Phenom 9500 vs Phenom II

[SePhIrOtX]

Hi everyone. I got a few questions for you. In the first I was a PC gamer playing like counter strike, quake and other games. The last year I bought an Xbox 360 because lack of fonds to buy a new PC. My 3200+ with 7900GS can't play nothing except low. So now, I bought a new computer. Here's the spec.

CPU : Phenom 9500 @ 2.2ghz
Motherboard : EVGA 730a
Rams : 4 go Corsair xms2 DHX 800MHZ
GPU : EVGA Geforce 9800GTX

I try to play at MW2 at very high but the game is a bit laggy. Try to change settings and it's quite too much laggy for me. So here's my questions. What's the problem with my computer? The CPU is not enough fast? I read alot about that, many people said Phenom are performing like crap and change it for an Athlon II or Phenom II. So now i'm here, what can I do to increase the power of my PC? If I change my CPU, my GPU will bottleneck him? What's the best CPU I can get? I want something like Phenom II 955BE or Phenom II x3-x4 BE. I don't want to overclock much, just to have better performances.

Forgot to tell, i'm playing at 1280*1024

What can I do?

Sorry for my "english"

 

[SePhIrOtX]

Edited*

 

[DrPop]

Hi, you are correct that the PhenomII performs better. However, I would think you largest bottleneck is not the CPU, but the GPU.
What settings beside resolution did you use? Lots of AA or anything?

It would be hard to beat a PhenomII X4 or even the X6 for the money (but the X6 is probably overkill)...could probably drop right into your motherboard for an inexpensive upgrade.

I think your GPU would be the limiting factor, though. Something like a 5830 for $150 would blow the doors off that 9800GTX. Just a thought. Hard to say which route you need more, CPU or GPU.

Have you tried playing any other games? What's your average frame rate? See if you can run the task manager and look at your CPU utilization % while you have a game running...see if it pegs it at 100% or if it's significantly less. That might be your best answer on where the bottleneck is.

 

[SePhIrOtX]

DrPop Thanks for your answer I play with no AA. I play on a CTR with a resolution of 1280*1024, so in my opinion i'm all good with my 9800GTX. Right? At the moment i didnt try another game, I just got need for speed hot pursuit. That will be my second test. How can I see the fps? With fraps I think?

 

[toyota]

a phenom 9500 is a pretty poky cpu. even the faster clocked(2.8 and above) old A64 X2 cpus would beat it in many gaming cases.

 

[SePhIrOtX]

So, if I change my CPU I will be "ok" to play at High setting on my games?

 

[toyota]

So, if I change my CPU I will be "ok" to play at High setting on my games?

well at 1280x1024 your 9800gtx should be enough to run most games on highest settings so yes having faster cpu would certainly help a bit. I would still think your current cpu should deliver playable framerates in a game like MW 2 though.

 

[SePhIrOtX]

Whats the program to see the fps?

 

[Rifter]

fraps

 

[SePhIrOtX]

Well keep you update Thanks all

 

[Arkaign]

As others have alluded to :

Lower your video settings a lot, say 1024x768 with medium details and low shadows.

If the game still runs sluggish, then bingo, the CPU is holding you back. That'd be my guess. The PhI is pretty poor overall. The TLB bug was really annoying, to get them stable IIRC they had to patch the bios of the mobos and it made them even slower.

PhII rocks though, if you can swing a BE X3 or X4, you'll be golden The 9800 is a decent enough card, I have a friend that has a GTS250 (same thing basically) and it plays MW2 at very high settings at 1680x1050 no problem, it's got an E5200 CPU at around 3ghz I think.

 

[nenforcer]

Yeah I think your 9800GT video card is more than enough for your resolution in COD : MW2

I think your CPU is definitely the culprit. The Phenom 1 series just was not competitive.

Look at this AT bench when compared to a Athlon ][ X4 620 the games at the bottom

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/106?vs=23

If you update to the Z13 BIOS and get a Phenom ][ 95W CPU it should blow away those results.

 

[Rifter]

One more thing i will add to this thread, The phenom II is better no doubt. The original phenoms were crappy CPU's. The only way you are going to be able to figure out if the CPU is the bottle neck for you though is going to be testing it out yourself. Monitor FPS and CPU useage at differnt settings and you will figure it out pretty quick.

Also i upgraded my girlfriends comp recently from that exact phenom you have to a Phenom II 940BE running at 3.6Ghz. I didnt tell her i upgraded her CPU i wanted to see if she would notice, she usually just goes on facebook and plays flash games but also plays real games a bit and after 2 days she asked me what i did to her comp as she noticed it was faster. So if even a basic computer user can notice the differnce then i would say upgrading the CPU would be a very good idea and well worth it, should drop right into your mobo. You can get a Athon II quad for under $100 nowdays and a Phenom II quad for $130.

 

[SePhIrOtX]

@ Rifterut
Hahaha, nice one for the computer. You can do that to me? No seriously, I really think about that. I want another Phenom, the 940BE should be great. I don't have a lot of money to spend with the xmas. If you know someone who sell an used Phenom II tell me that, I can't afford a new at this moment.

 

[Rifter]

You can check craigslist in your area, ive seen a few 940BE's going for sale on local computer message boards for $40 to $70 used as well.

There are alot of people jumping on the 6 core CPU's and selling there phenom II quads right now. Can check the for sale forums here as well you can find some good deals just keep a good eye on them stuff goes fast.

 

[SePhIrOtX]

I live in Canada Quebec, so I don't know how to use craigslist. Also looking on this forum in for sale, don't find anything or if I find, the thread was too old. If someone of you find a great deal, call me back. This will be an xmas gift from me to me


EDIT: Just test with fraps. With Need for speed I got 13-18 fps and with MW2 I got 40fps. I detect a lot of lag in MW2 but the fps stay at 40-45-50. I suspect the CPU since I only play at 1280*1024 and my Geforce 9800GTX is a decent card for the resolution.

 

[SePhIrOtX]

So, i'm going for a Phenom II upgrade?

 

[DrPop]

Yes, that is probably your best option. Do you over clock at all? For gaming, you usually see more FPS from higher GHz speed than from more cores. For example, you would generally have better gaming performance with a faster clocked X4 CPU than with a slower clocked X6.
I don't game much anymore, so I'm more interested in cores for BOINC, but in your case, I would shoot for the fastest GHz quad you can afford - or the best over clocker if you're into that, because it looks like you need a FPS boost.

You can also O/C that GPU a little with MSI Afterburner or similar tool to eek out a few more FPS.

 

[SePhIrOtX]

You have not OC an Phenom 9500 already They perform like "crap" and over heat. The most stable overclock on these cpu are 2.6 ghz. Wow, you pass from 2.2 to 2.6 not a big deal for the cpu heating. I post on this forum on for sale in hope that i'll find a biggg deal. Thanks

 

[SePhIrOtX]

EDIT: Damn, I found Phenom II 940BE at 100$ new OEM. That will be an awesome deal for xmas. Thanks all this topic can be close!

 

[Zap]

@ Rifterut
Hahaha, nice one for the computer. You can do that to me?

I don't think you'd want to reciprocate like I'm sure his GF does. :whiste:

So, i'm going for a Phenom II upgrade?

Just remember to update your BIOS before yanking out the old CPU, and make sure the new CPU is officially supported.