Gaming pc upgrade - advice needed

blackice8r · 25 Jul 2012 at 16:15

Hey guys, I need a bit of advice for an upgrade I want to perform in the next 3-4 weeks.

Basically I discovered that Guild Wars 2 is very CPU intensive during WvW and my frame rate goes to single digits when two zergs meet and start fighting.

Yes, it's a beta still, yes they promised they will optimise the game until release, NO I do not believe they will change much at release.
Everything is fine on quiet PVE , WvW is the problem, lost of characters running around...

I wasn't prepared for an upgrade so I have a tight burger, I hope I'll be able to raise £400 for this upgrade.

I took 2 weeks off work for this game so I want to be able to enjoy WvW.

My current setup:
Cpu: Intel q9950
Mobo: Asus P5P43TD Pro
Memory: 4x2GB Corsair 1333MHz DDR 3 CL9
SSD: 120 GB Corsair Force Series 3 Read 550MB/s Write 510MB/s
Hdd : 1TB WD Caviar 7200rpm
PSU: OCZ 700W
GPU: Asus GeForce GTX 570 1.25GB DDR5
Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer Extreme

I plan to replace the CPU/Mobo/RAM/Cooler with:

Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H - GA-Z77X-UD3H
Intel Core i5-3570K - BX80637I53570K
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB - CML8GX3M2A1600C9
Alpenföhn Matterhorn Shamrock Edition CPU Cooler - 84000000074

My mate has this setup , with a different cooler : Corsair H60 , with the CPU at 4.4GHz - stable.

I have never overclocked a CPU so I thought I'll copy a setup he tested and save multiple hours of reading. I still expect to spend a day on this

So, what do you think about this upgrade? Would you do it in a different way?
Different CPU? Cooler? Higher overclock? In budget?

Ticklemehballlz · 25 Jul 2012 at 19:22

If I was you, I would go for the 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9) Considering this is only around £40-60 around $70 This is a much better RAM to have in your system, Overclocks nicely too to 2100+ with an I5

http://www.corsair.com/memory-by-pr...hannel-ddr3-memory-kit-cmz8gx3m2a1866c9.html/

Keep the i5 but get the 2500K this over-clocks way higher than the 3570K for a lower price, If your going for stock speeds then stick with the 3570.

*Don't link to competitors!*

The motherboard is great for it's price.

Go water cooling if your overclocking the i5. yes it can be done on air but Intel runs really hot! Get yourself a H80 or H60 and keep that baby nice and cool!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CWC...1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1343240581&sr=1-1

blackice8r · 25 Jul 2012 at 19:48

Ticklemehballlz said:
If I was you, I would go for the 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9) Considering this is only around £40-60 around $70 This is a much better RAM to have in your system, Overclocks nicely too to 2100+ with an I5

http://www.corsair.com/memory-by-pr...hannel-ddr3-memory-kit-cmz8gx3m2a1866c9.html/

Keep the i5 but get the 2500K this over-clocks way higher than the 3570K for a lower price, If your going for stock speeds then stick with the 3570.

The motherboard is great for it's price.

Go water cooling if your overclocking the i5. yes it can be done on air but Intel runs really hot! Get yourself a H80 or H60 and keep that baby nice and cool!

cheers for the feedback !

2 questions:

1. from what I heard Sandy Bridge vs Ivy bridge it's still an ongoing debate, SB overclocks higher but IB is faster clock for clock
my mate estimates that his 4.4Ivy Bridge ~ 4.7-4.8 Sandy bridge
What's your oppinion on that?
2. watter cooling will be better than air?

Gee · 25 Jul 2012 at 20:03

Might wanna remove those competitor links mate!

LukieBoy007 · 25 Jul 2012 at 23:42

Ticklemehballlz said:
Keep the i5 but get the 2500K this over-clocks way higher than the 3570K for a lower price, If your going for stock speeds then stick with the 3570.

I wouldn't say "way higher" mate. As blackice8r has already said, 4.4GHz on an i5 3570k is similar to 4.8GHz on an i5 2500k. The i5 3570k will only become considerably hotter when changing the voltage. You should be fine with the i5 3570k, I have one myself.

I would honestly go for the i5 3570k and a Z77 mobo, because of the newer technology and you gain a (small, but still some) performance increase over Sandy Bridge/Z68. I don't know how long until you are thinking of a GPU upgrade, but a Z77 mobo will also support PCI-E 3 (once again, a small performance increase, but still better than nothing).

