help please

[Marine-RX179]

HEY HEY HEY!!! Guys you are really over-estimating my system!!!! High resolution ??? What is that? If I had noticed any improvement of performance with 800x600 I would be playing with that .
I am playing Global Agenda at the second lowest resolution, (probably 1200x ???) with all graphic sets off (no aa,no shadows, low textures) and hitting (in a good day an an empty room) 20-30 FPS.

I've checked out some game footage and the system requirement of Global Agenda. After reading your descriptions and the following:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1114853

I'm even more convinced that your 4600+ is dragging your feet much more so than your 8800GTX (if there's even the case at all).

The recommended system requirement of Global Agenda is Dual-core 2.4Ghz
, which your Athlon 64 X2 4600+ (2.4Ghz) meet...just barely. Although it meets it, it is definitely slowing you down in game. One of the guys on that forum mention lots of people can run "1920x1200 at unflinching 60 fps"...just gonna quote what he said to a guy with Amd Athlon 64 X2 Duel Core Processor 5400+(2.80ghz)
4gb Memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GSO(768mb GDDR2) here:

"You may want to graduate to a video card in the GTX series. Myself and many users seem to enjoy blazing (graphical) performance in the game on cards from this series. To add additional context, I'm talking about users of GTX 260, 280, and 275 playing in typical post-HD resolutions like 1920x1200 at unflinching 60 fps (or 65-ish reported in the case of a fellow using a 120Hz monitor).

I get unfailing 50-60 FPS myself with 2 'older' GTX 260 paired in SLI. Max quality settings + AA (no Depth of Field, not a fan of distance blur) at 19 x 12. With a mildly overclocked E8500 and 4 GB ram. Games like Shattered Horizon look very sexy on this rig too. And MW2 is obviously 60 FPS to the floor, maxed + AA, everywhere/anywhere."- R-Gunthak

It is clear that the game is nowhere near as graphic demanding as Crysis, since even i5 750 overclocked to 4.15Ghz, with HD5870 and 4GB Corsair 1,600Mhz DDR3 ram only manage to run Crysis (DirectX 10, 64-Bit, High) at 1,680x1,050 at only 33-57fps (source: Custom PC Issue 078 March 2010, p41)

I'll give another example of the significant of CPU speed in relating to fps for games.
HD5870, 4GB Corsair 800Mhz DDR2, 4GB Corsair 1,600Mhz DDR3
Crysis (DirectX 10, 64-Bit, High) at 1,680x1,050

[email protected] (stock speed)=12-35fps
Q6600 [email protected]=24-45fps
[email protected] (stock speed)=19-36fps
E8400 [email protected]=27-48fps
Phenom II X4 965 BE (C3 stepping) @3.4Ghz (stock speed)=23-46fps
Phenom II X4 965 BE (C3 stepping) [email protected] =29-52fps
Core i5 [email protected] (stock speed)=20-50fps
Core i5 750 [email protected]

(source: Custom PC Issue 078 March 2010, p41)

So take the Q6600 and E8400 (stock speed) for example, not even the 5870 can provide a smooth playable frame rate (Custom PC uses 25fps for minimum frame rate as their standard of 'playable' for Crysis) at the said settings. However with the CPUs overclocked to higher frequencies, the minimum frame rate boost to 24fps and 27fps, and the maximum frame rate boosted by around 10-12fps.


I really think now would be a good time to upgrade your CPU and motherboard. As for graphic card upgrade, you can either get 5850 now, or wait for nvidia's Fermi to arrive in a few months and let nvidia and ATI fight it out to get a better pricing and better range of choice for the card.

 

[Werehamster]

SO be it!!!!!!! Cheers marine.

Do you think you could also suggest me a bundle ? I hopw that with my 700W power supplier I won't have any probleem in feeding it!!!

 

[KnightsWhoSayNi]

Be aware this may mean you have to reinstall Windows.....

you may be better off just buying the fastest CPU your motherboard supports (~£50) then get back to playing Global Agenda and enjoy the better frame rate. The GTX is fine. When you do a full system upgrade that would be the time to change the graphics card.

 

[Marine-RX179]

SO be it!!!!!!! Cheers marine.

Do you think you could also suggest me a bundle ? I hopw that with my 700W power supplier I won't have any probleem in feeding it!!!

700W is more than sufficient, and considering it is a "700 Watt Alienware® Approved Multi-GPU Power Supply", there should be no lesser than two PCI-E six pin connectors (which 5850 require)...but you should check just in case.

As for bundle, I think the i3 530 overclocked bundle is the best justify the value vs the price:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-042-OE&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat= (£339)

Ideally the i5 750 would be better, however the price of the i5 750 overclocked bundle seem over-priced to me:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-010-OB&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat= (£480)
when you can hand-pick parts like these at much lower price:
(£330).

Building a PC systems is not as difficult as people might think, considering almost all the right connectors and plugs are unique matches and you shouldn't be able to plug connector into wrong plug/hole unless forcing them in without reading the manual or using common-sense.

There's one more issue...by changing to a different motherboard with a different bios, you are most likely required to reinstall windows. Do you own a copy of a Windows?

 

[Werehamster]

There's one more issue...by changing to a different motherboard with a different bios, you are most likely required to reinstall windows. Do you own a copy of a Windows?

