Building/Upgrading a PC for TS2
KatEnigma:
When turning off start-up crap, it's a good idea to keep a list of what you changed. :) I always used BlackViper's site, and once I had a problem with WindowsUpdate because something I'd set to manual that wasn't supposed to break anything prevented the updater from working right- and it took a lot of digging in the help section to figure out what, exactly, the problem was, it was so seemingly unrelated. ::) So now I keep a print-out to help me trace down the problem if something goes kaplooie.
I have 2GB of RAM, and it looks like TS2 tends to use about 1.5GB, which normally keeps my page file to below 500MB. However, I definitely think it was well worth it to add the 10000 RPM HD when I built my system last fall. Even with a zillion downloads (at last count, I think it was 20k, but I've downloaded a lot more since then) my game loads quickly, and barely a pause when I go to buy clothes, change appearance, etc. It's relatively expensive, especially for the size, but if you need more space for things that aren't game related, it's easy enough to throw in a huge 72000 RPM HD for storage and just keep windows and games on the fast one.
I also do not regret my X2. :) I definitely need to consider upgrading it, while I still can, though. I don't need more power now, but I'd hate to not be able to get more if I need it when the rest of my computer should hold me a couple years, at least.
Also: I highly recommend OCZ products. Their RAM was the lowest latency I could find- AND the least expensive, and when one of the sticks was erroring out in Memtest, they replaced it, no questions asked. Since I'm local to their headquarters, they even let me exchange it IN PERSON rather than paying for Fed Ex- just had to wait a day to give them time to test the new pair. I ended up with one of their PSU's, and am extremely happy with its design, too. The fan sucks air in through the bottom and then out, so it works as an extra case fan, and it alone lowered my system temp by 10ēC. A good product, low prices, and excellent customer service will leave me singing their praises for a long time. Until, of course, they get too big and go the way of Alienware and ruin it all. :D
IgnorantBliss:
I have a question: Does TS2 actually take advantage of dual-core processors, or does it only see a single processor? I'm trying to figure out if it makes sense to upgrade to a dual-core one, or just a faster single-core one, since I'm mainly upgrading to boost TS2 performance. Don't want to spend a ton of money on a dual-core one if it doesn't matter for the game.
Hegelian:
Hmmm . . . . :)
Chances are, probably not, at least not directly. A few games to seem to be able to take real advantage of two cores (or HyperThreading on a P4 with that feature), although from what I've seen, most do not. the impression I get from stuff I've read is that some games built on the most recent Quake/Doom engine (which I think is still OpenGL) can show some significant performance boosts with a dual-core CPU.
OTOH, even if you don't regularly use applications engineered to take advantage of dual cores (or dual CPUs), it seems that overall system performance can be enhanced, especially if you tend to run several apps at once. So that could be an argument for dual-core.
Finally, dual-core is where the market is heading, and in the not-too-distant future, single-core CPUs will be a thing of the past, rather like the Zilog Z80 and CP/M. And it seems that very soon if not just yet, single-core processors will be more expensive than comparable dual-core chips. Also, the dual-core CPUs require less power and generate less heat as a result.
If your current motherboard supports only single-core CPUs and you don't want to replace it, the choice is clear. Likewise, if you are going to replace both the motherboard and CPU, then it only makes sense to go with the forward-looking dual-core option rather than the end-of-the-road single-core option. However, I would wait until Intel releases its Core 2 CPUs sometime next month, as these are supposed to be introduced at very competetive prices, and AMD has apparently told vendors that it will cut its own prices significantly once the Intel chips are on the market.
There is one thing though that might induce you to go with a dual-core CPU today: the Intel D805 dual-core (Pressler) can be had for about 120 USD here in the US, and with some luck and third-party cooling, can be overclocked to 4 GHz. ;D
Tom's Hardware: A 4.1 GHz Dual Core at $130 - Can it be True?
If you have a CPU that supports HyperThreading and you have or can set up a dual-monitor display, you can run the game on one monitor and have the Performance tab of Task Manager (or other performance-montoring app) on the other monitor, and you can see whether the game uses both processors (since HyperThreading makes the CPU appear to be two CPUs to the OS), and to what extent.
Some games known to be multi-thread or dual-core "aware" are:
Call of Duty 2
City of Villains
Quake 4
World of Warcraft
Age of Empires III
Black & White 2
Peter Jackson's King Kong
The Movies
Battlefield 2 & Battlefield 2: Special Forces
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced
Warfighter
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
Unreal Tournament 2007 (forthcoming)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
IgnorantBliss:
OK, thanks for the reply :). My motherboard can handle dual-core processors, so that would not be a limitation. This is the last upgrade I can do for this computer, pretty much, and the CPU ungradeability was one of the main reasons we chose this particular motherboard. At the moment still, single-core CPUs are considerably cheaper than dual-core CPUs, at least here in Finland. From what I heard from my husband, AMD has already annouced something like a 50% price cut on many of their processors, so I'm going to wait until those prices reach Finland, and then buy one. I'm not planning on getting anything very "top-of-the-line", I will be satisfied with something like a 2,4GHz one or similar (current one is 1,8Ghz). I'll have to wait and see where the prices settle after the cut, and if a dual-core one will be of a reasonable price, then possibly get one of those. Not quite sure yet.
jrd:
Many of the games in Hegelian's list are only partially multiple-CPU compat. Quake4 for example will only send the sound to the secondary CPU, as will PJ's Kong game. If you have a crappy (or onboard) soundcard this will result in significant performance increase, but it won't matter much if you have an Audigy-like card which already has a good coprocessor of its own.
Most games unfortunately still use a single thread. Any game which does so will not benefit from multiple processors in any way, unless you can tweak your system so that the system's threads all run on CPU1 and your game on CPU2.
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