CPU question.

[Quindiana Jones]

I have a single core processor. Athlon 3000+, 1.8Ghz. It is a very, very good single core processor. I want to play some games on my PC, so I look on Can You Run It? to see if I can.

My CPU is more than enough to handle all the games I want to play. However, games like Oblivion require 2-3Ghz processing power. My processor has a performance speed of 3.4Ghz, apparently.

I want to know what the hell all this means. With a little research, my assumption is that due to the nature of these games, they only assign themselves to a single core anyway. So a multicore processor won't help them at all because they won't share the load around. Because of this, my high speed single core does the job. Is this correct?

I don't intend to upgrade for a few more years or anything, I'm just trying to figure out WTF. xD

[Mirage]

I was able to play Oblivion on a single core Athlon 64 4000+ (2.2GHz). I think perhaps you will struggle a bit with a 1.8GHz single core. Your CPU probably has a performance speed of Pentium 4 3.4 GHz. A Core 2-based intel processor of 3.4 GHz would be doing circles around your CPU, probably, not counting the second core most of them have.

I am not sure, but I do think that Oblivion can actually make use of more than one core, even if the load isn't going to be even on all cores. If not, your PC will still be able to do background CPU tasks without it slowing down the game as much.

Also, what kind of video card do you have?

[Rostum]

I have a single core processor.I don't intend to upgrade for a few more years or anything

Jebus son, you should at least consider upgrading if you plan on making PC gaming a regular thing.

[o_O]

I used to run Oblivion on that same processor, and it ran fine. As long as your graphics card can handle it, you shouldn't have any problems provided you don't jack up the settings to the maximum.

You probably should look at upgrading at some point though, because when I owned that processor it was 2005.

[Quindiana Jones]

I'm not made of money folks. I'm just gonna buy a new PC when the six cores become mainstream.

No graphics card at the moment. Putting in a decent one eventually. I'm obviously not gonna try gaming without a card haha.

[o_O]

Well FYI a nVidia GeForce 6800GT handled Oblivion rather nicely. I have no idea what that corresponds to these days but up to the 9x00 series you'll get increasing performance through >7800GT, >8800GT and >9800GT.

Anything below the *800GT model (or maybe *600GT if you're lucky) is likely to be of similar or lower power than the 6800GT and you don't really want to go lower than that.

All of that is possibly (probably? who knows) irrelevant now, but I have no idea about the GPUs on the market these days so it's the best you're getting outta me. At least those cards will be cheap now.

[Mirage]

It ran pretty bad with my Geforce 6600, that's for sure. 8800GT runs is pretty nicely though.

[Rostum]

Well, things have come a long way since the 9800's. We're now at the 590GTX's, which are ridiculously powerful (as well as the ATI counterparts), and they now have the CUDA technology implimented.

If you're looking for cheap, just go with ATI. You can get some of the latest models really cheap.

[Mirage]

I've got a GTX 460 1GB now and I am pretty satisfied with it. It is also really cheap.

[o_O]

Ah, interesting. Might have to have a look at what's on offer these days.

A (most likely redundant) word of warning: If you plan to do anything <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEW7rMJwHeU">graphically intensive</a> on Linux then just don't get an ATI. You'll save yourself a massive headache.