Games running in slow-mo, is it the CPU's fault ?

Hey,

Sometimes when i play games like Assassins Creed 2 or Batman AA and rarely even The Witcher the game just slows down for a couple of minutes. Usually at the worst possible times, like when there is a fight and there a lot of things going on.

What all these games have in common is that while my other specifications exceed the recommended, my CPU can only meet the minimum system requirements. So what is my CPU ?

Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4300 @ 2.10GHz.

And while we are at it my laptop's specifications are;

Dell Studio 1555
4GB RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 (512 MB)
250 GB
64-bit WIndows 7

So then i played a game (Star Wars FU2) where my CPU, and again only my CPU, didn't even meet the minimum requirements. It was ENTIRELY slow motion. I was kind of invincible but it got boring fast.

So then i came to this site and tried to find similar threads about what processor i should upgrade to but in almost every one of these threads people where saying above 2Ghz a processor makes no difference performance-wise.

TL;DR version;

1) Will upgrading my T4300 make any real difference ?
2) If not what should I change ?
3) If it will what processor would you recommend i upgrade to ?

 

Have you taken a look at drivers yet? Most games are GPU bound not CPU. A PDC should be fine for minor/moderate gaming, but certainly not the processor of choice.

 

Yep all the drivers are up to date. If its not the CPU then i really have no idea what it can be because the 4570 and 4gb is meant to be pretty good.

 

AMD ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 - Notebookcheck.net Tech

I mean it's...a mid range card. It should only play modern games from 2009 on low resolution. The 4570 just wasn't designed to be a gaming card, just a bit better than entry entry level discreet GPU.

I mean have you tried purging them and reinstalling them? Maybe you got a bad setting or something.

 

Well there is an unwelcome dose of reality....

But still the GPU shouldn't be the problem; on "Can you Run It" it tells me that my video ram is 2.2 gb and that all the other stats are well above recommended for most games including cyrsis.

And even it is the GPU's fault its not like i can upgrade it.

I'll try that now though i really doubt it will work because games, other than the ones i mentioned, tend to work perfectly.

Okay other than the CPU what else could it be that i can upgrade ?

 

I'm sorry if I offended you in anyway, just don't expect to play Crysis on high settings is all I'm saying. It should be able to handle older Source games on medium settings, maybe medium frame rate.

Assassin's Creed 2 even chokes up my i7 machine in my signature on 1080p settings, it recommends a desktop 8800GT and a Core 2 Duo.

The VRAM is less important, as that is probably leeching VRAM from your RAM. That and the 4570 is a 64 bit memory bus card, think of it as a 1 way lane highway vs a 4 lane.

You could consider a CPU upgrade, do you know what chipset you have? You could post a screenshot of CPU-Z of your motherboard (mainboard in CPU-Z) and we could determine what CPU you could upgrade to.

 

LOL. Certainly not, I started this thread to learn after all. If anything thanks for having patience with my n00by self.

Okay;

Mainboard

Spoiler

And while im at it.


CPU

Spoiler

Memory

Spoiler

GPU

Spoiler

I know the limit is the T990 but i think 2.8ghz should be enough and i'm trying to spend less than £100 though i could probably go up to £150 if its worth it.

 

Well your best bet is trying like for a P8700/P8400, reasonably priced for a 1066 FSB Core 2 Duo, though your system can take any 1066 FSB Core 2 Duo.

More "speed" and "cache" do not offer better framerates in games/real world use, which is what the T9x00 only offers. Only in rendering and synthetic benchmarks will more "speed" and "cache" be beneficially.