Battlefield 4 Upgrade Old Machine Advice!

Arthaei

Arthaei

Arthaei

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15 Feb 2010
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Hey guys, quick question!

My 5 year old machine is running a Q6600 oc'd at 3ghz. (core 2 quad). I have 4gb of ddr 800mhz ram running at a 1:1 ratio of 667 iirc. I had a GTX280 that finally died a death so I'm borrowing an Ati 5850 card from a friend. Currently running it all on a 22" screen at 1680x1050 res.

My question is, without building a new rig, what's the best way I could update this system to its' fullest extent before I get a bottleneck? to run BF4 as well as possible.

I know Battlefield 4 wants 8gb ram, so if I put extra in I'm assuming I will get a boost in performance. My motherboard is an Asus P5N-D, think it wont take more than 8gb anyway. I've also been told something like a 7870 graphics card to bring this system up to speed might be ideal?

Any ideas? I don't mind spending £200 or so to bring it up to scratch.

A new pc will be on the horizon in the coming months eventually. If I update the ram and card would I get BF4 running at at least medium/high?

Thanks a lot for any help!
 
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My Specs are in sig, all at stock for now. I get pretty much a solid 125fps locked on majority of maps, will drop down to 100ish occasionally. I've got everything on low (mesh ultra) to achieve that, with some cfg tweaks, unparked cpu etc.

As above, I'd say get another 4GB RAM and try get a 480/570 on the cheap.
 
Thanks for the replies, why are you guys recommending those cards specifically? Would a 7870 for £120 be better or do u think there would be a bottleneck?

Thanks again
 
I'm recommending the NVidia, purely because I've been out of the AMD loop for so long. Be worth looking up some benchmarks to see if you get more bang for buck with AMD.
 
Sure I don't really mind either, still I need to know what would be the recommended card to buy would be? A friend recommends something like a 7870 or 7950. Would there be any point in something better than those?
 
paring that cpu with something like a 570 or the new AMD cards is pointless you will get a bottleneck no questions. another 4gb of ram will do you but to be fair you need a new CPU to make use of a decent GPU, I doubt you will see much of an improvement just replacing the GPU. watch this to understand better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGdo75gasaQ&hd=1 i believe they use the same CPU as you in the video or close to.


For now, if you wish get the ram and look into an SSD it can bring life to old machines and will last you for your next build.
But I personally would not buy a new GPU yet before you have a mobo/cpu in place to make use of it.
 
If it's specifically for BF4 then you'd be best going for AMD due to the upcoming Mantle changes which should help alleviate your CPU bottleneck. You may still need another 4GB of RAM, not sure. I'd pick a 270X in your shoes, too big a price jump to the 280X's.

Edit: If you've not got the game yet then perhaps this one as it says it comes with the game:
R9 270X WindForce
The cheaper Sapphire would have been my pick were it not out of stock :(

Edit2: To clarify on why Mantle is very significant on why an old CPU can be of use see this video
 
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A 7870 won't bottle neck that much on a q6600, I ran a 7950 on my q8200 2.33 and it ran bf3 on ultra and bf4 on low due to not having a 64bit os and only 4gb of ram

Q8200 2.33 (ccan't be ocd)
Xfx 780i
4GB OCZ 800mhz ram
HIS IceQ 7950 which is a beast of a card

Buy a good gpu and then save up for a mobo cpu and ram upgrade, I upgraded 2 weeks ago and I can run bf4 at max with the 7950 so yeah go amd or go home
 
Hmm, just spotted a r270x with 4gb ram for £160. Guess that or a 7950 for a good price would be alright. Thanks for the replies, will consider it all. Cheers
 
Hmm ok guys I've spotted a r9 270x toxic for about £170, if I buy that and add another 4gb ram, think I'd be able to run on high and some ultra?
 
Think you would maybe be able to run high, not sure much would be on ultra tbh. but at least your res is lowish so might be possible? Sure someone with more knowledge will tell. However the 270x is a good performer for the price bracket.
 
with a q6600 a gtx 460 or equivalent ,is the max that cpu can handle with out bottle necking.
 
Hmm ok, beginning to think I should just buy a new system... can anyone shed a little more light on whether a new card would help me out or should I just get a new build?
 
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