Upgrade Priority - GFX or CPU?

BillHicksRIP · 30 Jun 2010 at 16:20

Below's my current setup. It's showing it's age but I haven't got the money right now to replace the whole thing so it's going to have to be the GFX or the CPU right now. I don't know if this graphics card is still decent enough to carry on a while longer if I threw in a quad-core? Or can I make do with the clocked C2D and pick up a newer card? Budget's around £250. Will be playing BFBC2 and APB. Playing APB with Low settings and the framerate drops below thirty constantly. Any advice appreciated.

BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency Dual Channel
OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Series
Thermaltake VD4000SWA LCS Aluminium Kandalf Full Tower
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) *oc'd to 3Ghz*
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

stulid · 30 Jun 2010 at 16:24

you can afford a second hand Q6600, which if you o/c to around 3ghz will last for a few years, cost is about £80.

and a ATI 5830 for £160.

stulid · 30 Jun 2010 at 16:27

whats with the strange ram amounts? you need to populate the ram slots with the same capacity as well as speed ram sticks to get dual channel

BillHicksRIP · 30 Jun 2010 at 16:29

I put this system together a while back and only put 2GB in. Added the extra 4GB further down the line.

Nymins · 30 Jun 2010 at 16:30

What res do you play at?

Cheap Q6600 and a 5770 GPU could be good.

stulid · 30 Jun 2010 at 16:38

BillHicksRIP said:
I put this system together a while back and only put 2GB in. Added the extra 4GB further down the line.

take the odd two out, might run faster

BillHicksRIP · 30 Jun 2010 at 16:57

Nymins said:
What res do you play at?

Cheap Q6600 and a 5770 GPU could be good.

I'm playing on a 24" screen so have been using 1920x1200. I'll try dropping it. Thanks.

Admiral Huddy · 30 Jun 2010 at 17:01

Nymins said:
What res do you play at?

Cheap Q6600 and a 5770 GPU could be good.

I agree with this. Buying a new Graphics Card may underperform if the CPU isn't upto speed.

I upgraded my 8800GTX to a HD 5870 - both on a overclocked Q6600

Results and benchmarks in myu blog notes:
http://www.huddysworld.co.uk/index....0-upgrade&catid=46:the-admirals-log&Itemid=53

stulid · 30 Jun 2010 at 17:04

BillHicksRIP said:
I'm playing on a 24" screen so have been using 1920x1200. I'll try dropping it. Thanks.

thats rather high, even for a 5770, no wonder your 8800 was struggling

BillHicksRIP · 2 Jul 2010 at 17:31

I ended up picking up a 5850. WIll look at replacing the CPU next month. This should be at least some improvement until then. Thanks.