Where's My Bottleneck?

BillHicksRIP · 29 Mar 2010 at 12:15

Hi. My rig is 3 years old and is struggling a bit with the latest games. I'm running BF:BC2 at 1680x1050 and FRAPS is telling me my average FPS is 36, with it dropping down to mid-20s in firefights etc. Would putting in a newer CPU or upgrading the graphics card give me the best chance for better FPS now? Would like to do only one or the other, if possible.

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Series (OCZ2G8004GK)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency Dual Channel (GX22GB6400UDC)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Thanks.

unp|dissy · 29 Mar 2010 at 12:16

Upt he processor to a quad and get a better gpu.

CAPTAINBUMFLUFF · 29 Mar 2010 at 12:22

Processor definitely modern games are optimized for quads especially in new games bc2 especially. I have a q6600 with a gts 250 average around 40 fps but never drops below 32, also I recommend go to 4gb ram

adrichardson81 · 29 Mar 2010 at 12:50

A Q6600 would definitely be a smart upgrade. The only problem is your mobo may not support the current s775 Core 2 Quads (the rev 3.3 version unofficially supports Q8xxx and Q9xxx, but rev 1 and 2 don't). Depending on how OC'd your 8800gtx is, it should be fine for 1680x1050.

BillHicksRIP · 29 Mar 2010 at 13:27

Thanks for the replies. It's definitley a Rev 3.3 version of the mobo so it should support, albeit non-officially, the later quad cores. Am happy to spend another £150 - £200 on the CPU if it'll future-proof it for another year or so. I don't want to do a full upgrade of eveything to the iseries stuff until next year. OC don't seem to stock many of the older CPUs any more, but would like to get something newer than the Q6600 mentioned. Any recommedations?

Ta.

CAPTAINBUMFLUFF · 29 Mar 2010 at 13:29

Get a used Q6600 got mine for £75 and will definitely make your pc future proof for another year

adrichardson81 · 29 Mar 2010 at 13:37

Agreed - a Q6600 will definitely get you through another year, especially with a reasonable overclock. I don't actually think a Q8300 would last you much longer, to be honest.

pastymuncher · 30 Mar 2010 at 13:50

A gpu upgrade would be more beneficial. Is that E6600 running at it's stock speed of 2.4Ghz? If so get it clocked. Most will hit between 3.2 and 3.4Ghz and some will go even further to 3.8Ghz. The E6600 is still a good cpu and going from that to a Q6600 running at the same speed is going to make bugger all difference unless the game actually supports multi core cpu's. Get a decent cooler and clock the cpu and then get yourself a 5850.

deusexlumina · 30 Mar 2010 at 13:52

+1 for overclocking that cpu, you will see massive gains as you increase up to 3.0ghz. Gpu could also be upgraded i guess but the 8800gtx still holds its own i think.

Redmint · 30 Mar 2010 at 14:08

pastymuncher said:
Get a decent cooler and clock the cpu and then get yourself a 5850.

Side point, might be handy if you are going to upgrade the cooler to make sure it's also compatible with 1366/AM3 so you don't have to change it when you do decide to upgrade the rest of your system.

BillHicksRIP · 30 Mar 2010 at 16:40

Thanks for the replies. The E6600 is running at stock but it's actually sitting in a Thermaltake VD4000SWA LCS Aluminium Kandalf Full Tower case which is water-cooling it. Never got round to actually clocking the thing but I suppose now's the time!