Hardware changes - Advice on the next move

Tonytank

Tonytank

Tonytank

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4 Sep 2006
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I am currently thinking about changing my current set up in a few subtle ways. I cant afford a huge upgrade but I think I can afford a tweak here and there. Here is my system as it stands.

Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard
Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156)
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
MSI GeForce GTX 460 HAWK "Super-OC" 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Sapphire Pure 625W Modular Power Supply
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler
Windows 7 (64bit)
Xtreme gamer XiFi sound card

Also worth nothing that this is all wrapped up in a green chieftec dragon case.

So, here are some of the changes I was thinking about doing.

1) I am thinking about making more room in my case by replacing my cpu cooler with one of these http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-006-CS&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=2262. The main reason is because of the reduction in noise that I would receive and space I would suddenly find myself with. At the moment the Arctic cpu cooler I have takes up just over 2 ram slows which makes a ram upgrade impossible. Would this be a wise move?

2) With the new space gained from changing the cpu cooler I now have 2 ram slows I can do something with. So I am thinking about putting another 4gb in to bump it upto 8gb. Trouble is that sort of ram isn’t available anymore. What would be a suitable replacement?

3) I brought the ram, mobo and cpu as an overclocked bundle from here and hand on heart I have no idea how its overclocked or how to even investigate how it is overclocked. If I change the ram does this suddenly affect the overclock?

4) I am thinking about changing the graphics card. Its not that the 460 is a bad card its just that I have to under clock it slightly (its an oc model!) to make sure it doesn’t ctd so I would rather just start with something new and better. I was thinking about this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-176-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=2255. I know its pricy but it seems like a lot of bang for buck. Although should I wait for the 670 models?

5) Also I am thinking about changing my case to this.. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-018-LN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1447. Mainly for space but I reckon this case must have better airflow along with a better chance to swap the case fans for much quieter ones.

Sorry if this whole topic seems a bit vague but essentially I am just looking for some solid advice on what to do next. My budget is about £600 but ultimately the cheaper I can upgrade for the better.

Thanks in advance for any advice or tips.

Happy bank holiday

Tonytank
 
1. Arctic Freezer i30! Low noise and great cooling

2. Changing the memory will effect the OC... unless its the exact same stuff, you will have to OC again!

3. Try and keep some dimms free if possible. Having all your dimms full at once stresses the processors memory controller more, making overclocks harder to keep stable. The memory you have is good enough, or if you want a replacement, sell the 4gb kit and get an exact copy or similar if possible 2 x 4gb kit to make 8gb. These are cheap enough and your system will be better with 2 x 4gb sticks than having 4 x 2gb sticks in it.

4. If you are keeping that Lynnfield i5, the processor will bottleneck the performance of the GTX680... I would recommend a 7850/7870 max for that type of processor to keep bottlenecks away.

5. For the case, not a fan of LanCool, they are cheap, taky cases. Go for something like the CM HAF/690 Advanced or maybe a Corsair case like the Carbine 500R. More space inside, better cooling and better cable management, plus made out of better materials.

Hope this helps xD
 
Will an overclocked 760 seriously bottleneck a GTX680? OP doesn't mention his overclock, but it's likely to be around 4GHz if it's a decent one.
 
True, he doesn't mention an overclock. If the cpu is overclocked heavily to around 3.8-4ghz, then yea there won't be "much" of a bottleneck. But the 680 is designed to run on expensive, fast processors.
 
I've seen BF3 benchmarks that show only a tiny difference in fps between a GTX680 running on an AthlonII X4 and a sandy bridge i7. At high resolutions just about every game is limited by the graphics card rather than the CPU.

All this is very off topic though :D
 
tbh dude, i was just pointing out that the cpu could bottle neck the 680 that is all and that the 5750 isn't great for BF3... it will run anything else perfectly mind.

are you kidding me... i friend of mine runs an i5-2500k with a 5770 on the same resolution as me and hits 75fps average, i run a athlon X4 with a 5770 (both heavily overclocked) and only hit 50fps...

show me the benchmarks then

PLUS

an athlon x4 like mine would bottleneck the **** out of a 680!!!!

now can we both please shut up and help this poor lad out with his problem!
 
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Hi there,

First thing - the Chieftech dragon has 80mm fans - so a cooler like the Corsair H60 won't work in that case.

Though the lancool case you mentioned would be fine with it. However, if you are mainly aiming for good cooling and low noise then I would go for a large heatsink air cooler over a captive liquid cooler (like the H60) - since these kits need to use relatively fast (and noisy) fans to push air through the small radiators and the pump makes noise too. I would personally go with something like the noctua nh-d14 or alpenfohn k2.

that said, a large air cooler would require new low-profile ram - since the dominator hkit has massive heatsinks that obstruct large cpu coolers. this 8gb vengeance kit is ideal - you can then sell the dominator kit.

using new memory would likely disable your overclock, however this is really an unavoidable fact if you want to change the memory. therefore i would run CPU-Z to check that an overclock is in place, if it is then go into the BIOS and make note of the settings used.

The GTX 680 is a nice card and a good choice for a gaming system. I would disagree that an i5 760 will often bottleneck a GTX 680 - though it does depend on the resolution, game played and the overclock on the CPU. In terms of gaming performance a stock i5 760 is considerably faster than an Athlon II X4 and is effectively the same as an i7 930 - a CPU which is known to hold it's own in modern games (even when using top-end graphics).
 
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These are (I assume) are the two screen you need from cpuz

Untitled-2.jpg
 
It looks like your system isn't overclocked.

The BCLK is at 133.3 MHz - which is the stock BLCK clockspeed and this is the frequency which is increased when overclocking these CPUs.

Your RAM is also running at 1333MHz (666.7 MHz with double data rate DDR) , you need to set it in the BIOS to run at full 1600MHz.

If you look in your BIOS there may be an OCUK overclocked profile you need to activate.

That said - as you are currently running the system un-overclocked then changing the RAM to a new 8GB kit won't decrease performance at all.
 
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Yes, going from 4GB to 8GB RAM will increase your performance in some task - it certainly won't hurt.

To set your current and any new RAM to the proper frequency will require you to either input the specified voltage, timings and frequency manually - or you can use XMP to do it automatically. Your memory and board both support XMP (which is a high speed memory profile) - just go into the BIOS and look for the memory option to enable an XMP profile. Once you have enabled it you can save and exit the BIOS.

However, if you overclock the CPU just make sure the XMP works - since overclocking increases the BCLK, which may throw off the XMP. Just make sure it doesn't set the memory frequency any higher than 1600MHz.
 
I dont want to overclock the processer and I dont see any need to.

I can still set this memory as mentioned and not have to overclock right?
 
The main benefits are low noise and excellent cooling. However, if you don't plan to overclock the CPU then you may as well stick with what you have - so long as you are OK with its noise output.

However, you are probably best off changing your case before you change your CPU cooler. Since the chieftech is pretty old now and doesn't support things like 120mm fans or good cable routing, while newer cases do.
 
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