How much life is left in my rig?

regulus

regulus

regulus

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Joined
18 Aug 2006
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ChCh, NZ
First things first, this is my current system

Phenom x4 965 (clocked slightly)
ATI 5870
4 gig RAM
600W PSU
Asus Crosshair iii MOBO
I play all my games in 1080p Resolution

It runs everything pretty smooth apart from Crysis 3 where it slows down a lot with any sliders turned up. I'm currently installing the texture pack for Skyrim which I just know is going to be a pain to run too.

I've been thinking of upgrading the RAM and GPU for a quick and easy solution, but how much is my CPU slowing me down? I'm ready to drop £300 on a '7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5' and 8 gig RAM.

Would that be worth it or am I not going to see a big enough increase due to my old CPU + Mobo?

I'm trying to hold of upgrading everything for as long as possible.
 
Whats your PSU first? Make and model as that will determine any GPU upgrade.

The Phenom you have is about equal to a i3. I'd bet it would bottleneck your 7950.
 
It's an OCZ ModX Stream-Pro. So a decent make.

I notice that AMD recommend a PSU over 500W. I'm hoping to get away with it.
 
As above the first call of attention would be regarding make of your PSU.

A new motherboard+cpu+ram would be a good starting point.

Although you could see how the Radeon 7950 gets on ;)
 
PSU should be enough. A 7950 would definetley be a big upgrade from your 5870 and you could upgrade (if you have an AM3+) board to a 8320. Or a i5 / i7 later on.
 
Yea I'm going i5/i7 eventually but I don't want to spend the money quite yet if my current CPU is still capable.

Just a final question if I may, what's a good 8gig RAM to get for my Mobo?
 
Ok then,

RAM ordered as per dacads recommendation along with a 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB.

Looking forward testing it.
 
Just a very quick question if I may, and I'm surprised I don't know this but I've only ever just built new rigs from scratch.

Do I need to un-install my current graphics drivers to install the new card or can I just plug it in?
 
Best is to wipe the drivers completely and do a fresh driver install.
Saves all the hassel or problems which may happen, download them from AMD and have the USB at the ready, the disc drivers won't be as up to date.
 
regulus said:
Just a very quick question if I may, and I'm surprised I don't know this but I've only ever just built new rigs from scratch.

Do I need to un-install my current graphics drivers to install the new card or can I just plug it in?
Click to expand...


I always uninstall....
 
I've dropped in as I'm kinda in the same position as the thread opener... Just bought a copy of Bioshock infinate and my rig is struggling.... am I at a loss here, just wonder what you guys think? is it time to upset my wallet :(

Current rig:-

EVGA 680i SLI mainboard
Q6600 running stock (it just wont overclock)
8Gb of matched RAM
Gigabyte GTX460 GFX card 1Gb (with factory OC)
SB X-Fi Gamer Soundcard
300Gb Velociraptor HDD
650W PSU

It kicked butt in its day... but I kinda guess its very long in the tooth now...

I guess the question is... am I wasting cash with CPU/GFX/SSD upgrades? is the Q6600 the bottleneck?

Would a watercooler perhaps alow an overclock?... it currently has a scythe cooler in push and pull setup...

playing on 1080p monitor... pointers appreciated.
 
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Ok, un-installed driver and got a 'Out of Range' error which I from experience know is a nightmare. I installed the new card and RAM and everything works perfectly. Just downloading the driver now.

Cheers folks :)

And yes ubersonic, I'm looking at upgrading in the summer. Go for an i7 and the whole she-bang. In essence, I've already started my new upgrade with the RAM and graphics card. Will get the rest in due time.
 
Geeba said:
I've dropped in as I'm kinda in the same position as the thread opener... Just bought a copy of Bioshock infinate and my rig is struggling.... am I at a loss here, just wonder what you guys think? is it time to upset my wallet :(

Current rig:-

EVGA 680i SLI mainboard
Q6600 running stock (it just wont overclock)
8Gb of matched RAM
Gigabyte GTX460 GFX card 1Gb (with factory OC)
SB X-Fi Gamer Soundcard
300Gb Velociraptor HDD
650W PSU

It kicked butt in its day... but I kinda guess its very long in the tooth now...

I guess the question is... am I wasting cash with CPU/GFX/SSD upgrades? is the Q6600 the bottleneck?

Would a watercooler perhaps alow an overclock?... it currently has a scythe cooler in push and pull setup...

playing on 1080p monitor... pointers appreciated.
Click to expand...

Yeah, your system is well balanced, but is getting on. I would upgrade the CPU and Mobo first, as they are the biggest overall bottleneck, but your 460 will need an upgrade as well for new AAA titles. You could do it the other way around, as the new GPU would still offer some improvement over the 460 while you save for a new CPU/board.

If you can't overclock on air at all (are you limited by temps?) then a watercooler would really just be a short-term band-aid solution that wouldn't offer much improvement but would cost you as much as a new motherboard.

ubersonic said:
According to this thread: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=24061536 Your CPU will actually bottleneck your 5870 on high end games, never mind a 7950, best upgrade that too.
Click to expand...

The 7950 would still offer some improvement while he saved up, but he would suffer in games like BF3 and other cpu-intensive games.
 
I actually clocked BF3 last night. It ran perfectly on my old 5870/CPU combo. And I mean perfectly. This is was on graphics settings one step down from Ultra @ 1080p

Also played a bit of Skyrim yesterday with the high texture pack. Ran perfectly too. I was just getting slowdown and issues in Crysis 3. Only game that ever stressed my old system.
 
Cheers Devrij - yeah as soon as I try to increase the FSB and the voltage the temps go mad and the system ether locks up or crashes out and reboots... even as low as 2.8Ghz. Guess I just fell unlucky on the Q6600 (G0 model).

The Bioshock game really judders on high action scenes... would that be the GPU or CPU do you think? other games Fallout 3 on full everything were fine....

If I upgrade the GFX card do you have any recommendations? nVidia is pretty confusing these days... you buy a card with a higher number and end up with something not as powerful as your previous model.

Would it be worth keeping the GTX460 in the system and using it as a PhysX card?

Or upgrading the current Q6600 with a Q9550 say?

Thanks again... :)
 
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