Hello there! Yes I do. I have my old Windows Vista cd. However, I am wondering if it might be worth to buy and install windows 7, which appears to be more stable and fast. Re-installing windows is a good thing . In this way I can finally get rid of my old red hat partition and install a gnome based linux OS .

However, I was thinking if it was possible to save the memory (the 4 Gb corsair high latency ddr) I had on my old motherboard. In that way I could save some money off the bundle:

Memory Module Properties:

Module Name Corsair XMS2 CM2X1024-6400C4

Serial Number None

Manufacture Date Week 23 / 2006

Module Size 1 GB (2 ranks, 4 banks)

Module Type Unbuffered DIMM

Memory Type DDR2 SDRAM

Memory Speed DDR2-800 (400 MHz)

Module Width 64 bit

Module Voltage SSTL 1.8

Error Detection Method None

Refresh Rate Reduced (7.8 us), Self-Refresh



Memory Timings:

@ 400 MHz 5-5-5-18 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) / 22-42-3-6-3-3 (RC-RFC-RRD-WR-WTR-RTP)

@ 270 MHz 4-4-4-13 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) / 15-29-3-5-3-3 (RC-RFC-RRD-WR-WTR-RTP)



Enhanced Performance Profile:

Profile Name High Performance

Optimal Performance Profile Yes

Memory Speed DDR2-800 (400 MHz)

Voltage 2.1 V

Memory Timings 4-4-4-12 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

Row Cycle Time (tRC) 22T

Command Rate (CR) 2T

Write Recovery Time (tWR) 6T



Memory Module Features:

Analysis Probe Not Present

FET Switch External Disabled

Weak Driver Supported



Memory Module Manufacturer:

Company Name Corsair Memory, Inc.

Product Information http://www.corsairmemory.com/products/xms_home.aspx




This will eventually save me sometime (I would sell them on e-bay)

Again, thanks for your advices !

 

[Marine-RX179]

Unfortunately i3/i5 using dual-channel DDR3 RAMs, yours are DDR2 RAMs. But the good news is that you can sell your DDR2 RAMS for more than the price they were.

4GB Corsair XMS2 CM2X1024-6400C4 price £33 new at around 6-8 months ago, but you can now probably sell them 2nd hand for £40-£50 on ebay 'thanks to' the RAM price surge.

Upgrading from Vista to Win 7 64-bit would be good IF you got cash to spare. But I think this is a lesser priority than upgrading your systems.

 

[jigger]

Open the case and see what motherboard you have. 90% of Nforce 590 SLI boards run AM2+ CPU's.

Is this your board ?

 

[Werehamster]

Open the case and see what motherboard you have. 90% of Nforce 590 SLI boards run AM2+ CPU's.

Is this your board ?

Yes. it is exactly mine ^^. It looks the same and has the same brand/code.

 

[Marine-RX179]

Open the case and see what motherboard you have. 90% of Nforce 590 SLI boards run AM2+ CPU's.

Actually that's a very good suggestion. I assumed his board is a AM2 board because he's using a Athlon 64 X2 4600+ CPU. If his board really is AM2+ board, then I think he could upgrade to a Phenom II X4 940 (£115), which is 3Ghz at stock speed, overclockable to 3.6Ghz...with the right board of course... nforce board tends to be poor overclockers.

Werehamster I think you should take jigger's suggestion of opening the PC case, and try to find the brand and model code/number of the board. It should be print on the board at the middle or somewhere.

Edited: Is your board "Foxconn C51XEM2AA"? If so I got bad news:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=126006

Looks like back to upgrading the system than just the CPU...

 

[jigger]

Its a Foxccon C51XEM2AA-8EKRS2H

The latest *official* BIOS is here and it includes a CPU Micro code update. http://www.foxconnsupport.com/downl...00001&series=en-us0000007&keywords=&sort=BIOS

I'm pretty sure you could run a AM2+ CPU on that board. I have a DFI Nforce 590 SLI and its running a triple core CPU.

Do some digging around on the mobo. The Alienware and Foxccon forums might turn up some info.

The fastest old AM2 CPU is the 6400x2 Black edition.

 

[Marine-RX179]

Its a Foxccon C51XEM2AA-8EKRS2H

The latest *official* BIOS is here and it includes a CPU Micro code update. http://www.foxconnsupport.com/downl...00001&series=en-us0000007&keywords=&sort=BIOS

I'm pretty sure you could run a AM2+ CPU on that board. I have a DFI Nforce 590 SLI and its running a triple core CPU.

Do some digging around on the mobo. The Alienware and Foxccon forums might turn up some info.

The fastest old AM2 CPU is the 6400x2 Black edition.

Unfortunately, not even the 2nd newest bios (released in 21/03/07) provide support for Phenom:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-motherboards,1749-9.html
While the final bios update (released 08/01/08) has the description of "Upgrade CPU code to AGESE 2.08.11', there is no official announcement that support for Phenom has been added.
And if we look back at the forum topic:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=126006

the topic was posted on the 13/02/2008, which is one month after the release of the final bios update by Foxconn for this board. So...sorry to say this, while some other brands nforce 590 SLI board can run Phenom on them, it is not the case for Foxconn's board.

As for switching to X2 6400+ from X2 4600+, the performance would increase so little that it doesn't justify the investment, or even the hassle of removing the CPU fan and swapping the CPU (which I suspect Werehamster would be less than comfortable doing...especially for so little performance boost).