PC upgrade, CPU/GPU/havnt a clue..

shadowcreaper · 16 Aug 2011 at 16:15

It seems my pc needs a upgrade as though it still plays games very well and high it seems the new games are going to be far too demanding sadly

My current pc spec is as follows

Motherboard ASUS P5E
CPU : INTEL CORE 2 DUO E8400 S775.3.0GHz 1333MHz FSB 6MB cache
memory: 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800)
GFX1 512MB Asus HD4870, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 3600MHz GDDR5, G
CASE Hiper Anubis
OS Windows Vista Home Premium 64 Bit

Cooling watercooled CPU loop

I would like to be able to play BF3 but been told this system just isnt quick enough which a shame sinse i can play BF2 pretty well.

What should i upgrade, personally i thought Graphics as the 4870 is getting rather old and starting to show wear and tear ie random freezes ect.

suggestions? budget will depend on upgrades that are suggested but no more than £250-300 atm

shadowcreaper · 16 Aug 2011 at 19:50

id overclock the cpu to get more juice out of it,
keep what you have now and just wait for BD to be released

I can overclock to around 4.0GHz but people have just said thats pointless as BF3 wont run at all well even on 4.0GHz and needs only quad core pcs, which is wied given EA saying its just BF2 but with updated frostbite engine. :rolleyes:

(because your mobo I think is socket 775)

in my post you will see i said S775 so yes it is a 775 socket

My PSU is 650W corsair.

Main issue i looking at is, do i need a new CPU that badly? or would a new graphics card surfice to play BF3? (i not looking for some mega high graphics frames like some FPS hardcore fans are tbh)

shadowcreaper · 16 Aug 2011 at 21:30

its wied that you saying i should get q6600 as when i first decided on this pc it was either q6600 or the e8400 and given that e8400 was way ahead of the q6600 in all reviews i ended up with it, now it seems the q6600 has come to bite my arse, given that i cant "exchange one for another "

i am tempted though if need be to get a better quadcore than q6600 as id rather not go no where in upgrading pc wise e8400-q6600 is depressing, so what quad core then would be a worthwhile upgrade and would work on my motherboard?

p.s wtf does BD mean sorry

shadowcreaper · 17 Aug 2011 at 12:22

olivier renault said:
Or a GPU (6870 / 6950 2GB / 6870) + quad core 775 (Q6600 / Q8400).

Although your PSU may need an upgrade as well. a 4870 pulls about the same as a 6870, a 6950 a bit more (10%), a 560ti a bit more still (15%).

Would be a shame investing in a skt775. I wouldn't spend a lot of money in one. And I am not sure your dual core will be able to provide.

What do you mean shame investing in skt775?

i unsure about buying a new motherboard tbh as DDR2 ram seems to be holding up fine as it is and buying a new motherboard going to be a lot of work in replacing with the watercooling setup i have on CPU, so would rather just upgrade the CPU only tbh.

Graphics+power wise i did have a 800w but it was utter useless and gave up after about 6 months so went down to 650 and has held up very well, but il have to see what graphics card would be a worthwhile upgrade over 4870 and unsure if i want to stick with ATI after having a lot of freezing issues with the 4870 not working well.

if i was to buy now GPU wise whats the best upgrade from 4870 without going hardcore gamer/breake the bank??, ie top range only 1% actually better than the mid range cards useally seems to be the case with actual pefformance over number crunching.

cheers

shadowcreaper · 17 Aug 2011 at 17:10

interesting, graphics wise how muhc of a upgrade would the 6870 be over the 4870 in real terms, looking at charts and such i know shows tests but i know from the past charts useally dont indicate a real gaming like for like performance test.

On Nvidia wise is their 560 like the 6870 then? or is there a stand out winner atm in mid price cards? (like there was when i got 4870 which was easly the best mid price card on the market at the time.)
cheers

shadowcreaper · 18 Aug 2011 at 10:43

out of interest what is the best quad core then my motherboard could have? as upgrading motherboard+DDR3+graphics quite a big upgrade compared to just GPU/CPU

shadowcreaper · 18 Aug 2011 at 13:03

cheers,
so the best quadcore i can get is the Core 2 Quad Q9650, got to do some thinking then about what upgrades i should do as i dont want to be upgrading again untill a good 3 years as that useally what i tend to do.

decisions decisions...

**edit**

found out that the motherboard you suggested the 1155 might have a issue fitting my watercooling D-tek cpu block too, and tbh i dare not drill into it to widen the holes.....so i looking to see if there are motherboards which will allow my D-Tek cpu block to fit(i heard some boards have 775/1155 fittings...)