Help speccing a machine (gaming)

smurf300

smurf300

smurf300

Associate
Joined
20 May 2010
Posts
183
Hey guys a bit like the mistrys thread, I have pretty much £800 to spend and im hoping to be able to oc the cpu to 3.5-4ghz+ and good graphics obviously as teh machine will be solely a gaming rig. I play a lot of mmo's and like using software like fraps and playclaw, any suggestions most appreciated :)

Taking advice from other threads im going to post some of wht is in my current system incase you guys think it reuseable:

intel core 2 quad cpu q9300
6gig ram ( i think its ddr2)
2x 9800gt
monitor is samsung 22" tft which im sure i can keep
g5 gaming mouse and keyboard which id keep also
 
Last edited:
with that i'd keep pretty much all of it.

get a decent cooler like the corsair h50 etc to help cool the q9300 and a 1gb 460 gtx/5850 (with the gfx card in mind what psu do you have).

if the q9300 doesnt clock too well then maybe look at upgrading the rest, but i wouldnt upgrade the rest without at least having a go at clocking it.
 
Last edited:
I agree with mp260767, for gaming i would recommend the Core i5 but with Sandybridge not far away it just seems like a waste of money with your rig its so capable quad, just get decent cooler and overclock your quad.

Get rid of 9800 though and get a 5870 it seems to be the most "bang for buck" high end card, it runs cooler and uses less power than GTX480 though it is a bit slower.
 
Hmmm is there anyway I can check what psu I have without actually getting in the case? yeah i did hear that the quad I have is a good oc'er but I made the mistake of getting this pc from pcworld so came with the manufacturer limited mobo etc but lets assume that i'll need to get a new psu so from what you say the corsair h50 would be good so from replies this is what I think I would need..

mobo compatible and capable of oc'ing my cpu and holding a gtx480 (im more likely to go for performance than cost effective but thanks for any suggestions)

corsair h5??

a case?

I just googled oc my cpu and this is a quote from a site

'In the June issue of MaximumPC Gordon had a write up about comparing the Q9300 vs. the Q6600 on pages 16 and 17. Gordon was able to take the Q9300 to 3.5 GHz under the stock heat-sink on a 790i motherboard.

Here is a quote from Gordon's article:

"We expected the Q9300 to do better - and it did. On the same nForce 790i Ultra board, the Q9300 pushed to 3.5GHz on a 2,000MHz front-side bus without breaking a sweat. Mind you both overclocks were done with a stock Intel cooler, so your mileage may vary."

So it seems its rather overclockable?
 
It does indeed sound like a capable overclocker, but as mentioned if you get the Corsair H50 heatsink, you'll be able to extract heat more efficiently from the CPU making it last longer.

As with the case for your PSU, I would go ahead an open the case up, I mean if you're planning to upgrade it you'll have to open it then. Are you worried you may affect your warranty if you open up your case?

As mentioned above, I would keep your components and upgrade the graphics to either a 5870 or 5970 as its falling in price.
 
are you struggling with any games, or do u just want a newer pc ?

buying a new mobo to overclock is prolly not worth it tbh.

but for games, ur best of getting a new gpu to go with that, something like the GTX470, or if your willing to spend more, the 480
i would suggest looking at a new PSU as well, considering where u got the pc from, it possibly just a cheapo PSU.
and a decent one can last you through a few future upgrades as well.

so i would say get a new PSU and GPU, then wait and upgrade the cpu later when sandybridge is out.

there wont be a huge difference between the Q9300 and something like an i5.

have u actually gone into the bios yet and checked if you can overclock, as u might still be able to do some limited clocks even with a crappy motherboard, of course, some of them just simply dont have the option, but worth taking a look
 
Yeah im upgrading literally for one game... 'Darkfall Online' game runs perfectly fine with high fps etc until the sieges get to like 100+ people im getting a slide show, some say its just the makes gui that is retarded and they are making a new one as we speak, but some with faster cpu's not always better gpus that mine, can have 50 fps in a siege like that.

A thing that does frustrate me is that the pc runs anygame single player etc absolutely perfect even with nice settings :S
 
Last edited:
have u tried reducing the graphics down and see what the FPS is like in a large seige ?

that will determine if the cpu is struggling or not.

if reducing the graphics makes a noticable difference that the GPU is struggling, and will benifit from an upgrade.

i doubt u'll see much different between the Q9300 and an i5. An i7 would be better if you need more CPU power, but tend to cost abit more
 
Thing is if i just did a gpu upgrade, im not really to sure which one card is better than 2x 9800gt and which one card would also fit on the current mobo
 
Hmm now I made a profile in nvidia control panel even tho i had the global settings all low anyway, it seems my fps has gone up a lot in the game :S
 
Last edited:
Asus P5Q pro, with h50 DH14 or megahelms cooler. I would still consider the nvidia 460 (1024mb) graphics card at the same time for a good upgrade option. Its only a tiny bit behind the 5850 in terms of performance but significantly cheaper, and only a few £ more than a 5770. Its currently the best bang for buck graphics card IMO.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom