Looking to upgrade my CPU

[Gibster]

Hi guys, im looking to upgrade my cpu so wanted you experts advice before i go ahead.

I did a search with speccy which showed my motherboard as:
Motherboard
Manufacturer ECS
Model GF8100VM-M5 (CPU 1)
Version 1.0
Chipset Vendor NVIDIA
Chipset Model nForce 720a
Chipset Revision A2
Southbridge Vendor NVIDIA
Southbridge Model ID075C
Southbridge Revision A2
System Temperature 30 °C

I then googled the model and it gave me this page:
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Pr...1&CategoryID=1&MenuID=20&LanID=0#fragment-CPU

In the CPU tab it has an almighty list of cpu's , does this mean that my motherboard can use all of these listed cpu's ? If so, which would you recommend for me to upgrade to as im currently using a dual core 2x 2.9 and wanted something a lot more beefy to run guildwars 2 smoother, but im trying to keep the cost as low as possible

This is what i currently have
AMD Athlon II X2 245
Cores 2
Threads 2
Name AMD Athlon II X2 245
Code Name Regor
Package Socket AM3 (938)
Technology 45nm
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 245 Processor
Family F
Extended Family 10
Model 6
Extended Model 6
Stepping 2
Revision DA-C2
Instructions MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4A, AMD 64
Virtualization Supported, Disabled
Hyperthreading Not supported
Fan Speed 1551 RPM
Bus Speed 200.0 MHz
Rated Bus Speed 2000.1 MHz
Stock Core Speed 2900 MHz
Stock Bus Speed 200 MHz
Average Temperature 35 °C

On a side note, is the motherboard even ok to upgrade on, or do you think i should get a new motherboard/cpu bundle? If so, any recommendations here on one which i can use my current ram with which is DDR2

Thanks in advance

 

[Cinders]

Yes, all of those processors will work on that board.

Um, I think in this case you're gonna need a new quad core CPU and a new video card. I'd bet you're trying to rock that game with the built in video support, and no matter which CPU you choose from the list you're not gonna get smooth video from that video chip with that game.

A new video card is most important here not the CPU.

 

[Gibster]

Using a 1024MB GeForce GT 430 as video card atm, i just think everything is being bottlenecked by the dual core processor (or so ive been told)

Would a cpu upgrade such as this http://www.amazon.com/Phenom-Black-...ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1335835315&sr=1-1 be a good cpu upgrade to get? 110 bucks seems a good price

 

[cliffordcooley]

I'm with Cinders thinking you may need more than the GT 430.

To answer your question;
You should see a performance increase of two and a half times with the "Phenom II X4 965" upgrade. Just remember this is CPU performance and is not related to graphical performance.

 

[Cinders]

The Phenom II 965 black edition is a very nice quad core CPU. It would make a good start to a gaming machine. I think even if you did install that you wouldn't get the frame rates you need for smooth game play.

The GeForce GT 430 is great for HD TVs & Blu-ray movies and such but it's not practical for demanding games.

What is your normal screen resolution? Maybe we can find you a good video card that would work in concert with the new processor.

 

[slh28]

It's probably both your CPU and GPU that's bottlenecking your perfomance. But if I had to pick which to upgrade, I'd choose the GPU. Something like a GTX 550Ti/560 or 6850/6870 on the AMD side.

 

[captaincranky]

I believe that Nvidia GT430 is 128 bit memory access. 128 bit cards really won't cut it with modern games.

As an alternative, if you could still find a GT460 at a decent price, one of those might be just the ticket. (This would be much less than a 560ti card).

 

[Gibster]

I went ahead and got a phenom II x4 960T as at 2nd glance that was the best the board would support, and I can tell the difference already. I'll take your advice and upgrade the gfx card next time I have some spare cash

Another thing though, I also upgraded my wifes cpu from a dual core 2.0 to a core 2 quad Q9300. The thing didnt come with a heatsink though so I had to use the one from the dual core, though I did clean it and apply some new arctic silver 5. Its running fine but in speccy its running at 63 degrees idle, 69 degrees while on youtube. Is this purely due to the heatsink, or will the temp drop rapidly when the thermal compound sets and dries? And is it safe to run at this kind of temp?

 

[cliffordcooley]

Is this purely due to the heatsink, or will the temp drop rapidly when the thermal compound sets and dries? And is it safe to run at this kind of temp?

That is probably common, unless you manually set the cooling fan to spin faster. If you have this capability, you will find the settings in the system BIOS. I think the settings would be labeled "setting target temperature" or something similar.

Does the CPU fan spin faster under more CPU usage?

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Did you overapply the arctic silver?

 

[slh28]

Yeah make sure you only put a very thin layer of thermal compound on - check some youtube videos for reference.

The Intel stock fan is pretty crappy but even then 63C sounds quite high for an idle temp.

 

[Gibster]

Did you overapply the arctic silver?

I did 1st time, it was running in the 80s. took it off, thinned it out, dropped into the 60s
im guessing the heatsink is just trash as its an old full aluminium one, gonna get a hyper 212 this morning and hopefully itll be fine

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

I doubt that the heatsink would be unable to keep it cool, the q9300 is not a hot processor anyway.
I'd say that you improperly applied thermal compound. Also, curing the AS5 will only drop the temperatures by a few degrees, nothing significant.

 

[Gibster]

It was absolutely a weak heatsink. As I said I got the temp from the 80s (bad app of compound) to the 60s (good compound) and now its idling at 41 with the new heatsink. boy what a horrible piece of hardware to install though, took us hours

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Actually I think idling at 41 is rather high as well, and granted the intel stock heatsink is not that great but it is fine for any of their LGA755 processors at stock speeds.
I would say that you're applying too thick of a layer of thermal compound or that you're ambient temperatures are unusually high.

Though I suppose if it still stays cool enough under load, then you might not want to go through the trouble.

 

[Gibster]

yeah its fine under load doesnt break 50 while gaming etc