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

shadowcreaper

shadowcreaper

shadowcreaper

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29 Jul 2008
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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
 
the CPU is watercooled yet it's not overclocked? :confused:

id overclock the cpu to get more juice out of it,
keep what you have now and just wait for BD to be released (few weeks time, hopefully) and maybe some of the new cards from AMD too (hopefully).

this way, you have more time to save up and then you can do a complete system upgrade :)
 
Something like this

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 4MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail - £113.99 (because your mobo I think is socket 775)
MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £124.99

But you need to say what your PSU is
 
Have a look for a 2nd hand Q6600, they have been going for very good prices recently(sub 50 notes). Crank that up to around 3.4/3.6 and get a decent graphics card (GTX 570?).
Have you got a decent PSU?

Then when you have a bit more dollar, swap out the cpu, mobo, ram.
 
id overclock the cpu to get more juice out of it,
keep what you have now and just wait for BD to be released
Click to expand...

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)
Click to expand...
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)
 
lol, wont run at all on a dual core?

it will run but not maxed out probably medium settings.

BD is that long of a wait.
 
q6600 + decent cooler and a 2nd 4870 to go crossfire 2nd hand from members market for around £100-£120 for all 3 should sort you out.
Overclock the q6600 (go stepping if you can get one)to 3.6Ghz
Should breeze through most high end games
 
Without knowing min specs as they still haven't been released it will be hard, but its most likely that having a quad core will help maintain a decent minimum frame rate so you don't get drops in crucial areas, epecially when you are in large games (64-a-side :D)

If you can locate a nice cheap quad then it can only help your gameplay. (plus you should be able to get a fiarly nice return on your e8400, quite a few people are still after them, especially ones which can hit the 4Ghz mark)

PSU is decent. Will handle any graphics card you want.
 
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 :)
 
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.
 
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.
Click to expand...

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
 
The money's at a 6870 / 560ti / 6950 2GB. After that, it's a law of diminishing returns.

What I mean with getting a quad core 775, is that it would only be temporary. They'll do the biz for a while. But compared to a 2500K...

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/89?vs=288

And the 2500K can overclock to over 4GHz easily.

Don't know what mobo you have though. You could always OC the dual core and see if it works for you in the meanwhile. Costs nothing, and you have water-cooling so should be pretty good. The problem also is that the CPU can bottleneck the graphics card.

For a quick GPU comparaison, head here.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/304?vs=293

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/304?vs=290
 
And as for your PSU, what's important is the maximum amps on the 12V rail(s). Or max power on 12V. It's written down the side of the unit. It will also need 2x6pin PCIE connectors to function best with the new graphics card. Which it should have since the HD 4870 has the same requirements.
 
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
 
560 like a 6870. 560ti like a 6950.

No real stand out. All these cards are competing well. I prefer the 6950 for the 2GB Vram. Otherwise a 560ti is as fast, if not more in some games (Nvidia-biased games, like Blizzard and Civilization).

What you will notice mostly is much better minimum FPS, and better at handling higher resolutions. Also all the lovely DX11 stuff, and anti-aliasing. All that means you can push the graphics settings higher.

So smoother games when it gets intense, and better textures, lighting, and draw distance.

High FPS don't matter so much as you won't notice, say, 50fps -> 80fps increase. You could probably run Crysis at 30+ fps on a HD 4870, but at much lower graphics settings.

I think Linus demonstrated a GTX 260 vs a GTX 560 ti in crysis. Cant find the video from work.

EDIT : Must be it.

 
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