Right now with the Athlon 5000+ I get 17 to 23 fps in whiterun and close to 30 outdoors. overclocking it to 3.0ghz doesn't help.
screen resolution doesn't make a difference in performance it stays at 17 to 23 in whiterun even texture detail doesn't make that much of a difference.
I think my cpu is the bottleneck because my video card should be able to handle high settings from what skyrim benchmarks say.

my specs:
Athlon 5000+ 2.6ghz
biostar a760+ "supports up to 95w"
2gb ddr2 800mhz
7200rpm 160gb hdd
ati 4670 512mb gddr3
350w psu

what processor would you all recommend for less than $100?

All that stuff is pretty obsolete except your GPU. You could go onto ebay and look for an Athlon X2, 2.8 ghz maybe. But I wouldnt put much money into that rig

the athlon X3 450 is only $78 off newegg, I was wanting to know if its powerful enough or if anyone else is using a athlon II X3 or X4 and can tell me how it does on skyrim.

From what I'm looking at, your board only supports Phenom, Athlon, Athlon X2, Sempron. I dont think you can even use an Athlon II...

no it supports it: http://206.108.48.60/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=394&tab=3
I asked if the 450 would work and the biostar support said that it supports it and any of the other athlon II family

New videocards are around the corner. Maybe even within a month ! From both AMD (pretty sure in January) and nVidia (not sure, but they might be close).

New cpu (called Ivy Bridge) from Intel in April.

Personally I'm waiting for those to upgrade my GPU and CPU (and motherboard and ram ofc). Right now might not be the best time to upgrade.

Skyrim is limited to 2 cores, so an X2 is just as good as an X3/X4.

If you plan on getting a new machine next year and just want a better Skyrim CPU in the short term, then just buy a cheap Athlon II X2 with a high clock speed, and perhaps try to overclock it another 400 or 500 mhz.. Here's a 3.4 ghz Athlon II X2 for $69.99:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103953

By the way, update your BIOS before putting an Athlon II in there.

It isn't limited to 2 cores, it just does a poor job of using more than 2.

I personally wouldn't upgrade to an Athlon 2 x3 from what you have. It would definitely be an upgrade but it would be a much better idea to just keep saving until you can get something like a Phenom 2 X4. I recently put together a Phenom 2 X4(955BE 3.2GHz), 8GB Ram, and new Mobo for $250, upgrading from an Athlon x2 @ 2.4GHz and it was a monster upgrade. At the moment, you might find yourself spending that $80 for an ok but still marginal upgrade, and wishing you had saved more for a whole new system a year from now.

I'm running an Athlon II X2 250 (3ghz) in my desktop and it's definitely lacking for Crysis 2 and Skyrim. You're better off upgrading to a quad-core (try Phenom II X4 975 or AMD FX series) with atleast 3.4ghz/core... not necessarily because it will run Skyrim or Crysis 2 better, but because it future-proofs your system a little more.

Quad-core and beyond gaming is just around the corner I believe.

To do a video card upgrade a power supply upgrade is required. The low end of the mid range cards that I've seen all require at least 400W, and true they might not use it all but something tells me that PSU is not of a brand that would be trusted to actually do well at its rating.


Odd, Skyrim runs fine with the Athlon 64 6000+ dual core 3 Ghz and GTS 450 1GB. Are you sure it's your CPU limiting Skyrim?

I do agree a Phenom II X4 is a good idea for a new computer though. I get the Phenom II X4 965 (3.4Ghz) for $115 last month. I know it can be overclocked, but I'm not voiding my warranty and increasing power usage for a CPU boost I don't even need. This machine has the GTX 460 1GB card but I list the 450 above because I know it can run Skyrim fine.

Guys when you say "I run this CPU fine" and "This CPU doesn't run as well", please list what settings you're running at, if you're using any HD texture mods, etc.

Otherwise we have nothing to compare your anecdotal evidence to.

Edit: Due to your low RAM and also older CPU I suggest trying Gamebooster, which is NOT a RAM Booster -- http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html , it helps automate the task of freezing up resources before launching a game.

My less powerful example was at high at 1080p with AA and anisotropic filtering set to 2x. Now I'm not claiming perfect 60FPS at all times without any slowdown ever but any slowdown I've seen on that machine wasn't anything that would impact gameplay at all. Obviously my second example runs ultra fine.

I don't use HD texture packs personally since I have no desire to. I wouldn't imagine throwing HD texture packs at a GTS 450 would be a good idea though, and of course for the topic creator's computer absolutely no way.

There is no good cpu upgrade. You own a Am2. They do not make them anymore. Most of the suggestion made was Am3 cpu's. I am pretty sure they will not work because they are different sockets. Alot of youtube videos have dual cores playing on high textures smoothly. My suggestion Ctrl+Alt+Del and close programs you do not need running in the background. Maybe the Large Address Mod that lets you use 4gb of ram. And obviously buy more ram.

Tbh i dont think just a cpu upgrade will be sufficient,I think it's about time to upgrade your whole system,which you obviously cannot pay atm since your looking for a cpu under 100$,but i really think that getting another am2 cpu will not do you any good at all and will eventually be just a waste of money.

Hate to say it, but others are right. In all honestly, if you are going to upgrade the cpu, you can't do much with your power supply and your motherboard. You could stick with amd if you want or you could switch to intel(I would recommend intel but amd is known for super budget stuff). Regardless you would need a new motherboard and you would probably need new memory seeing as almost all motherboards use ddr3. Your 350w psu is quite outdated, I doubt it could handle much more tbh.Your video card isn't nearly as outdated, but I'm not entirely sure it could handle high setting with smooth frame(could be wrong). But anyways, bottom line is I don't think you'd be able to get away with only updating the cpu.

It actually does a poor job of using more than one. Like I said, if the OP is just wanting a stopgap upgrade for Skyrim and then will do a major upgrade/replacement in a year or so, the Athlon II X2 3.4 ghz is cheap and fits the bill perfectly.




That Phenom costs twice as much as the Athlon II X2 I pointed out and will probably deliver just a couple more frames. I'd buy a cheap cpu now and save more towards a larger upgrade next near,

Problem with buying the "cheap" cpu now is that it wont be used a whole lot... especially if the plan is to just upgrade later next year.

Lets say he upgrades now and considers it a permanent upgrade. It wont be long at all until that cpu will become obsolete. If he adds a bit more money now, he will have no wasted cpu cost on a "temp" processor and he'll be set for quite a bit longer.

What do mean a little more money? It's like $80 more for that Phenom. It won't be long before that thing is considered obsolete either. In fact, it can already be considered obsolete if you consider how close its price point is to the Sandy Bridge i5s. And Ivy Bridge i5s are just around the corner. That Phenom will be considered old tech in no time.

I have a standard off the shelf PC.. I fully intend next summer to build a new PC from the ground up (and give this one to my daughter for web access, Facebook etc), but for now I just need an interim gfx card.

Athlon II x4 640 (3.00GHz)
3GB Mem
(useless) IGC GeForce 6150SE nForce 430

I have access to 500W PSU if needed.

I'm not a power gamer on the PC.. I still play my old games like crazy (Neverwinter Nights, Diablo I & II, Half-Life 2, KOTOR) Oblivion, FO 3 and even NV are all playable (just at the lower settings) would be nice to able to play these at mid or high though.

Like I said, not looking for anything incredible (that'll be next summer) just something to get me through the next 6 months. Any suggestions are appreciated.