Will switching to a faster CPU see any noticable performance gain for next gen games like crysis.

Most people have told me that upgradeing from a 3.0ghz P4 to a 3.8ghz won't give me any noticable performance gain (Framerate is what i'm primarily concerned about) because games depend more on the GPU. But what about next gen games like Crysis that will be very cpu intensive? 3.0ghz is the minimal CPU requirment (AMD X2 4000 is recommended), so would upgrading from a P4 630 @ 3.0ghz to a P4 570 @ 3.8 ghz make a big difference in how well I run a game with requirments like Crysis?

 

You probably will see a gain, regardless of how minor it is. Increasing memory will help as well. In any case, it really depends on the game - that's why benchmarks are done using many games that use different engines.

 

I suppose it would help with a game like crysis, but you will see much more of a gain going from something like a P4 to something dual core.

 

If it's socket LGA 775, why not upgrade to a Core 2 Duo?


EDIT: I guess you're referring to a laptop.

 

The z81sp bios only supports P4 5xx and 6xx series CPUs. I don't suppose that there is any way around this is there (a hacked bios)?

 

I've heard that performance gains usually aren't noticable with a discrepancy of less than 1.0 GHz. Now, 800Mhz is close. I think, if I were you, I'd try running Crysis on your current build when it comes out, and if it runs satisfactorily well, don't bother with the upgrade. If you aren't satisfied with the way it runs, you might want to try such an upgrade, but only if spending a few hundred dollars is really worth it to you for what will probably not be a significant improvement in performance.