upgrading motherboard

now i currently have an AMD athlon 64 x2 dual core pro, 3800, 2ghz processor, most games comming out now are requiring more than 2ghz,

do i have to replace the entire motherboard to get a faster processor?

that fact thats its dual core mean i have 2ghz twice? (i doubt it)

and lastly does replacing the motherboard at all affect my hard drive, saved files etc etc?

cheers guys!

As far as I know you have 4GHz as you have dual core.

And swapping a motherboard can render your Windows install useless, so be prepared to do a Windows repair or if need be a full install, backup first.

Most games require a single core 2ghz cpu, your processor is fine
Most motherboards support a faster processor, although not sure if you are s939 or am2

I do not think you have to upgrade your CPU, but maybe your Graphics card instead
What kind of Graphics card do you own?

i currently own a gefroce 7600 series, i know for a fact its now out of date compared to new releases, ive been thinking about buying a new one but not sure if itd make a difference, im thinking of splashing my student loan out on a 8400 ultra series

Regarding splashing out on a 8400 series. Err....don't.

A 7600 will wipe the floor with a 8400.

If you're not fussed about DX10 gaming then look at a 7900GT or X1950XT. If you're wanting a DX10 card (running Vista or planning on it?) look at a 8600GTS or 320mb 8800GTS.

Your cpu will, when paired with any of those cards (and at a res of 1280x1024), run pretty much any game thrown at it.

It's still a good chip, I'd worry more (as Social says) about upgrading the graphics card.

If you're gaming at a higher resolution than the one I've stated, those cards will still do, except for the 8600GTS, but you then might want to think about a faster cpu as it will begin causing bottlenecking at high detail settings/ AA. Considering the prices nowadays it won't be an expensive purchase of an AMD chip.

hhhmmm well i currently have vista, got it with a bundle com like......

i cant play games such as bioshock unless its on minimal settings and a 1024 res....

infact i dont know any games i can run in high settings on a 1024 res..... vista eating it up?

my processor is stated above and my ram is 2gb ... where am going wrong lol

Ram amount is fine, the sweet spot for XP was 1gb, for Vista it's 2gb.

Vista does,as you suspect, demand more system resources.

As you're having trouble running above 1024x768 I'd highly recommend a, at the least, 8600GTS or, preferably, a 320mb 8800GTS.

And upgrading the cpu. Do you know what socket it is? (939, AM2)

right, unless you have patients with my, asking me about sockets, im clueless, ive got the computer right infront of me with the cover off as ive been fooling around with my ram sticks

Run everest from the downloads section and post the CPU info here.

--------[ CPU ]---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU Properties:
CPU Type Unknown, 2000 MHz
Instruction Set x86, x86-64, MMX, 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
L1 Code Cache 64 KB
L1 Data Cache 64 KB
L2 Cache 512 KB (Asynchronous)

Multi CPU:
Motherboard ID OEM00000 PROD00000000
CPU #0 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+, 2009 MHz
CPU #1 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+, 2009 MHz

CPU Utilization:
CPU #1 / Core #1 0 %
CPU #1 / Core #2 0 %

to be fair you guys have totaly lost me now

Sorry, can you post the motherboard bit also.

ive just noticed my operating system is BETA -

Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Home Edition 6.0.6000 (WinVista Beta)


surely thats not good?

and my motherboard info is below but it doesnt tell you much?

--------[ Motherboard ]-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID 08/28/2006-C51MCP51-6A61HFKDC-00
Motherboard Name Unknown


copied the wrong bit?

Hmmm thats odd, there is no mention of what socket you have. I'll come back to you in a sec.

On the beta note who put Vista on the machine?