500 (@3.2GHz). Hence a 2.33GHz 65nm Core 2 Duo is not going to do well with this game. This doesn't mean you need to upgrade to a quad core to play it, overclocking the CPU as far as you can will certainly aid performance.

As for GPU, the 9800GT (basically the same as a 8800GT, but uses a bit less power) can run this game at 1680x1050/max quality @ 42FPS when the CPU is not limiting things. If you are only running at 1280x1024 then you will have no problems from the 8800GT to make this game run well.

EniGmA1981 · 9 Dec 2010 at 22:35

Demos never really show the full game off because there's not as much to load... it's a good starting point though

Plus most demos aren't coded exactly like the full product so the demo might be sluggish and laggy but the full game might be fine

Like you said yourself, wait and see if you NEED to upgrade before doing so

kenz · 9 Dec 2010 at 23:11

i'hve been playing black ops with a intel e4500 duo2 gts8600 1gb and 2gb men and its just a bit laggy at times

riggie · 9 Dec 2010 at 23:19

Cheers chaps thanks for the advice, may hang fire but keep an eye out for a cheap Q6600 or Q6700 if it fails to run.
( Cheers Kenz sounds promising )

PermaBanned · 10 Dec 2010 at 00:21

How about you try playing it first then decide if you want an upgrade or not?

riggie · 14 Feb 2011 at 23:37

Update.... Hi everyone, been running Black Ops with my current set-up and I only dropped the texture quality down to normal and the Anti Aliasing to off and I can win a few games so it's working OK. ( I must say the game looks a lot better on High Texture )

I have a bit cash put to one side anyway to up rate the cpu so I might as well keep improving while I can, cos next year the games maybe out of the range of this set-up.

I have been playing WaW ,Black Ops ,Railworks2 ,EmpireTotal War, sometimes MS flightsim X ( no comments about the trainsim please)

Just wondering which is the best way to go. Been looking at the Q6700 and Q6600 and Q8300.
Is quad the answer for games that I play or is the fastest 2 core still gonna be better, or have I got it all wrong any help would be great.
Never really looked at 2 core Socket 775 is there any bargain chips knocking about?
cheers