Changing CPU's on the motherboard

[mightysaints]

I have an Asrock motherboard and the spec says it can take a Pentium dual core CPU. I currently have a Pentium D 2.66 on the Mobo. I would like to change the Mobo for a quad core unit or higher but funds won't allow it so would i see a significant improvement if i change the CPU from a Pentium D to a Dual core say around the 3.2 range. You can get new chips of Ebay for around £50

 

 

http://europe.asrock.com/manual/775Twins-HDTV.pdf

[badgerx16]

The dual core has a much better CPU rating, http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php, but remember that overall PC performance can depend on all the major internal components; mobo BUS, memory, HDD, optical drive, and even cooling efficiency.

[Al de Man]

I don't know which CPU you have in mind, but do you realise that dual core is not the same a Core2 Duo?

[mightysaints]

Am i right in thinking that my Pentium D will be slower that a Dual core. The PC says i have a Pentium D 2.66 GHz running Vista. I have 2 gig of ram, a good graphics and sound card. I keep the running programs down to a minimum. I have been play the latest Call of Duty game but it runs very slow at times even on the low settings and was wondering if a change of CPU would make a big difference.

[saintscottofthenortham]

The CPU can make a big difference, depending on wether all your other hardware can handle it. Your better off putting up the spec of everything because without knowing what Ram, Graphics Card, HDD etc etc etc you are using its hard to give any advice.

[badgerx16]

Am i right in thinking that my Pentium D will be slower that a Dual core. The PC says i have a Pentium D 2.66 GHz running Vista. I have 2 gig of ram, a good graphics and sound card. I keep the running programs down to a minimum. I have been play the latest Call of Duty game but it runs very slow at times even on the low settings and was wondering if a change of CPU would make a big difference.

How much dedicated memory is there on the graphics card ? Playing graphics intensive games these days you would probably need to look at a minimum 1Gb on the card. If there isn't enough, the game will start to hog the PC's system memory, and that slows things down, particularly if you end up with memory swapping on and off the disc cache.