I notice in Fallout 3 if settings are high enough i get this "chugging" of sorts and it gets annoying sometimes (same with any big RPG). Obviously this could be fixed by lowering settings but that's not what I want to do. I assume it is due to my CPU since it is pretty slow by the looks of it and I am looking for a upgrade (usually find the bethesda forums the best place for advice).


Processor: Genuine Intel® CPU 2160 @ 1.80GHz (2 CPUs), ~1.8GHz

video card: ATI Radeon HD 4670 1GB

500W power supply

here is a link for more of my computer details: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01285437&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=3548670&lang=en

Are there any faster cheap CPU's out there that my motherboard supports? Would be great if anyone can toss out a link from newegg or such... I am terrible at this.

Also I notice I have 4 RAM slots 2 blues 2 black (the picture from the link shows 2 but it is my motherboard) so I also assume I can upgrade to 4 GB of RAM. Would that make a big difference from 2? Would a new CPU alone suffice or more RAM?

thanks

Because the FSB speed is limited 800MHz, your choices are rather limited as well. The highest CPU supported on that motherboard is the E4400, which is a pretty old chip these days. You can still find it OEM though, meaning no retail heatsink+fan or box:
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=E4400&title=Intel-Core-2-Duo-Processor-E4400-2GHz-800MHz-2MB-LGA775-CPU-OEM

...you could probably still use your existing one though, but you will need to re-appply thermal grease/paste. Although, this isn't the biggest upgrade in the world...not really sure if it would be worth it for you.




As for the RAM slots, I can't guarantee it but it would seem your version should be able to handle 4GB. It's not going to make a world of difference from 2GB, but it does help with load times and stutter.

Alright... thank you for the help.