Looking to upgrade

[jwcw]

Hi guys,

Just looking for some advice hopefully.

My system was built back in 09 and since then I have just upgraded the card once i have a 7970 and the PC does handle most things i throw at it i only play at 1920x1080 and will continue to do so.

I was hoping to do a cheap upgrade and go down the AMD route for once but it looked like the performance on the AMD chips is barely any better than my current i7 920 which is ancient now.

Im very out of touch with the PC hardware world but i have looked at 4670 and the 4770 and wondering if either of these are recommended or if i should wait for a new batch of CPUs. I dont intend to upgrade anything apart from the GPU for another 4 years or so after I make this upgrade.

I get about 30fps on GTA all cranked up but would like a little more not sure if this is purely CPU/RAM issues or a card issue too but id hope CPU upgrade would speed it up somewhat.

Current Spec

AMD 7970 4gb
i7920 @ 3.2ghz
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
6GB Corsair Dominator Ram

 

[ED209]

to be honest your CPU, mobo and ram is fine.

I game with a I7 950 @ 3.6ghz, 6GB of ram and a asus motherboard. my GPU is a Radeon HD 5830. the games I currently play are CSGO and Killing Floor 2 and I am happy with the performance as I turn off some settings to get more FPS\smoother game till I can get a new GPU

do you have a budget in mind at all? to be honest I think its going to be more of a GPU issue than your processor. could always try overclocking the CPU more if its possible and get a new GPU. I would stick with Intel as well and not go down the AMD route

there is a GTA 5 benchmark thread here which may help you out

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18666314

 

[jwcw]

to be honest your CPU, mobo and ram is fine.

I game with a I7 950 @ 3.6ghz, 6GB of ram and a asus motherboard. my GPU is a Radeon HD 5830. the games I currently play are CSGO and Killing Floor 2 and I am happy with the performance as I turn off some settings to get more FPS\smoother game till I can get a new GPU

do you have a budget in mind at all? to be honest I think its going to be more of a GPU issue than your processor. could always try overclocking the CPU more if its possible and get a new GPU. I would stick with Intel as well and not go down the AMD route

there is a GTA 5 benchmark thread here which may help you out

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18666314

Thanks for the prompt reply, yeah i generally dont play that many super high spec games and it handles most stuff nice but i do notice on GTA CPU/Ram are almost maxed out. Compatible ram for my mobo seems very very expensive now though.

My budget was around £400 it is a PC used purely for gaming and browsing will never be used for rendering video etc. I have noticed it become a lot more sluggish just around the desktop than it use to be so i thought maybe a RAM upgrade could help me out. I always thought AMD were very good performance/price ratio but after looking at benchmarks they really dont seem to be that great and in comparison to what I have now not much better. I could always hold out for a newer intel chip and go for a DDR4 board but i think the price point will be too high.

 

[ED209]

with GTA 5 running does it nearly use all your ram?

looking at the specs of the game the gpu meets the recommended one and the processor doesn't but its above the minimum which is a Q6600 @ 2.4ghz.

is the game\os on a normal HDD or is it on a SSD?

I would be tempted to get a new GPU and a SSD for the OS if you don't have one already. what OS are you running?

you may not want to do this but try and lower down the game settings and see if that improves FPS as maybe less strain on the system may result in GTA 5 running better.

if you use the PC mainly for gaming I would get a new GPU, maybe wait till the new AMD cards are released but if not your options are a 970 GTX or a 290\290X at the moment.

I replaced my HD 5830 with a 970 GTX which improved my FPS shed loads and my system is not much newer than yours but this went back because of the vram issues so the HD 5830 went back in and now waiting to see what AMD do with their new GPUs

 

[jwcw]

with GTA 5 running does it nearly use all your ram?

looking at the specs of the game the gpu meets the recommended one and the processor doesn't but its above the minimum which is a Q6600 @ 2.4ghz.

is the game\os on a normal HDD or is it on a SSD?

I would be tempted to get a new GPU and a SSD for the OS if you don't have one already. what OS are you running?

you may not want to do this but try and lower down the game settings and see if that improves FPS as maybe less strain on the system may result in GTA 5 running better.

if you use the PC mainly for gaming I would get a new GPU, maybe wait till the new AMD cards are released but if not your options are a 970 GTX or a 290\290X at the moment.

I replaced my HD 5830 with a 970 GTX which improved my FPS shed loads and my system is not much newer than yours but this went back because of the vram issues so the HD 5830 went back in and now waiting to see what AMD do with their new GPUs

I am going to buy an SSD however i was waiting for a full build of windows 10 to come out and do it all then, im still on windows 7 as of now. Guess i may have to look down the GPU route then i just presumed with mobo/cpu/ram all been from 2009 this may hold my system back more. In relation to the ram its almost at 90% whenever i play GTA and gets very high on most games now it just seems to be very pricey for any compatible ram for that board now, i guess because it has all been replaced by newer versions.

