CPU recommendations?

Greetings, everyone. I am currently running an Intel Core 2 Duo, 2100 MHz (10.5 x 200) 4000+ processor, which unfortunately leaves me unable to run modern titles like FIFA 16. This has led me to wonder: what kind of processor should I look into to get that specific game running smoothly? I have been browsing for something compatible with my current setup, but frankly, I am at a bit of a loss regarding what the best value option would be without breaking the bank. 🤔 My motherboard is an ASUS Prime Motherboard v2, so if anyone has a solid recommendation, I would certainly appreciate it. 👍

Yeah, your processor is definitely the weak link here. But honestly, it’s not just about the CPU.

Unfortunately, you’ve hit a perfect storm where everything in your rig is outdated. That ASUS Prime Motherboard is pretty bottom-tier, and finding anything faster or better to plug into it is basically impossible now. You might find something used, but then you’d have to worry about your power supply, which is probably just as old and weak as the rest. There's no guarantee the board or the PSU could even handle a beefier chip.

And then there's the most important part for gaming: the graphics card. That's where you'll see the biggest jump, but buying one on its own is a waste of money because your processor will just bottleneck it and drag the whole thing down. Plus, all the newer, more powerful cards need decent power supplies, which your current one likely can't handle...

When you add it all up, you'd be looking at buying a used processor, a new power supply, a graphics card, and probably some extra RAM depending on what you're running now. Even then, you'd end up with a mediocre setup by today's standards that still wouldn't run the latest titles properly... and you'd be burning through a lot of cash to get there.

The only real solution is just buying a new computer. It's not impossible if you have some cash saved up and you sell off this old junk first...

darkowl72 said:Yeah, your processor is definitely the weak link here. But honestly, it’s not just about the CPU.

Unfortunately, you’ve hit a perfect storm where everything in your rig is outdated. That ASUS Prime Motherboard is pretty bottom-tier, and finding anything faster or better to plug into it is basically impossible now. You might find something used, but then you’d have to worry about your power supply, which is probably just as old and weak as the rest. There's no guarantee the board or the PSU could even handle a beefier chip.

And then there's the most important part for gaming: the graphics card. That's where you'll see the biggest jump, but buying one on its own is a waste of money because your processor will just bottleneck it and drag the whole thing down. Plus, all the newer, more powerful cards need decent power supplies, which your current one likely can't handle...

When you add it all up, you'd be looking at buying a used processor, a new power supply, a graphics card, and probably some extra RAM depending on what you're running now. Even then, you'd end up with a mediocre setup by today's standards that still wouldn't run the latest titles properly... and you'd be burning through a lot of cash to get there.

The only real solution is just buying a new computer. It's not impossible if you have some cash saved up and you sell off this old junk first...

I managed to source the rest of the parts, which is why I was only asking about the processor. I have a 450W power supply, an NVIDIA GeForce GT 730, and 4 gigs of RAM, so I was wondering which CPU would make this setup functional. If it's not worth it, then no big deal—it's a shame, but thanks for the input.

Which power supply are you using? There are some solid 450W units out there that can actually pull over 500W, but then you have all that junk that barely hits 200-250W 😉

To be honest, that graphics card is bottom-of-the-barrel... it’s way weaker than most modern integrated chips. Even FIFA 16 might struggle on it, which is pretty wild considering how demanding it is compared to Tetris.

crimsonstag84 said:Which power supply are you using? There are some solid 450W units out there that can actually pull over 500W, but then you have all that junk that barely hits 200-250W 😉

To be honest, that graphics card is bottom-of-the-barrel... it’s way weaker than most modern integrated chips. Even FIFA 16 might struggle on it, which is pretty wild considering how demanding it is compared to Tetris.

Look, I honestly don't know anything about the power supply. I realize the GPU isn't much to write home about, but everything here was just picked up from friends and whatnot, so I highly doubt anyone bothered with a high-quality unit. I did install the FIFA 16 demo, and according to what I'm seeing, the GPU seems fine while the processor is the bottleneck—which is exactly why I decided to start this thread in the first place.

So, what does it say on the power supply? What’s the specific model number?

Regarding the processor—you're out of luck there. You'd basically need to overhaul the entire platform (CPU, motherboard, RAM), and even then, the game is going to run like garbage because the graphics card is barely hitting the minimum requirements. What kind of budget are we looking at? If you don't want to blow through your savings, honestly, your best bet might be to just download FIFA 16 plus a patch for the 2015/16 season and actually enjoy yourself properly.

Here’s the list of CPUs your motherboard can handle:

http://www.gigabyte.com/support-down....aspx?pid=2507

As you can see, it doesn't support anything recent enough to be worth the upgrade. You're stuck with those dual-core chips (which you already own)—honestly, buying the beefiest dual-core out there (something in the 6000+ range) would just be throwing money away on an ancient piece of junk. Besides, you could probably just overclock what you have a little bit to bridge the gap, so buying something new right now feels pretty pointless.

I guess you could hunt down some Microsoft chips, but those were basically old relics that weren't even that great when they first hit the market. 😁 Therefore, it's probably smarter to save up at least $700$267 and grab a new motherboard, 4GB of RAM, and maybe a cheap Celeron—that should get you started. You can always add more RAM later and eventually swap in a decent processor.

Thanks for all the input 🙂 I took a look at that compatibility list, but honestly, I wasn't sure if those specific chips actually offer any meaningful upgrade path. Is it even worth swapping in a different processor if the performance jump is negligible? I figured asking here was a safer bet than throwing money away on parts that won't move the needle. Looking at it now, there doesn't seem to be much point; I think I'll just save up a bit and eventually overhaul the whole setup with a better motherboard and everything else. Until then, FIFA 16 is still king. 😁 fadedorca66, would you mind giving me a hand with overclocking? To be perfectly honest, I don't have the slightest clue where to even start. If you have some spare time, maybe we could chat over a private message.

Overclocking isn't exactly a walk in the park; you actually have to play around with it and know the basics of what everything does. Honestly, maybe it's better if you don't touch anything if you aren't really sure what you're doing, plus you'd probably want a decent cooler and a solid power supply if you're serious about it. If you're feeling adventurous, though, you might want to start here:

http://forum.pcekspert.com/showthread.php?t=88200

I'm with fadedorca66 on this one—don't even bother trying to overclock. On top of what they already said, I'll add that this motherboard has such a basic power delivery system that it's absolutely not built for any kind of stress. You could easily fry the whole thing if you try to bump up the voltage. And honestly, raising the voltage wouldn't even help much because the CPU isn't designed for overclocking anyway; it's got a locked multiplier. Plus, the board has almost zero cooling, so it could overheat and die instantly. Even if you somehow managed to get results by upgrading your cooling and power supply, there's a bigger issue: look at the specs in the link. If you drop a better processor in here, it won't even run at full speed because the board uses an old HT1.0 bus, which has extremely limited communication speeds between components.

In plain English: don't touch a single setting while it's running fine, or you might just kill your machine. It's a shame, really...

Check which BIOS version you're running and don't let the listing trip you up. Where it says N/A under the BIOS column—that last column there—it means those processors won't actually work on your motherboard... It doesn't matter if they listed them at all

Here’s someone playing with that ProCom hardware

The top-tier processor for this motherboard would be the Intel Core 2 Extreme. I couldn't find any used ones locally, but right below that, you can grab an Intel Core 2 Duo. There are a few listed on eBay for about $67
. Here is the link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/example-link 3.0 GHz... You might need some help, but seriously, if you plan on gaming, you should probably save up for a new rig :P A 450-watt power supply should be plenty, assuming you aren't running anything too power-hungry