What should I upgrade?

[jseleniu]

<p>Today I am using the following CPU & GPU:</p><p>Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz 1333MhzXFX GeForce 8800GTX 600M 768MB XT GDDR3</p><p>I am now thinking about upgrading my hardware, to get higher FPS in EQ2.</p><p>These are the components I am considering:</p><p>Intel Core™ 2 Duo E8600 3,33GHzNVIDIA GeForce GTX 285</p><p>Wich of them will give the highest FPS improvement in EQ2?</p><p>Is there some software I can run in the background, while playing EQ2, that logs my CPU & GPU usage, so I can see wich of them have highest load today, and therefore would benefit most from an upgrade?</p>

[Laedarr]

<p>I would definitely suggest going with the wolfdale E8600.  That processor rocks and EQ2 runs great on it.  As far as a video card, from what I have read, the nVidia cards that end in a 5 (265, 285, etc) have had driver issues with EQ2.  I would suggest runnig with a Radeon 4780 or even a 4980 1 Gig.   Radeon cards have shown to be extremely proficient in EQ2.</p><p>I run with the E8600 and 4870 1 gig and 4 mb Ram (corsair dom) and I'm getting roughly 40-50 FPS on extreme quality w/o shadows.</p>

[Bekkr]

<p>I run a 285 with no issues at all (knock on wood), but maybe that's to do with 64bit drivers not having the same issues?</p><p>Anyway, the 8800 is, IMO, more than adequate for EQ2. I'd second the advice of going with the CPU. This game <em>always</em> seems to want more CPU.</p>

[Psyren]

Just get a strong dual-core processor. You'll see performance shoot way up with it.

[bluefish]

<p><cite>jseleniu wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Today I am using the following CPU & GPU:</p><p>Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz 1333MhzXFX GeForce 8800GTX 600M 768MB XT GDDR3</p><p>I am now thinking about upgrading my hardware, to get higher FPS in EQ2.</p><p>These are the components I am considering:</p><p>Intel Core™ 2 Duo E8600 3,33GHzNVIDIA GeForce GTX 285</p><p>Wich of them will give the highest FPS improvement in EQ2?</p><p>Is there some software I can run in the background, while playing EQ2, that logs my CPU & GPU usage, so I can see wich of them have highest load today, and therefore would benefit most from an upgrade?</p></blockquote><p>save yourself some money and just overclock the CPU you have now .. bump up your FSB to 400 Mhz and that processor  should easily do 3.6 ghz on stock cooling. If you insist on a new processor go with the 8400 and again overclock to 3.6ghz and you can save approx $100.00 and use that to get a better cooler ( around $50.00)</p><p>Although I am a huge Nvidia fan .. I would go with ATI's new offering the HD 5870 .. it literally SMOKES the GTX285 in every aspect of performance and image quality. it costs a little bit more in price over the 285 but you are getting MUCH more as far as performance. Don't take my word for it though just google HD5870 reviews and you will see for yourself.</p>