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Is dual-core better than single for BF2?

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  • Is dual-core better than single for BF2?

    First: please forgive if in wrong forum. Moderator - please move if needed, thanks.

    I want to upgrade my Socket 939 CPU, mainly to speed up Battlefield 2 as I am playing at 2560x1600 resolution with AA on, so I need all the help I can get.

    I have been reading a lot of S939 threads and most everyone recommends going to a dual-core processor. Yet I have read many articles stating that BF2 shows virtually no real-world benefit from dual-core.

    I absolutely don't care about "future proofing" my current rig. This stuff is all obsolete almost as soon as you buy it, LOL. I'll build a new comp when I get interested in a new game. For now, I just want my current rig to play BF2 as proficiently as possible.

    Which CPU should I get?

    thanks


    System specs:
    Asus A8N SLI Deluxe mobo
    AMD 3500+ 2.2GHz CPU
    2GB Patriot DDR ram
    e-GeForce 7950GT KO 512mb
    1+ Terabyte HD total

  • #2
    At that resolution it's probably the video card that's a bottleneck, the CPU should be good if you're just playing BF2. The 8800GT is nice, but at that resolution is probably going to suck big time, there's more new cards from AMD and Nvidia right around the corner to look at.

    A new processor will mean probably a new motherboard, as socket 939 is dead, or there's the X2s (which are 939s?), do they still make those? (sorry, i'm an intel fanboi and I don't pay attention to amd's socket changes).

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    • #3
      Dual core is better than single core no matter what game you play.

      Your system should be able to handle BF2 on high none the less, have you tweaked windows yet, defragged the hdd, scanned for viruses etc.

      I was able to play BF2 @ 1280x1024 on high with a 128MB 6600GT with no problems.

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      • #4
        Nice car man. If you ask me, forget about your PC, it's good enough the way it is. Instead, put some more money into that 427, make it even better. Chicks dig cars, not computers.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Gen.Vlade View Post
          Nice car man.........Instead, put some more money into that 427, make it even better......
          Thanks, I already spent over $40,000 on that car....... It pains me every time I look at the humungous pile of receipts. Heck man, just the EFI setup alone cost over $5,000. ouchy Then I hired some jerkwad to tune it and he cost me over a grand. It ran like crap, so I called the manufacturer (Accel DFI) and they whipped me out a fuel map in no time and it runs like a champ now. But I've had to do everything more than once; engine, tranny, you name it, it's all been 2 or 3 times for each piece to get it right.

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          • #6
            Besides the low clock on your cpu hampering your framerate, upgrading to a dual core would really not improve performance in game. It will however make the transition between the game and your desktop much smoother. If you only care about FPS in game, go with a high clocked single core 939.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Chevy-SS View Post
              Thanks, I already spent over $40,000 on that car....... It pains me every time I look at the humungous pile of receipts. Heck man, just the EFI setup alone cost over $5,000. ouchy Then I hired some jerkwad to tune it and he cost me over a grand. It ran like crap, so I called the manufacturer (Accel DFI) and they whipped me out a fuel map in no time and it runs like a champ now. But I've had to do everything more than once; engine, tranny, you name it, it's all been 2 or 3 times for each piece to get it right.
              Is it ok now? What's your 1/4 mile time? I used to have a 12 sec '01 Camaro SS before I bought the bimmer. Sometimes I miss that baby, but I sure don't miss the tickets it cost me lol.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Gen.Vlade View Post
                Nice car man. If you ask me, forget about your PC, it's good enough the way it is. Instead, put some more money into that 427, make it even better. Chicks dig cars, not computers.
                Maybe he's married and doesn't care about road-whores?

                You say that in a lot of your posts. What are you doing wasting time on these forums or playing BF2 when you could be out driving that M3? Gas too expensive?

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Corkum View Post
                  .........If you only care about FPS in game, go with a high clocked single core 939.
                  What would you recommend for single-core CPU?

                  thanks

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                  • #10
                    I want to upgrade my Socket 939 CPU, mainly to speed up Battlefield 2 as I am playing at 2560x1600 resolution with AA on, so I need all the help I can get.
                    I don't know how 20fps constant feels any more, but CPU power is next to useless in this scenario. You need a graphics card, not a CPU because with that resolution, even your RAMDAC is struggling for breath.

                    Yes, a dual core WILL improve it assuming Windows is smart enough to offload everything but BF2 to one core.

                    It'll help in heavy multitasking scenarios, but assuredly, all the clean-room synthetic benchmarks didn't happen to have XFIRE, MSN, uTorrent and a zillion other processes running in the background, and that's where you'll be seeing a tangible benefit.

                    In any case, I recommend you SLI your graphics card, this is the perfect scenario for SLI (well, the only scenario where it's actually beneficial for the money).

                    At this resolution, your CPU controls the maximum framerate achievable, but your graphics card is struggling for breath. Imagine trying to sprint with 80kg on your back (NOT RECOMMENDED), your legs can run at 20mph, but it's not like you'll ever hit that speed with those arm/back muscles.

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                    • #11
                      It is true that upgrading to SLI would increase his FPS, though it wasn't what he was asking. Also an upgrade to SLI requires that he find another 7950GT and drop a decent hunk of change on it. Whereas single core high clocked cpu's are pretty cheap these days if you can find them. He would see a FPS increase either way. Anyway an FX-57 is a pretty decent single core 939 processor if I recall correctly.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Chevy-SS View Post
                        What would you recommend for single-core CPU?

                        thanks
                        One of these,



                        and do something like this to it,

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                        • #13
                          I would say to go with dual core for the simple reason that everything benefits from two cores. You can have your background processes not taking a thing from BF2.

                          I had the exact same processor as you just the other week, a 3500+. I upgraded to a Core 2 Duo E6600 along with a kitted 2GBs of RAM (compared to 1.5) and my framerate went through the roof. Before I would notice stutters early on in the game and now they're all gone. I regularly get the framerate cap of 100FPS. Out of all the games I've tried (except Bioshock) BF2 has had the most performance increase I've seen.

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                          • #14
                            You need a faster cpu. Why not try to overclock some. Wouldn't be any problem reaching somewhere between 2.5 and 2.8 on your setup. That's enough to notice difference in BF2. I know, I had a very similar rig a year ago.

                            Dualcore won't help battlefield since it doesn't support it at all. Raw clocks of a single core is more interesting here. But! Both nvidia and ATI supports some acceleration with dualcore, where the second core helps with graphical calculations. Of course dualcore will help background processes but you shouldn't have them at the first place.

                            Battlefield is very sensitive on how much cache your cpu has, so if you upgrade try getting one with 1MB cache per core. That is singlecore with 1MB or dualcore with 2MB.

                            Something that _really_ slows battlefield down through inefficient code is dynamic lightning and shadows. Try disabling them and you'll see about 20-30% performance increase.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Corkum View Post
                              Besides the low clock on your cpu hampering your framerate, upgrading to a dual core would really not improve performance in game. It will however make the transition between the game and your desktop much smoother. If you only care about FPS in game, go with a high clocked single core 939.
                              Honestly, what planet are you from, of course a dual core will improve the performance of his game. Why bother wasting money on an obsolete processor when for the same amount he can get a decent dual core.

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