Do I need to upgrade this gaming rig?

Pickman

Pickman

Pickman

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Joined
16 May 2011
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277
My current setup:

Motherboard: Asrock Extreme4 Gen 3
CPU: Core i5 2500k @3.3GHz
RAM: 8gb (2x 4gb sticks) Kingston DDR3
GPU: Nvidia GTX 970
Storage: 480gb Sata 3 SSD

These days I mostly play WoW and SC2, I would expect the 970 to be eating them for breakfast but I'm having problems with WoW. When I set the graphical options to Ultra I get horrible FPS dips, mostly I stay over 90 fps but if things get busy I suddenly drop below 20 for a little while some times. Also if I turn anti-aliasing on at all then I get horrible FPS dips straight away.

I don't have the CPU overclocked atm so my first thought is to try that and maybe get hold of 8 more gig of RAM but do you guys think those two things are likely to help? Or is 5 years too long and do I need a new motherboard and CPU?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Kind regards,
Pickman
 
You should be able to overclock that CPU fairly easily, by adjusting the turbo to around 4.4 GHZ. That should help a fair bit, if you are only stock now.
 
WoW is CPU heavy so overclocking the CPU should give some performance boost.
Before overclocking, make sure you have a cooler that can handle the extra heat.
4.4GHz might be a little too much without playing with other settings especially voltages.
4.2GHz should be achievable by just changing the multiplier and leaving everything stock.
 
Thank you both for the replies, I have a monstrous Be Quiet Dark Rock CPU cooler (I think the model was advanced, I don't remember now) and when I first got it I have an overclock of 4.2 without issues, I went back to stock because the OC seemed like over kill 4-5 years ago but I probably should have OCed before I posted here.

Any thoughts on whether 8GBs of RAM is enough?
 
8GB should be fine, I'm still running 8GB on an i7@ 4.5Ghz with a 980Ti

Overclock the CPU to back to 4.2Ghz, you should get a big boost from that :)
 
Funnily enough I asked the same question last week.

I have the same CPU and Mobo and RAM but a 760GTX.

I never bothered with OC'ing either but didn't take long to get the CPU up to 4.5Ghz and it seems happy enough. Have the CPU on a Hydro H80 and it did get into the low 80s on testing but that was probably more to heat soak as the fans were on low (push/Pull through the rad)

The 760 seemed a bit belligerent to OC'ing so I gave up with that. Will be getting a 1070 shortly.

Feeling on the RAM was that 8GB was probably enough for most gaming needs. I thought I might stick 16 in there as it's not much more money.

I think the mobo only takes up to 2400Mhz DDR3 so no need to get top flight stuff.

Ran Facry 4 and Dying Light on Ultra everything and it plays fine. Probably don't need to do anything but it's computer buying time in work and I can slip the odd trinket through. :)
 
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