Is this cpu holding my computer back?

Daichin · 25 Oct 2011 at 23:58

Hi,
I've been looking into upgrades for my rig recently. My question is, in terms of gaming performance, is this cpu holding my computer back? What is the bottleneck at the moment?

I asked about upgrades a couple of weeks back but the specifications of my budget has since changed (monitor broke), and I'm now wondering what parts I should aim to upgrade. At the moment I'm thinking it's the CPU, but I'd like to get a second opinion.

Specs are:

NZXT M59
Athlon II X4 620 @ Stock 2.6ghz
DFI Lan Party 790FXB-M2RSH AM2+
4GB G.Skill DDR2 2400 @ 800mhz
2 x Sapphire Ati Radeon HD 5750
Western Digital 500gb + WD 320gb
WinPower 700w
Stock AMD cooler

Thanks in advance!

fowler002 · 26 Oct 2011 at 00:04

best bit of advice? Trash the current system and build a i2500k system(can reuse the hard disks, optical drive and case, that's if the drives are sata and if you want to keep the case)

bigjimmyauk · 26 Oct 2011 at 00:12

What do you use your computer for or want to use it for , also what sort of budget do you have.

with these answers we can help a lot more

Daichin · 26 Oct 2011 at 00:15

bigjimmyauk said:
What do you use your computer for or want to use it for , also what sort of budget do you have.

with these answers we can help a lot more

It's used essentially for gaming. I don't do anything more resource intensive than that.

I'm not sure about the budget but let's call it £180.

bigjimmyauk · 26 Oct 2011 at 00:17

Daichin said:
It's used essentially for gaming. I don't do anything more resource intensive than that.

I'm not sure about the budget but let's call it £180.

Are you playing the latest titles also what resolution is your monitor?

£180 is not a lot for an upgrade from a DDR2 system could maybe squeeze a quad core AM3 but would still be close then you would be held back by GPU power

cmndr_andi · 26 Oct 2011 at 00:20

In terms of gaming performance - for most games your HD 5750 graphics card will be holding you back. I would suggest something at least on the level of a GTX 560 Ti 2GB or HD 6950 2GB if you are considering a graphics card upgrade. However, if you are using a 700W Winpower PSU, I'm not sure I would trust that with a power-hungry new £200 graphics card. I would suggest replacing it with something like this (or the 650W model for £10 more).

For most modern games (especially if they are written to make use of quad cores) a 2.6GHz Athlon II X4 is sufficient. That said, you have a nice motherboard, so investing in an aftermarket cooler and overclocking the CPU is a good way to keep your system up to speed.

bigjimmyauk · 26 Oct 2011 at 00:21

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1943

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-468-AS&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=2046

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-203-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Thats a £197.97 for a new CPU, motherboard and ram

Also you could sell your old am2 system stuff and 5750's and maybe get something like a 5870 second hand or maybe save a little more for a 6950. That should keep you going for a couple of years, altho i'd be worried about the PSU

Vantis · 26 Oct 2011 at 00:23

or this

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-057-OC

Daichin · 26 Oct 2011 at 00:55

Thanks everyone!
I'm definitely not too keen on the Winpower PSU and that is currently what is holding me back from overclocking. I bought the computer about two years ago from a competitor and they actually swapped the PSU I ordered for this one claiming it was an "upgrade" simply because it had a (slightly) higher wattage. I didn't notice this until only a few months ago. This is what you get when you don't order from OCUK, I guess.

Apparently the motherboard I have currently supports a 955 and I can presumably put a healthy overclock on it with this board, a decent cooler and a new PSU. I'm guessing it's pretty much a waste of money to invest further in this particular board though?

EDIT:
I'm playing a majority of the newest releases and my resolution is 1920x1080.

cmndr_andi · 26 Oct 2011 at 01:07

Daichin said:
Apparently the motherboard I have currently supports a 955 and I can presumably put a healthy overclock on it with this board, a decent cooler and a new PSU. I'm guessing it's pretty much a waste of money to invest further in this particular board though?

If you can find a second-hand Phenom II 955BE at a good price then it may be worth a pop (as it is faster clock-for-clock and easier to overclock), but personally I would save your money and put it towards the GPU/PSU upgrade or even towards a new Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridget system in the future. That said, I would still buy a CPU cooler sooner rather than later - just make sure it supports s1155/1156 as well as AM3/AM2+ so you can overclock now and carry over the cooler to future builds.

My suggestion would be this cooler - it cools extremely well, comes with two silent fans and supports multiple sockets. If you want a cheaper solution (which isn't as cool or quiet but still good) then this one is worth a look.

shadow_boxer · 26 Oct 2011 at 02:22

I would go with a psu & graphics card update now, get a reasonable cooler and overclock your CPU. The CPU/RAM/mobo could be upgraded later. Yes the athlon ii is getting on abit, but if you can get it to 3.6ghz or above there aren't too many games it will hold back. Your current graphics card (& psu) is your bottleneck at present.

Daichin · 26 Oct 2011 at 13:56

Thanks a lot for the help everyone! I’m thinking I’ll start out with a new cooler and a new psu - I can look into graphics card updates later.

I’m not 100% sure about the coolers:

* Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)
£25.99
(£21.66)

* Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366)
£24.98
(£20.82)

* Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)
£24.98
(£20.82)

Which one of these would be better? They all seem to be around the same price and have good reviews. Would any one of those be ok? Also, the back comes off my computer behind the motherboard and it has a cut out behind the cooler. Are the back plates for these coolers very large or should I be able to fit it without taking the whole thing apart?

I’ve never overclocked anything before, so I’m not too sure about that, either. I’ll probably start a new thread in the overclocking section when the components arrive, but, for the time being, I’m wondering what you would actually have to do to break a processor/motherboard by overclocking? I’d rather not break anything.

Thanks once again for the help - it’s rare to find such a friendly community on the interwebs.

Doomedspeed · 26 Oct 2011 at 14:12

Daichin said:
Thanks a lot for the help everyone! I’m thinking I’ll start out with a new cooler and a new psu - I can look into graphics card updates later.

I’m not 100% sure about the coolers:

* Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)
£25.99
(£21.66)

* Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366)
£24.98
(£20.82)

* Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)
£24.98
(£20.82)

Which one of these would be better? They all seem to be around the same price and have good reviews. Would any one of those be ok? Also, the back comes off my computer behind the motherboard and it has a cut out behind the cooler. Are the back plates for these coolers very large or should I be able to fit it without taking the whole thing apart?

I’ve never overclocked anything before, so I’m not too sure about that, either. I’ll probably start a new thread in the overclocking section when the components arrive, but, for the time being, I’m wondering what you would actually have to do to break a processor/motherboard by overclocking? I’d rather not break anything.

Thanks once again for the help - it’s rare to find such a friendly community on the interwebs.

All of the are great coolers, though i have been told the gelid is the best one. The corsair A50 has a reputation for having a loud fan. And the coolermaster just doesn't look as nice as the gelid.

You can't go wrong with any of them to be honest.

To BREAK anything will take a lot of overclocking. The main issue about overclocking is 'frying' the CPU. This only happens are rare occiasions and you have to be competely careless or amazingly unlucky for this to happen.

If you read a lot about it and follow instructions and advice you shouldn't have any problems. There is a lot of experience in these forums.