What's my bottleneck?

the game is so unoptimized that it's really just about luck on whether it will run well or not on any particular computer.

there is a thread in the customer service forum called "horrid fps" if you'd like more example. really, save ur money because if that particular computer is already performing badly with the game, extra ram isn't going to help.

Problem with the CPU is I'd have to upgrade my motherboard as well and both of those combined add up to almost $500! However, RAM would only cost me around $75 for a 4gb DDR 2 stick to fill my 4th RAM slot (giving me 7gb total).

So I guess my question is, should I drop the money for the 4gb DDR 2? Or should I suck it up and save my money for the next six months and get a new mobo, i7 cpu, and some DDR 3? Probably be like $500-$600 total.

You could take your graphics card from home and put it on your work computer and stay at work all the time.

Do i5 supported mobos support i7 CPUs? I ask because if I could always upgrade my processor in the future then maybe I just want an i5 for now.

Do i5 supported mobos support i7 CPUs? I ask because if I could always upgrade my processor in the future then maybe I just want an i5 for now.

That is silly. I know there are areas where the game needs optimized and no matter your hardware configuration but if I can get an area to run great on one PC consistently but not on the other PC then there is a bottleneck. I'm not saying the game is perfect and runs great everywhere. If I played more at work I'm sure I'd find bad areas even though my work machine is pretty beast. But in the meantime I can try to get my home PC to run at least as well as my work PC. It's only logical.

I would start with RAM and see where that gets you. The game uses about 1.5 gig of memory itself. If you have any other processes running, you're going to struggling to keep up.

You should try for at least 6 gig and see how that works for you. If that doesn't help, you might want to try upgrading your cpu. I'm not sure the exact cpu you're running with or what you're motherboard will support, but you may be able to upgrade your cpu to an AM3.

They do. But SandyBridge and i5s are not top of the line as someone else mentioned. They're part of an "In between" marketing scam to milk that silicon for everything it's worth.

The Core i7s and the x58 chipset are still the top of the line in my opinion and I wouldn't waste any money on that garbage until the next real chipset and socket come out in 2013 sometime.

That's when it will really change and you'll get your money's worth.

I'm sure a couple will disagree with me, but come on over to my house and I'll show you. I have the money and the resources, I've done it, seen it, overclocked etc..

Yes sandbridge hits 5Ghz, it's not practical. A good batch of silicon in the i7 990x and the x58 boards will hit 5Ghz as well if you know what you're doing. I burned through 6 i7 980x CPU's to get one that would do 5Ghz, the Asus Rampage III Extreme and Black Editions are the best boards on the market..