Trying to upgrade CPU

[miseru99]

He has a first generation i3...without the MTVU or when it doesn't work probably the performance of a 8320 are similar, but when is active there is no doubt that the AMD is way better.
(...)

I would still really had doubts here, just becouse 2 core have slightly less use of mtvu doesn't mean a thing couse in reality those amd cpu's often actually get's slowdowns from turning MTVU on, or get no gain at all where intel shows much better results. Test it at for example xenosaga series and you'll see how much worth is additional core at inferior architecture with this speedhack;p.

As you said for AA is the GPU that matters, but an AMD one is faster at the same price than an Nvidia one
(...)

I merely said which is best without any price vs performance comparisons as best would be required for even trying to max IR and AA. I have amd gpu's myself, prefer them for power consumption, but they have alot of noticeable limitations and end up worser in emulations the higher IR you wish to use, I spoke my thoughts about usefullness of maxing it already through and if you read that you would know I was far from recommending an upgrade just for e-pen status.;]



@OP if you dare to learn the basics:
It's simple, whenever you're getting 100%(or very close +-2%, but for example 80% is still FAR from pointing to cpu limitation;p) in EE/GS/VU you're getting CPU limited. Yes even GS as all of those are only threads on your cpu.
Pcsx2 doesn't show gpu limitation in any way soo you basically guess you're GPU limited when none of the above reaches 100% and the game is still slow and when changing internal res affects the speed - usually that means a slowdown when rising, speedup when decreasing.

MTVU still can result in a speedup for many games, you just have to remember it can still be cpu limited even if none of the % reaches 100 while using it(the two lighter ones should sum around to 100 then;]).



Anyway for your needs I would wait for next gen intel, ivy is still not as good as it could be unless you feeling lucky and want to try removing IHS(which will waste your buy on fail;]) and giving it a chance for better temps with nice thermal paste, amd still fails(less, but still) in cpu's and their best wouldn't be much of an upgrade for you and just be a waste of electricity to power up those useless(for a player) amount of cores.
If you don't use it for work or streaming gameplays live there's no reason to waste money on better cpu now. Those few awfully demanding ps2 games, they'll still be same playable few years later as already nobody really plays them for their graphics;].
GPU is still fine, I already stated what I think about usefulness of upscalling in ps2 oldies, and for pc games and as long as you don't care about having a minimum of 60 fps on max settings probably still will be untill next gen consoles will be released couse most modern pc games are either ports or being made of few platforms with console limitations in mind;]. There's also other good reason to wait here - Steam going linux will potentially lead to some changes in dx dominance;p, and that can mess over gpu market quite a bit in the future.

[||dav1de||]

I would still really had doubts here, just becouse 2 core have slightly less use of mtvu doesn't mean a thing couse in reality those amd cpu's often actually get's slowdowns from turning MTVU on, or get no gain at all where intel shows much better results. Test it at for example xenosaga series and you'll see how much worth is additional core at inferior architecture with this speedhack;p.

Well it depends on the game: I tried three different games with, and without MTVU and I had
Final Fantasy X with MTVU +41% FPS
Gran Turismo 4 with MTVU up to +45% FPS (in dark tracks it was a +2%, but I think there is some bug with emulation of lights)
Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja 5 with MTVU +19% FPS

So I got nice results. FX CPUs are quite strange, and if cores are not used properly you won't get the highest performances...

[canders1986]

Okay... taking into consideration all of the replies, I have a new question with a possible solution. Seeing as my computer is an OEM, and I cannot OC my i3, as I was already goign to upgrade, can I simply upgrade the MOBO and OC my CPU? If the mobo is what is stopping me from OC'ing, can I simply do this workaround? It may seem silly, but here, http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-CPU-Bench...d-on-FFX-2, I see my CPU with a similar graphics card at 70 fps benchmark. Any thoughts? Thanks again,

Canders

[nosisab Ken Keleh]

If I ever go toward an Intel CPU, that seems to be the last chance for I sure will run as from the heck of the "next" Intel generation, does not matter if by a miracle it becomes 10x faster than the concurrence or more.

