I need help in upgrading my Processor.

Bluehotdog5

Baseband Member
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76
Location
Missouri, U.S.A.
So I bought a barebone kit a while back, and I decided to upgrade the video card. But I still need a few more upgrades. Here are my specs

Processor: AMD Athlon II X3 445 ~ 3.1GHz
Ram: 8GB
Operating System: Windows 7 (32-bit)
Video Card: MSI Twin Frozr II GTX 570

I made the mistake of Buying a 32 bit operating system. Should I buy an OS first or a new Processor?

Sometimes in games I'll get lag that I would guess as either processor or ram lag. The framerate will report high, but it feels low. For example, in a racing game, I'll feel like I'm going fast-slow-fast-slow.

I needed help picking out a processor to. I have an AM3 socket. I found some 6-8 core processors, but they only have a clocked speed of 2.7 or so. Is that better than a Quad Core that runs at 3.4?
 
most games are single or dual threaded. a few are optimized for 4 cores. none take advantage that i know of of more than that. you will want fewer cores that clock higher in newer chips than more cores that are slower for gaming.
 
Yes you need a 64bit OS. That video card and CPU setup should run any game out there at the minimum of medium settings at 1080p.
Jason is right as most games are single and dual threaded. Even though the newer CPUs with faster and better architectures coming out are quad a nice dual core will still suffice for 95% of games out there. Your biggest hold back here is your 32bit OS due to allocation of RAM.
 
Thank's. I made another post that you also responded to where I asked about pci-express 2.0. You said to check it in GPU-Z. Well, I want to know if my motherboard supports PCI-e 3.0 so I opened it. And it say's my GB/S is 152, which doesn't make a lot of sense if PCI-E 3.0 is 16gb/s.

I also just noticed that according to the tigerdirect page on my motherboard, it has support for am3+, not just am3. I'm assuming am3 is the processor I have installed, and that it supports am3+.Is there a way of checking in what my computer supports, not just what I have installed?

I have one last question, is a 600 watt PSU going to support a PSU with a minimum requirement of 600, or does that just mean 600 watts is pushing it?
 
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You sure that wasn't GT/S? That would explain it because that would be how much your GPU can crunch basically. Anywho, don't bother with any of those numbers. Look at the PCI-E rate. Not that it matters anyways, you don't need 3.0 and I don't think anything of AMD supports 3.0 just yet.

If the slot is AM3+ then you have support for the newer FX processors. If you absolutely must get a new CPU then I would suggest the FX 4170. If we had your board model we could make sure the board supports the CPU for you.

I don't quite understand your last question. If you have a 600w PSU and it is a quality brand (IE Corsair, Antec) then you should be fine with that wattage.
 
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