 

[ED209]

I am going to buy an SSD however i was waiting for a full build of windows 10 to come out and do it all then, im still on windows 7 as of now. Guess i may have to look down the GPU route then i just presumed with mobo/cpu/ram all been from 2009 this may hold my system back more. In relation to the ram its almost at 90% whenever i play GTA and gets very high on most games now it just seems to be very pricey for any compatible ram for that board now, i guess because it has all been replaced by newer versions.

yeah, its triple channel memory which is 3 x 2GB sticks and not easily accessible. not too sure if you would be able to buy 2 x 4GB or 2 x 8GB sticks and add them to the system or not but doing this would disable the triple channel options (I'm at work so not too sure on this)

I don't have GTA 5 so I am not able to test it on my system afraid otherwise I would have done.

maybe a SSD and a fresh install of windows 7\10 may help, when was the last time the OS was re installed?

is the 30 FPS steady or does it vary a lot?

do you know anyone that has a better GPU you could borrow and try for a few hours? then you could see what kind of increase in FPS you would get by replacing the gpu

ill try and play killing floor 2 tonight and see my CPU\RAM usage is as I never monitor this while gaming lol this is the latest game I have brought and have access too.

I did forget to mention when I had my 970 I had no issues at all playing Far Cry 4 on my system, too jumpy now on my 5830 to attempt to play this lol

 

[Dave2150]

Hi guys,

Just looking for some advice hopefully.

My system was built back in 09 and since then I have just upgraded the card once i have a 7970 and the PC does handle most things i throw at it i only play at 1920x1080 and will continue to do so.

I was hoping to do a cheap upgrade and go down the AMD route for once but it looked like the performance on the AMD chips is barely any better than my current i7 920 which is ancient now.

Im very out of touch with the PC hardware world but i have looked at 4670 and the 4770 and wondering if either of these are recommended or if i should wait for a new batch of CPUs. I dont intend to upgrade anything apart from the GPU for another 4 years or so after I make this upgrade.

I get about 30fps on GTA all cranked up but would like a little more not sure if this is purely CPU/RAM issues or a card issue too but id hope CPU upgrade would speed it up somewhat.

Current Spec

AMD 7970 4gb
i7920 @ 3.2ghz
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
6GB Corsair Dominator Ram

Skylake will offer a huge boost in CPU performance and platform (motherboard) features, I/O options etc compared to your I7 920. I'd wait for that.

You'll get some folk here recommending you to buy a hex core xeon, which is compatible with your motherboard, this is a good option for some people, though it's the platform itself which is quite limited now imo. Lack of PCI-E v3, SATA3, USB3, M.2, UEFI BIOS etc, so many features on Skylake that you can't get on x58. Though if you're confident that you'll have no use for these features, a xeon may be the way forward for you, though it will still be slower in games compared to a Skylake I7.

 

[pandem0nium]

Any three identical sticks of ram should run in triple channel mode.

You could buy 3 x 2gb single channel sticks for example from here.

 

[jwcw]

yeah, its triple channel memory which is 3 x 2GB sticks and not easily accessible. not too sure if you would be able to buy 2 x 4GB or 2 x 8GB sticks and add them to the system or not but doing this would disable the triple channel options (I'm at work so not too sure on this)

I don't have GTA 5 so I am not able to test it on my system afraid otherwise I would have done.

maybe a SSD and a fresh install of windows 7\10 may help, when was the last time the OS was re installed?

is the 30 FPS steady or does it vary a lot?

do you know anyone that has a better GPU you could borrow and try for a few hours? then you could see what kind of increase in FPS you would get by replacing the gpu

ill try and play killing floor 2 tonight and see my CPU\RAM usage is as I never monitor this while gaming lol this is the latest game I have brought and have access too.

I did forget to mention when I had my 970 I had no issues at all playing Far Cry 4 on my system, too jumpy now on my 5830 to attempt to play this lol

Its quite a steady 30 sometimes a little higher though not too bad i think for now i will look at a GPU upgrade and wait for as mentioned below, skylake.

Skylake will offer a huge boost in CPU performance and platform (motherboard) features, I/O options etc compared to your I7 920. I'd wait for that.

You'll get some folk here recommending you to buy a hex core xeon, which is compatible with your motherboard, this is a good option for some people, though it's the platform itself which is quite limited now imo. Lack of PCI-E v3, SATA3, USB3, M.2, UEFI BIOS etc, so many features on Skylake that you can't get on x58. Though if you're confident that you'll have no use for these features, a xeon may be the way forward for you, though it will still be slower in games compared to a Skylake I7.

Thanks for this advice i think i will wait like i said i have made no upgrades for 4/5 years so dont mind spending a bit to then future proof it some more when this new chip comes out i wont be buying the top of the line chip though but i guess it should be a large improvement.

Any three identical sticks of ram should run in triple channel mode.

You could buy 3 x 2gb single channel sticks for example from here.

Thanks for clearing this up having a look at these ones here and any should work then?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=8&subid=1180

I think a cheap ram upgrade along with a GPU will do a good job untill the new intel chips are out then.

Everyone has been very helpful, many thanks.

 

[jwcw]

Just a quick follow up, i got a really cheap matching corsair triple channel kit of memory so now ive got 12gb.

It made a real difference in performance in GTA V i now get 0 random freezeups and the frame rate is up id say about 8-10fps which i did not expect at all. I think i might just stick with this CPU/Memory setup and look to upgrade the GPU I have the 7970 atm so will be looking to get something a bit better than that and a small SSD to have windows on also.