Where is the bottleneck in my system?

Gundog48

Gundog48

Gundog48

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I am using my PC for video editing and gaming what would you say are my bottlenecks? I put my money on my hard drive which I plan on upgrading, could you tell me my 3 worst bottlenecks and maybe even recommend some upgrades? Here are my specs:

CPU- AMD Phenom x4 9650 @2.3Ghz (should I overclock, if so how much)

CPU Cooler- Spire CoolGate 10

GPU- EVGA 9800GTX

RAM- Standard 4Gb @ 800MHz

MB- Biostar TA780GM2+

HDD- Hitachi deskstar 500Gb 8Mb Cache

PSU- Atrix 650w duel rail PSU (UPGRADED TO COOLERMASTER REALPOWER M520)

OS- Vista Home Premium 32bit (planning on going Windows 7 64-bit later)
 
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I would be more worried about the extremely poor quality cheap and nasty psu to be honest. You can be certain that that thing is not capable of putting out 650w. Maybe 400w if you are lucky.
 
Yeah your main areas to improve are PSU, before it blows and takes everything else with it, you cant skimp here, contrary to what some people seem to try n do, its most important part, and it can often be carried over from one build to the next, £67
Your OS, as youve identified, really should be on 64bit nowadays, pre-order w7 for £67
and HDD, again as youve identified, get a nice 1Tb Western Digital Caviar Black or Samsung F3, both about 60-70
These arent going to massively boost your systems performance tbh, but will give you a much more stable system
Thats about 200 quid, if you have more then yeah CPU next for actual performance gain, then GPU, it was obviously most powerful thing in system when you built it, starting to show age now though
I really wouldnt look at new CPU/GPU til youve addressed the other areas though
 
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Temi_D said:
I would say its the cpu, then gpu
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Well I'm thinking of overclocking, what speed do you think I could get to without over-volting with that other cooler?

pastymuncher said:
I would be more worried about the extremely poor quality cheap and nasty psu to be honest. You can be certain that that thing is not capable of putting out 650w. Maybe 400w if you are lucky.
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Yeah, I suppose so, what upgrade would you recommend,considering I won't be needing 650w.

Also, what do you all think about the hard drive?
 
OK, first of all sorry for the MASSIVE thread revival! I have made a little progress, and still need some info, so there is not much point in opening a new thread.

So, I now have a CoolerMaster Realpower m520 PSU, and have a Spire CoolGate 10 CPU cooler on its way http://www.spirecoolers.com/main/product_detail.asp?ProdID=939

So, where next? I think I may be able to get a few more MHz out of it with the new CPU cooler. I was considering a 30Gb SSD just for Win7 and some programs. Any advise on which one to get?

Also, if a CPU upgrade is on the cards, my mobo supports AM3, so which would you recommend?

Thanks!
 
Gundog48 said:
I am using my PC for video editing and gaming what would you say are my bottlenecks? I put my money on my hard drive which I plan on upgrading, could you tell me my 3 worst bottlenecks and maybe even recommend some upgrades? Here are my specs:

CPU- AMD Phenom x4 9650 @2.3Ghz (should I overclock, if so how much)
CPU Cooler- Stock (planning on getting this: http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1_43&mID=246 if overclocking)

GPU- EVGA 9800GTX

RAM- Standard 4Gb @ 800MHz

MB- Biostar TA780GM2+

HDD- Hitachi deskstar 500Gb 8Mb Cache

PSU- Atrix 650w duel rail PSU

OS- Vista Home Premium 32bit (planning on going Windows 7 64-bit later)
Click to expand...

I would get a new PSU first TBH!

Also it maybe worth upgrading your CPU although again it depends on what games you are playing.

Your GPU looks fine TBH.
 
You might be able to squeeze some more out of the CPU, But I think the SSD would remove some of the bottle neck in data wise, A Intel X25-v 40gb drive might be ideal.

But before you do any overclocking I would advise getting a strong PSU to provide you some stable amps on the rails.
 
your new coolermaster psu is fine, i don't think the spire cooler will be up to much i'm afraid though.

i would make a phenom 2 x4 955 my next purchase if i were you if that motherboard supports it.
 
chipps101 said:
your new coolermaster psu is fine, i don't think the spire cooler will be up to much i'm afraid though.

i would make a phenom 2 x4 955 my next purchase if i were you if that motherboard supports it.
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I was thinking new CPU as well. The Spire cooler is just for an upgrade from stock for slightly better temps and maybe 100 or 200MHz overclocking.
 
CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
I would get a new PSU first TBH!

Also it maybe worth upgrading your CPU although again it depends on what games you are playing.

Your GPU looks fine TBH.
Click to expand...

I have upgraded to a CM Realpower M520 since the original post. Looks like a CPU may be in the picture.
 
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