hmm is it time!?

Mp4

Mp4

Mp4

Soldato
Joined
21 Apr 2006
Posts
8,460
Location
Eastbourne
Greetings all,

the last few years i've noticed my pc struggling with gaming now days.

Intel quad core Q6600 2.4ghz
4GB RAM
Win7 64bit
Ati HD 5800 Series
700GB free HDD space.

Atm mainly playing Anno2070 - no issues

Lotro - no issues

Dota 2- fps lag

Chivalry: Medieval warfare - this week (in steam sale) i have to use on low settings to play :(

Sniper V2 - Resets my pc sometimes

I've updated my gfx drivers/direct x etc

Still very laggy.

So maybe time up upgrade cpu/power supply/ram etc?

No idea what prices are like these days!
£200-£400
 
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Have you overclocked your cpu?

You could pick up a 7950 and 4GB RAM in your budget and then overclock your processor.

Alternatively you could have a 3570K, mobo, 8GB RAM, and 7950 for £530 (not sure if your cooler is 1155 compatible, or what your PSU is like though). That would give you a very nice rig for current games, but would go over budget by a fair whack.
 
As above people have said,get a new card and ram and a decent cooler and over clock that q6600 to 3.5 and it will all be good.
 
It's probably not worth upgrading your CPU - the Q6600 is getting on a bit, but it's still fairly capable and now the weakest point of your rig: your graphics card is what's holding you back. Spend 2/3 of money on a new GPU, and the rest on a PSU and RAM (watch out, DDR2 is more expensive than it used to be)

Your CPU is, as I said, getting a little long in the tooth - but it was superb when new and still does a job now. 2.4GHz isn't great, since your older architecture means you aren't keeping up with the i5 quads clock-for-clock, but your Q6600 should easily make 3GHz even on stock cooling and volts, but I'd probably try to find a better cooler to be sure. Take that free upgrade, add a bit of RAM and a nice shiny new GPU and you'll be flying.

Even with a fairly decent GPU you should be within your £200-400 range.
 
The 5800 series is actually better than the 6800 series that followed it. Download MSI afterburner and you can OC the card to help boost your FPS. If you have a 5850 that's on par with the 6870 which is still gaming capable to be fair.

Your mobo takes DDR3, upping the RAM won't hurt, 8GB is ample for gaming. If you don't have an aftermarket heatsink for the CPU, I'd definately consider getting one so you can OC. The size of the case will restrict what ones you can use so best check that first.

If you haven't done a re-install of the OS in a while you'll find that will help by clearing out all the junk, perhaps add a SSD to speed up the load times of the OS and any games added to it?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £94.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £35.99
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 REV A CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £24.98
Total : £155.96 (includes shipping : FREE).



Adding another 8GB of RAM might seem silly but it doesn't cost much more than 4GB and this way when you want to upgrade the mobo and CPU you can flog off the old 4GB kit with the CPU and mobo to help fund the upgrade ;)
 
wondering what res you are trying to play at?, it shouldnt be so bad
q6600 was great chip and still good, but they do run hot and im not sure if its worth spending much overclocking it
 
Mei said:
wondering what res you are trying to play at?, it shouldnt be so bad
q6600 was great chip and still good, but they do run hot and im not sure if its worth spending much overclocking it
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£25 isn't much to pay for a heatsink at £30 there are more options. Haswell is rumoured to be able to take 1155 socket coolers so that TS120 would fit if that's true :)
 
1900x1200 ill start with the ram today :) didn't even know it was that cheap!
 
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I've never been a fan of ocing anyway does it really make that much difference?
Nor am i looking to upgrade hdd atm either unless it falls.


Patriot Sector 5 Viper II 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz Dual Channel / 8-8-8-24 timings < is what i have atm
 
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Mp4 said:
I've never been a fan of ocing anyway does it really make that much difference?
Nor am i looking to upgrade hdd atm either unless it falls.
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An aftermarket heatsink even a good value one like I spec'd will not only lower the temps (helps the overclock) but also the fan will be much quieter.

I spec'd the SSD as it will literally make the rig feel like a new machine. I did many builds for crimbo (and upgraded a few laptops) and people were blown away by the rig booting into the OS in 15 seconds. Games installed to it will have their load times reduced aswell. It's also a good excuse to do a reinstall and clear the junk out
 
honosuseri said:
An aftermarket heatsink even a good value one like I spec'd will not only lower the temps (helps the overclock) but also the fan will be much quieter.

I spec'd the SSD as it will literally make the rig feel like a new machine. I did many builds for crimbo (and upgraded a few laptops) and people were blown away by the rig booting into the OS in 15 seconds. Games installed to it will have their load times reduced aswell. It's also a good excuse to do a reinstall and clear the junk out
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I shall keep that in mind, It will be a monthly progression (save for) etc so might get new SSD next month or just save the £100 n get the gfx card in 2 months time.


For now : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&tool=3 I shall get the 8GB ram :)

Any other ram anyone can recommend? overkill i know but what about 16GB?
 
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Mp4 said:
I shall keep that in mind, It will be a monthly progression (save for) etc so might get new SSD next month or just save the £100 n get the gfx card in 2 months time.


For now : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&tool=3 I shall get the 8GB ram :)

Any other ram anyone can recommend? overkill i know but what about 16GB?
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Unless you do video encoding 16GB is overkill. You will have 12GB in total once you add the 8GB kit remember. The RAM and a heatsink I think would be a wise purchase......gotta love the free P&P so you can do these upgrades little by little :D
 
I do a fair bit of photo editing

Bah ordered the ram above :) Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX)


Also i have an Antec 300 case

IF ocuk still sell the HyperX ill just get another 2x next month since its cheap :)

just hope they can run together with my current ram
 
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