Can I get more out of my rig?

SirChumpalot · 1 Aug 2017 at 16:21

Hi all,

A year or so back I upgraded my PC to the one in my sig. I have just got back into gaming again (after a rather tedious house move) and am enjoying games such as Witcher 3 and ME:Andromeda.

Whilst my rig seems to be able to play these games at 1080p with the majority of settings on Ultra I get the feeling I am approaching the limits of what my PC can do. I have thought about upgrading the 970 as this is what is probably providing the bottleneck. This is just my thought, I could be wrong. Before I make the jump to 1440p/4k and buy new bits is there anything I could do to squeeze a little more out of my system?

The only overclock I’m running at the moment is a modest 4ghz on the CPU and 100mhz extra on the core clock of the graphics card. I realise these are minimal and I could get more but what I'm really after is a stable overclock. Should I start with perhaps OCing the GFX card?

Any tips at all?

Cheers

Webzta · 1 Aug 2017 at 16:52

See if you can overclock your CPU & pop a new graphics card in, should be good for a good few years to come.

You mention a CPU overclock but yours is 4ghz at stock?

pastymuncher · 2 Aug 2017 at 09:47

You say you have overclocked your 4790k to 4Ghz but that isn't a overclock. It has a stock base clock of 4Ghz and boosts to 4.4Ghz (4.2Ghz on all cores, 4.4Ghz on a single core although certain motherboards can force all cores at 4.4Ghz but this is outside of Intels spec). With a bit of tweaking you should manage 4.6Ghz on all cores and if you are lucky you may hit 4.8Ghz+ but keep a close eye on the temps.

doyll · 3 Aug 2017 at 21:41

When was the last time you did a thorough cleaning of your system files? Both for dirt and the OS need periodic cleaning or system gets slower and slower loading.

SirChumpalot · 3 Aug 2017 at 22:55

Thanks for the replies. I was confused, I could have sworn I put in an i7 when in actual fact I own a i5 4690k. It was a while since I put together this system. At least now I know I'm running some sort of overclock.

Given the size of my case, room is definitely at a premium. I could perhaps go to a MSI 1080 Gaming X (this is around 11mm) longer than my current card and I think it would fit. I think I would wait for prices to drop slightly before I make that plunge.

I like to stay on top of housekeeping. I regularly run CCleaner and just generally keep on top of unwanted programs etc.

Should I expect much more from the i5? Everything is 100% stable as it is. Perhaps I am reaching the limits of what this machine can do.

SirChumpalot · 3 Aug 2017 at 23:11

Just to add, I am currently running +120mhz Core clock and +100mhz on the Memory clock.

Bluntwrapped · 4 Aug 2017 at 08:31

I would overclock the hell out of the 970 with a custom bios and aim for 4.6+GHz on the CPU. If you need better cooling I would try upgrading that first.

SirChumpalot · 4 Aug 2017 at 11:34

I'm going to try and get a few more frames out of ME:A tonight with some 970 overclocking. Once I establish a ceiling there I'll move onto the processor. Are there any particular settings I need to pay particular attention to in the Bios? Ring ratio etc?