[refraction]

if you upgrade to a new intel cpu, you will have to make sure you get a "K" model, else you will be able to make zero overclock. Due to the onchip graphics unit, you can no longer overclock the bus, not even by 1mhz, so it has to be done by multiplier, which is only available on the "K" unlocked models.

I would suggest going for an i5-3750k, its a good price and very good performance, also the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 motherboard is proving to be a very nice overclocker without completely breaking the bank.

hopefully your ram should work okay being ddr3. It might only take 2 of the dimms however due to the newer chips being dual channel and i think yours was triple channel? (my i7 920 is at least)

[||dav1de||]

if you upgrade to a new intel cpu, you will have to make sure you get a "K" model, else you will be able to make zero overclock. Due to the onchip graphics unit, you can no longer overclock the bus, not even by 1mhz, so it has to be done by multiplier, which is only available on the "K" unlocked models.

I would suggest going for an i5-3750k, its a good price and very good performance, also the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 motherboard is proving to be a very nice overclocker without completely breaking the bank.

hopefully your ram should work okay being ddr3. It might only take 2 of the dimms however due to the newer chips being dual channel and i think yours was triple channel? (my i7 920 is at least)

Just a small correction, the problem is not the integrated GPU, but (if I well remember) is that that bus controlles almost everything, even the connection to the hard disk and the PCI-Ex lines i think, and those two are known to be not compatible with an OC.

[refraction]

If you want to be exact, Intel just did it on purpose so they can charge overclockers more

[canders1986]

if you upgrade to a new intel cpu, you will have to make sure you get a "K" model, else you will be able to make zero overclock. Due to the onchip graphics unit, you can no longer overclock the bus, not even by 1mhz, so it has to be done by multiplier, which is only available on the "K" unlocked models.

I would suggest going for an i5-3750k, its a good price and very good performance, also the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 motherboard is proving to be a very nice overclocker without completely breaking the bank.

hopefully your ram should work okay being ddr3. It might only take 2 of the dimms however due to the newer chips being dual channel and i think yours was triple channel? (my i7 920 is at least)

Thanks for the information. I think I am definitely leaning towards an IVY i5, and likely that model right there. I have heard that the 3750 gets pretty hot and that I should buy a non-stock fan. Any thoughts on that? I will def be buying the ASRock Z77 mobo as well. Also, I am not sure how to check if my memory is compatible. I do have some knowledge about computers, but that is not one of them, any help is appreciated! Thanks again,

Canders

[refraction]

at that speed your memory should be compatible, but as i say, you will have to use 2 dimms instead of 3 as ivy's are dual channel, unlike our bloomfields which are 3 channel

All ivybridge chips get hot due to intel deciding to replace the core-to-cover weld with thermal paste, not very good thermal paste at that. I would suggest getting a tower cooler of some measure or an integrated watercooling system, the Noctua tower coolers are pretty good, but avoid the DH14 as it's bloody massive and probably won't fit over your RAM ;p

Also get some decent thermal paste, don't use the stuff that's on the bottom of the cooler. I use the Arctic Cooling MX-4 stuff myself, which is a few degrees cooler than the Arctic Silver 5 which was very popular with overclockers for a long time.

[||dav1de||]

I would still really had doubts here, just becouse 2 core have slightly less use of mtvu doesn't mean a thing couse in reality those amd cpu's often actually get's slowdowns from turning MTVU on, or get no gain at all where intel shows much better results. Test it at for example xenosaga series and you'll see how much worth is additional core at inferior architecture with this speedhack;p.

As you said, I tried Xenosaga (Xenosaga 3 to be precise), just at the very begenning when you start to control the character, well with the MTVU active i got a +14% in FPS, not an impressive improvemente but still an interesting one (if you do not consider that the game was already going above 60FPS without any speedhack, OC and even turbo was disabled...). If you want me to try a different part of the game, just send me a save state and I'll try (I'm always curious about these things).

@ the others:
Sorry for this OT