Associate
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2011
- Posts
- 1,448
Hello,
current system:
Core 2 Quad Q6600
HIS Radeon HD 5850
4 Gig DDR2
64Gb SSD main drive, various hard drives for data (most big stuff stored on NAS)
Decent brand (can't recall offhand) modular 750w PSU
Antec Centurion C5 case
all-in-one CPU cooler (the single-fan, single-rad Kuhler... 620 I think?) - chosen for silence and 'I want that it's cool' rather than for overclocking headroom or anything else.
I have a 1080p monitor. I am unlikely to move to anything bigger in the next few years. I don't have room in my PC room to be farther away from the screen and the current one is absolutely fine. I might (possibly) add a second monitor at some point, but would only be gaming on one (other for web browser/chatting or what have you), so no super-wide-screen-eyefinity shenanigans.
Most things run PRETTY well at the moment. I'm fine coping with Skyrim on not-quite-highest settings, but I wouldn't think I'm getting the best possible play experience I could, and I wouldn't contemplate a high res texture pack for example. I've not tried it in BF3, but I think I was nearing and occasionally exceeding the limits of 'playable' for BFBC2 or stalker:CS unless I turned down bells and whistles. I'm therefore thinking about upgrading to give myself back that comfortable "I can probably play that just fine" feeling when I look at a new title. To that end I'm enlisting forum help to try and work out the weak point(s) in my setup.
Q1: Is it worth upgrading my graphics card given the processor and desired resolution? What kind of upgrade would I have to be looking at to make a realistic difference in terms of playability on high settings for reasonably modern games? (i.e. if we're looking at a minimum £400 card then I won't be buying one, but If something in the £100-£150 range would make a big difference, then I might well be interested).
Q2: Would I be better off buying a new Mobo + CPU + RAM and keeping my HD 5850 for now? (off the top of my head, an i5 and 8Gb DDR3 in a basic motherboard)
Q3: Would I be best of all saving up and upgrading everything together?
Note: Overclocking the current system's not really an option. I've had an intermittent fault with the system for a LONG time - random lockups/freezes. It has persisted through replacing literally every component except the CPU and Mobo, and gets MUCH worse with overclocking. At stock it happens maybe once a month, and I've therefore given up trying to solve it as a time-invested-versus-annoyance thing.
Edit: Bugger, meant to put this in 'General Hardware' - any mods mind moving it please?
current system:
Core 2 Quad Q6600
HIS Radeon HD 5850
4 Gig DDR2
64Gb SSD main drive, various hard drives for data (most big stuff stored on NAS)
Decent brand (can't recall offhand) modular 750w PSU
Antec Centurion C5 case
all-in-one CPU cooler (the single-fan, single-rad Kuhler... 620 I think?) - chosen for silence and 'I want that it's cool' rather than for overclocking headroom or anything else.
I have a 1080p monitor. I am unlikely to move to anything bigger in the next few years. I don't have room in my PC room to be farther away from the screen and the current one is absolutely fine. I might (possibly) add a second monitor at some point, but would only be gaming on one (other for web browser/chatting or what have you), so no super-wide-screen-eyefinity shenanigans.
Most things run PRETTY well at the moment. I'm fine coping with Skyrim on not-quite-highest settings, but I wouldn't think I'm getting the best possible play experience I could, and I wouldn't contemplate a high res texture pack for example. I've not tried it in BF3, but I think I was nearing and occasionally exceeding the limits of 'playable' for BFBC2 or stalker:CS unless I turned down bells and whistles. I'm therefore thinking about upgrading to give myself back that comfortable "I can probably play that just fine" feeling when I look at a new title. To that end I'm enlisting forum help to try and work out the weak point(s) in my setup.
Q1: Is it worth upgrading my graphics card given the processor and desired resolution? What kind of upgrade would I have to be looking at to make a realistic difference in terms of playability on high settings for reasonably modern games? (i.e. if we're looking at a minimum £400 card then I won't be buying one, but If something in the £100-£150 range would make a big difference, then I might well be interested).
Q2: Would I be better off buying a new Mobo + CPU + RAM and keeping my HD 5850 for now? (off the top of my head, an i5 and 8Gb DDR3 in a basic motherboard)
Q3: Would I be best of all saving up and upgrading everything together?
Note: Overclocking the current system's not really an option. I've had an intermittent fault with the system for a LONG time - random lockups/freezes. It has persisted through replacing literally every component except the CPU and Mobo, and gets MUCH worse with overclocking. At stock it happens maybe once a month, and I've therefore given up trying to solve it as a time-invested-versus-annoyance thing.
Edit: Bugger, meant to put this in 'General Hardware' - any mods mind moving it please?
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