Upgrade Needed?

marcus2704

marcus2704

marcus2704

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Joined
7 Aug 2005
Posts
358
My aim is to play the current generation of games at High (Ultra) detail at 1900 x 1080 resolution.

For the most part, I have been able to, but I have bought Metro Last Light and the frame rate wildly varies from smooth, to less than 10fps which is borderline unplayable. A few other games I have also exhibit similar problems, although Crysis 3 generally is ok on Ultra.

Based on what I have below, would there be any upgrades which would aid the performance of my PC?

VTX3D Radeon R9 290 V2 X-Edition 4096MB GDDR5
Intel Core I5-4570 @ 3.20GHz, standard stock heatsink
32GB DDR3 12600 RAM
128GB SSD
500W OCUK PSU
Gigabyte H97M-D3H Intel H97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard

Nothing I have is overclocked, to be honest, I wouldn't know what to change/where to start on that, I was hoping my components would be good enough without having to OC anything.
 
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Do you think the CPU is a bottleneck? I always thought the graphics card would do the bulk of the work and there was less importance placed on the CPU which just needs to 'keep up'.

This is my first venture into PC gaming, having been a console gamer for years :) Having no clue about overclocking, I expect I would end up buying an I7 or something instead.

I tried the beta Catalyst driver but suffered lots of crashes. I *think8 MY PSU is either 570W or 600W.
 
My original post was wrong about two things (sorry!)

1 - My CPU is Intel Core I5-4570 @ 3.20GHz, I understand this not to be a K version?

2 -My PSU is a OCUK 500W, I bought a Primo build from OCUK a little while back

Also updated OP with my MOBO
 
Ill get one ordered, I also have the standard fans provided in the Primo, if they need to be changed.

Is the PSU sufficient, the VTX claims to need a 750W so at 500W I appear to be way off??
 
I suspected as much, I will order the below -

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-003-SF
SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black - £49.99

Should I also be changing the CPU heatsink? The H110I mentioned above is liquid cooled and £88, is that a bit excessive for my needs?

I didn't really want to change the case, but would do so if required. When I originally bought the Primo, I had no intention of using it as a games machine, just to run my VMs (hence 32GB) and my storage drives for media. I have already replaced the motherboard, it seems like Ill end up replacing the whole thing before long!
 
I will definitely upgrade the PSU, but will wait and see regards to the CPU cooler.

No plans to buy a second 290 though, hoping what I have will be good enough for 1900 x 1200 res.

What are the best methods of obtaining CPU/GPU temps?
 
Thanks Ill try that out.

I'm pretty much set and will be ordering a PSU today :)

I have an option of buying a Dell U2412M monitor for approx. £40 off through my work (so approx. £190), looks to be a lovely screen but is 8MS response acceptable for FPS gaming?
 
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