Can I play these games?

[edk128]

I was wondering if I can play these three games.
Crysis on normal or low settings.
Bioshock on medium or high settings.
Call of Duty 4 on medium or high settings.
I would be playing at a 1024X768 resolution.

Also, which of these support quad core?
Would they be jerky with my video card?
I just bought this computer for a very good price of 750 dollars but my screen is having trouble so i need to replace the right one and I don't have enough money for a 200 graphics card.

[Faustus]

To my knowledge they should all work fine on a quadcore CPU


Your graphics card will be a much bigger consideration.

[edk128]

It wouldn't be too choppy would it? I tried the Crysis and Call of Duty demos and they were both choppy. Is this because of my video card or the quad processor? When I checked what the program was using it was maxing out one processor.

[rallynavvie]

You do realize that none of those will use anything more than a single core on that processor? The speed of the single core is all you can really count on for that, the only nice thing is that background Windows tasks can run on other cores so you'll see a slight performance increase over a single-core system of the same relative speed.

That being said I ran CoD4 on medium-high settings on my new machine which uses 2.33/1333 quad-cores (as opposed to your 2.4/1066) and the processor load seemed fine. I am running a 9800 GTX and that is probably the main reason I am able to run at those settings.

Wait a few weeks, the price of the 9800 GTX is about to drop with the addition of the 9800 GTX+. You should see prices of about $200 for the card then. Make sure your PSU can handle it though. Also nVidia leaked beta drivers that enable PhysX acceleration on certain 8800 and 9800 cards so you may see greater benefit with certain games.

[edk128]

How can I check my PSU?
Second, what is the point of four cores if nothing can utilize the multitasking power? Isn't Crysis multithreaded or something like that? I doubt I need 3 2.4ghz cores for background tasks. I read that the full version of crisis would be programed to work with quad core. I recently bought this new computer with the quad cores and so far I have been very disappointed. No software has caught up to it yet.

[edk128]

So apparently 400 watts is not enough. How do I upgrade my power supply and do I need two PCI E slots for this card? I have a Gateway GT5678.

[jagabo]

Radeon 4850 preview with benchmarks including 9800 GTX (both around US$200):
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3338

[edk128]

Will the 9800GTX cause a bottleneck? I already have a graphics card, will the work together? To install it do I just plun it in? How long will the card last me with gaming? Is the difference between that and the 9800 GTX+ worth the cost?

[edk128]

I need to upgrade my power source for that monitor. This is my computer. http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/gateway-gt5678-core-2/4507-3118_7-32976273.html
Anyone know some good brands and one that will fit? I am looking for 450 to 550 watts.

[Nitro89]

I read that even the best graphics card can't play crysis on top settings, but, your current graphics card should be able to handle it on media/low settings

[dannyboy48888]

uh corirect me if im wrong but what does this have to do with video ENCODING?

[rallynavvie]

uh corirect me if im wrong but what does this have to do with video ENCODING?

Nothing, thus why it's in my forum for general computing help :wink:

Second, what is the point of four cores if nothing can utilize the multitasking power? Isn't Crysis multithreaded or something like that? I doubt I need 3 2.4ghz cores for background tasks. I read that the full version of crisis would be programed to work with quad core. I recently bought this new computer with the quad cores and so far I have been very disappointed. No software has caught up to it yet.

Yes welcome to reality. Don't feel bad for buying into the marketing hype behind multi-core systems, there are plenty of others who thought more cores automatically meant more performance. I've had years of experience with "multi-core" systems so I was fully aware of the status of multi-threaded apps. Look on the bright side though, that Q6600 works great with a number of multi-threaded workstation apps like many video encoders/editors and most of the Adobe Creative Suite. Pretty sure Excel can use several cores for computing tasks as well.

It will be a while for games since it seems software companies are content to create games that only force you to buy newer and more expensive GPUs than hold onto your core system for performance. The good news is that games still work pretty well on mid-grade processor solutions as long as they can lean on a good GPU. Maybe in a year or two we'll see more games that are multi-threaded, in which case I'm dusting off my newer DH800 for more gaming work 8)

[dannyboy48888]

sorry, need to quit drinking and thinking at the same time