Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Are my processors BAD??

B

Bigpurp

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 13, 2008
32
0
Heyy every1 I am sort of confused about my processor. I love my mac pro and I dont wanna sell it, but I recently started playing CS and some other games like fallout 3 so I installed a 280 gtx for bootcamp.

I have quadcore processors
Intel Xeon 5150 2.66ghz x4

I was told that server cpu's such as mine are bad for gaming and will bottleneck this card so I should 'pretty much build a new pc'. My fps seems like it could be better, and it drops especially in WoW (since that is more cpu intense).

During these games my physical memory (ram) goes to 80% but my cpu stays below 50% so this is where im confused. Why do I need a new processor?

What do you guys think? Drop like 500 on a new pc and use the mac just for protools / final cut or do u think my processors are good enough for games too??
 
yea I only have 2gb but I dont wanna waste money on upgrading RAM if my chipset / motherboard isnt made for getting the maximum performance out of my video card.
 
the memory will help with pro tools. I am running pro tools on the same system as you, only with 4 gigs.


what slot is your graphics card in? for best performance, put it in the lowest slot.
 
product26 said:
the memory will help with pro tools. I am running pro tools on the same system as you, only with 4 gigs.


what slot is your graphics card in? for best performance, put it in the lowest slot.
Click to expand...

Ya its in slot 1. superclocked too. I shouldnt be experiencing fps issues though (ok maybe crysis is exceptable)

Although WoW and other games seems to recognize all 4 cores
so wouldnt that be 2.66 ghz x 4 or does the 2nd processor only kick in when I do stuffs in the background?
 
should I just get more ram first? since its at 85% usage atm just running WoW...does it stop at 90 or somethin? How do I know if the physical memory is maxed out?

on vista 32bit
 
physical memory shouldn't make much of a difference. go to windows task manager and then the performance tab ( i think ) to see some info about physical memory, ram, etc. In 32-bit OSes, 3GB is the maximum you can go. I would try running vista 64 bit, since I believe the mac pros ( including yours ) are 64 bit. you should get more ram though.. i'm running at 4GB atm. ram doesn't stop at 90% usage, it goes to its max ( 3GB for 32-bit and 32GB for 64-bit ) and then pages in and out when needed.
 
yea so you think my computer will be good for games if I just get more ram? But it never goes above 90% so I dono..
 
"Not good for gaming"

HA LOL :rolleyes:

Matter of a few % diff at most, if that. Server hardware is better quality than normal desktop stuff so the difference is more than made up for it!

What res do you play at? What games?

Just wack the best CPU you can in the and jobs done.

Do you have two dual cores, two quads or one quad installed?

Oh and 4Gb will be a good start for modern games. Edit: 80% mem usage is quite high. Wack it up to 4Gb...
 
kk thnx for the advice. guess ill try upping the ram first. I was just told that my processors werent allowing the 280 to run at max potential.

Hopefully this isnt the case but if this really was a ram issue,
wouldnt my 'physical memory' go above 85-90%? Like to 100?

Oh and I play WoW and fallout 3, 12x16 or 12x10, both of which seem to drop in fps due to memory usage (my cpu usage never goes above 40%)
 
Graphics cards are usually the bottleneck in modern 3D games, not the processor. Four 2.66GHz Core 2 cores certainly shouldn't be hampering you in anyway. Look at these benchmarks and you will see processor speed for Crysis (arguably one of the most graphically demanding games) isn't much of an issue. Whoever told you the issue is the processor is likely just ill informed.
 
I play WoW, same machine as you but i play in OSX with my 8800gt and 5GB of RAM, just up from 3, and it made no difference, but i can run 3copies of wow withoud issues haha.

ignore the people in games who do not understand what they cant afford(and therefore havent researched)
 
OZMP said:
I play WoW, same machine as you but i play in OSX with my 8800gt and 5GB of RAM, just up from 3, and it made no difference, but i can run 3copies of wow withoud issues haha.

ignore the people in games who do not understand what they cant afford(and therefore havent researched)
Click to expand...

lol well some people with the gtx 280 are getting way higher fps than me. Even in uncrowded places my fps doesnt go above 40.

Anyways, rite now running this game my physical memory usage is at 75%
My CPU usage is 20%. So I dont know what to do. Maybe its just a conflict with my motherboard and gaming? Like maybe games are just better on core 2 duo chips...
 
who thinks I should buy new ram n who thinks I should say screw it and build a pc for teh games!??
 
For starters, get some RAM. Having 2 GB in a Mac Pro is like dressing like a bum when you have 1 million $ :D

Up your RAM to 4 GB and see if it makes a difference.

The reason your CPU usage never goes over 50% is that no games take advantage of more than 2 cores, while you have 4, thus a 50% CPU usage. You setup is enough to run ANY game (just up your RAM) and building a PC when you have such a beasty Mac Pro is rather pointless.
 
eXan said:
For starters, get some RAM. Having 2 GB in a Mac Pro is like dressing like a bum when you have 1 million $ :D

Up your RAM to 4 GB and see if it makes a difference.

The reason your CPU usage never goes over 50% is that no games take advantage of more than 2 cores, while you have 4, thus a 50% CPU usage. You setup is enough to run ANY game (just up your RAM) and building a PC when you have such a beasty Mac Pro is rather pointless.
Click to expand...

That.

but still, my 'physical memory' doesnt exceed 90% so If that was the problem I'd think it would be hitting 100.

How much ram can u use in vista32 btw. 3gb max?
 
eXan said:
Because no OS that I know of uses 100% of RAM. They usually leave some free RAM in case you, for example, need to open another application



I think its 3.5 GB.
Click to expand...

oo kk. I notice DDR2 is really cheap, should I spend more to get ddr3 or no. Probly only getting 2 more gigs
 
Bigpurp said:
oo kk. I notice DDR2 is really cheap, should I spend more to get ddr3 or no. Probly only getting 2 more gigs
Click to expand...

You should get exactly the type of RAM that is supported by your computer. Check System Profiler or manual for the type of RAM your Mac Pro will accept.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back