Hope this helps.

blackice8r · 26 Jul 2012 at 09:33

I will change the voltage on the i5 3570k,I don't intend to leave it at stock speed
so the next question would be , what's the best way to keep it cool and stay in the budget?

air coolers would be £50-60 Ex: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-021-AL
water coolers £60 - ???
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-006-CS

would a slightly more expensive corsair h80 allow me to push the cpu to a higher clock?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-008-CS

I heard that because of the architecture of Ivy Bridge the cooler might not make a huge difference (the heat transmission in-between the cpu and the metal plate that covers it seems to be the mail prob)

ubersonic · 26 Jul 2012 at 09:59

Have you considered just over clocking the Q9550? My G/F has a i3 540 clocked at 3.5ghz and GW2 beta runs fine for her, iirc a Q9550 beats an i3 clock for clock /shrug.

blackice8r · 26 Jul 2012 at 10:19

ubersonic said:
Have you considered just over clocking the Q9550? My G/F has a i3 540 clocked at 3.5ghz and GW2 beta runs fine for her, iirc a Q9550 beats an i3 clock for clock /shrug.

I have considered it ubersonic, that might be the cheapest solution but I'm not sure if it will be enough..
GW2 runs fine for me too, only in WvW I have a slideshow, when 100+ players (zergs) start fighting the frames drop to 7-8...

did your girlfriend play in WvW? how was it for her around large numbers of players?

Overclocking the Q9550 will be pain I think, overclocking the new chips is a lot easier. I just don't want to burn 1-2 days on overclocking the Q9550 to see it didn't make a difference.
On the other hand, I wasn't financially prepared for this upgrade so I'll struggle to put the money together

ubersonic · 26 Jul 2012 at 11:15

I just spoke to my G/F and asked her about GW2, according to what she said the beta is currently putting down a master-class of un-optimization, its only a month or so since they gave the game the ability to use more than one CPU core and the game currently has no optimization for any brand/architecture specific extensions (MMX/SSE/etc). Added to that because it has no GPU optimization yet either the game is making the CPU do a lot of work that would normally be done by the GPU. Overall a Q9550 should be fine.

blackice8r · 26 Jul 2012 at 11:25

ubersonic said:
I just spoke to my G/F and asked her about GW2, according to what she said the beta is currently putting down a master-class of un-optimization, its only a month or so since they gave the game the ability to use more than one CPU core and the game currently has no optimization for any brand/architecture specific extensions (MMX/SSE/etc). Added to that because it has no GPU optimization yet either the game is making the CPU do a lot of work that would normally be done by the GPU. Overall a Q9550 should be fine.

I know they promised to optimise it, I know they will optimise it, but I think it won't be by a lot.

MMOs are CPU intensive in general, and from all the forums I've been reading regarding this issue, one guy made a very valid point in my opinion: you do not code an entire game (they developed it over 5 years or so?) around the CPU and change it all over to the GPU in the last month.

One of the first rules of damage control is to say "we are working on it". Maybe I'm just paranoid, I guess we will see in a month.

I took 2 weeks off work for this game, if I can't play WvW properly I'll be really annoyed...

I want to upgrade at some point, I'd rather do it in a few months or next year when Intel releases the new chips.
I'll decide on all the components now and do all the research. If at release GW2 isn't optimised as promised by Anet I'll just do my best to get the money and upgrade quickly.

blackice8r · 27 Jul 2012 at 09:26

so in general , you guys think the set-up I intend to go for is ok ?

The cooling part, is air better than water?

Alpenföhn Matterhorn Shamrock Edition CPU Cooler - 84000000074

vs

Corsair H60

I would think the H60 might be better because it would allow a better air-flow inside the case, this would be also good if I overlock the graphics card.

blackice8r · 1 Aug 2012 at 11:13

I gave up on overclocking my old Q9550 , went over budget and got:

Mobo : Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H - GA-Z77X-UD3H
CPU : Intel Core i5-3570K - BX80637I53570K
RAM : Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB - CML8GX3M2A1600C9 - sticked with it as it's low profile
CPU Cooler : Noctua NH-D14 - I heard they are really good
Case : Coolermaster HAF X
Thermal Paste : Arctic Cooling MX-2

I'll stick on this my 700W OCZ PSU, my gtx 570 and the old disks and I should be GW2 ready!

Does it look ok for you?

Btw, any idea how much my Q9550+Asus P5P43TD Mobo+8GB Corsair 1333 RAM would be worth?

I might try putting them on e-bay to ease the whole in my budget..