How good is my processor?

-Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.4GHz



I ask because I'm having issues playing Medieval 2 Total War. Apparently that game only uses one core, and as a result I get really choppy gameplay on higher settings.



When my processor says 3.4 GHz, is that a lot? Also, is that 3.4GHz per core or total? Are there ways to teach the game's exe to use more than one core? I mean what good is this 8 core processor if nothing ever uses it lol...



And if there's no way, what are the best tweaks which will help improve performance? I myself tried adjusting graphics settings and it made no difference, so my GPU is not the problem.A game is so much more than its' brain. You are asking why it can't see that well when you haven't told us which eyes it has. It also needs to remember a lot of stuf too. You haven't told us what kind of memory it has. You have only presented us with a brain and said why can't it play games right. The most obvious answer is that you are using an integrated graphics chip. In other words there isn't a graphic card in there.YOu may also not have enough RAM. BTW that CPU only has 4 processors. An integrated GPU can only do so much. You can play with the settings till you get carpal tunnel and it won't do any good. Apparently as upgrade is necessary. You can download Speccy http://download.cnet.com/Speccy/3000-209鈥?/a> and then copy and paste the summary page with a right click/select all, copy to clipboard and paste it in your add details option below your question. like this







Operating System

MS Windows XP Media Center Edition Professional 32-bit SP3

CPU

Intel Core i5 2500K @ 3.30GHz 28 掳C

Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology

RAM

8.0GB DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-25)

Motherboard

MSI P67A-G43 (MS-7673) (SOCKET 0) 32 掳C

Graphics

DELL 1704FPV (1024x768@60Hz)

512MB ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series (Diamond) 42 掳C

Hard Drives

977GB Seagate ST31000528AS (SATA) 30 掳C

Optical Drives

ASUS DRW-22B2S b

Audio

Realtek High Definition Audio

That will give us a clear picture. You next step is deciding what kind of budget you have. The 2600K is pretty much the best processor for gaming aand encoding and rendering and and and and so i can say with absolute certainty that it is not your processor. 3.4 GHZ is more than enough. 3.4GHz per core. If you pasted those specs and a $200 budget I would say you need to buy the gtx 460. I would also tell you your operating system can't use all the RAM, because it is a 32bit OS, until you upgrade to a 64bit operating system like Win 7 Professional 64bit.



Next up would be your connection. With a system like that I am sure you are aware it should be able to play that game in its' sleep. When you deal with online games the connection just MIGHT play a small part which might lead to issues. http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.ph鈥?/a> is a fairly recent post . They do say "next to massive FPS improvements for Witcher 2 there are also other improvement and fixes." so it would seem that this might also help you out. 8 physical CPUs? ??? That kinda sorta offends reason. With such a beast of a system I am VERY surprised... Anyways you have 1 physical CPU and 4 cores. You may have misinterpreted # of Threads 8. VERY roughly trnslated 8 threads = multi-tasking genius. I certainly do not understand the way processors do what they do especially when hyperthread support comes into play. That game however doesn't support hyper threading. Next up would be to go into your task manager , or wherever you have this option, and disable 3 cores. For Rome total War I have seen forums discussing issues when more than one core is being utilized. Then again other players on a quad core system have zero issues so it would most definitely seem to be GFX card based.your processor is fast so you probaly expirencing graphic card problems i suggest you upgrade your graphics card or update your graphic card. use driver max3.4 ghyz is the total core speed.