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Worth upgrading considering CPU?

assalino

assalino

assalino

Associate
Joined
8 Oct 2011
Posts
111
Hi guys,

I'm a casual gamer who appreciates his graphics. I mainly play Battlefield 3, and recently have been noticing my XFX Radeon 5850 HD isn't coping very well, especially in Close Quarters.

My first thought was to upgrade the GPU, maybe to a 7850, which I could then overclock (mine is actually still stock). I'd rather not spend more than £150, but can be flexible if it's worth it.

The thing is, I haven't upgraded my CPU in a while, mainly because I freaking love it. It's uber quick and has never let me down.

My current setup is:

Intel Q6600 @ 2.4ghz
Gigabyte EP45-UD3LR 775
4GB Kingston KVR 800Mz HyperX + 2GB (I can't remember, but good brand) DDR
Corsair 520w PSU w/ 4 rails
XFX Radeon HD 5850

If I did upgrade the GPU, would I notice the difference, or would my system be a bottleneck?

And if you think it'd be worth changing the GPU anyway, would you recommend the 7850 or something else?
I always wonder if it'd be worth getting Nvidia because of the AA and PhysX...

Thanks for your help!
 
Ur motherboard should be decent enough to push your CPU. I actually think u would see more of an FPS increase if u overclock ur CPU to 3.2GHz or more (most Q6600 will do 3.0GHz easy). I know it makes a huge difference on my bro's Q6600 with GTX 260 if the 3.1GHz overclock falls off the CPU and it reverts to stock 2.4GHz. Try this first and then upgrade to a 7850 if u still think it is necessary.
 
MoRT489 said:
Ur motherboard should be decent enough to push your CPU. I actually think u would see more of an FPS increase if u overclock ur CPU to 3.2GHz or more (most Q6600 will do 3.0GHz easy). I know it makes a huge difference on my bro's Q6600 with GTX 260 if the 3.1GHz overclock falls off the CPU and it reverts to stock 2.4GHz. Try this first and then upgrade to a 7850 if u still think it is necessary.
Click to expand...

Interesting take on the problem!
I do have a small watercooling system on the CPU, so might be able to pull it off alright :)
 
BF3 is heavily multi-threaded and will certainly see some benefit from overclocking your CPU. Do that first and then re-evaluate your position regarding a new component :)
 
As above get it overclocked. 3.2GHz is well within the reach of even the poorest of Q6600's and will give you a sizeable boost.
 
Great stuff guys. I'll do it tonight!

On top of that, do you think it's worth flashing my 5850's bios so I can overclock it a bit as well?
It's running at stock speeds (755mhz), but I read that it can reach 920mhz without problems.

Thanks
 
HeX said:
As above get it overclocked. 3.2GHz is well within the reach of even the poorest of Q6600's and will give you a sizeable boost.
Click to expand...

Actually I had one which would only do 3.0ghz and even that required a voltage bump.

Setting it to 3.2 was a no go as it require uber voltage.

I ended up selling it with a machine and got another Q6600 which did 3.3ghz at the same voltage as my old one.
 
I tried last night, and with the usual tools (GPU Tweak, Afterburner and CCC) I could only take it to 775mhz :/

Voltages and everything else is blocked.

The GPU is XFX 5850 HD XXX, if it helps.
 
So... I tried overclocking the CPU last night, with no success.

Even at 300mhz (2.7ghz), it would not go past the bios without resetting :/

I'm thinking this is more of a memory issue than a CPU one, so I have to properly test some more stuff tonight.
Thought it'd be easier though!
 
You need to make sure you change your memory multipliers otherwise your ram will be out of spec.

Try:

333MHz FSB
9 x CPU multi
5:6 Memory Ratio

Give the Northbridge a dab more volts, and then go test if the CPU is stable. If not add a tad more Vcore, repeat until it's solid.

That'll give you 3GHz.

Once you've got that stable try for 400FSB, 8x CPU Ratio, 1:1 Memory Ratio for 3.2GHz.
 
Depending on mobo it's sometimes listed as a ratio, or a multiplier, or just a raw figure.

5:6 =

(CPU FSB / 5)*6 = MEM Speed

So 333 FSB:

(333/5)*6 = 400
 
It really depends on:

- BIOS Settings
- Type of Chip (e.g. stepping like G0 SLACR)
- Voltage

Make sure you are using a guide from a reputable source to set your OC. You need to take steps to ensure stability at all times.
 
I have a q6600 in the kid's that I run at 3.2ghz. I did run it at 3.6 for a while but didn't notice that much of a difference in some games. So I lowered the clocks for temps sake.

It's on a Gigabyte p35ds3r and was very easy to overclock.

I have a 7850 2gb on that setup and what I can tell you is that it will be very game specific as to how the old quad will perform.

For instance, Bad Company 2 performs poorly imo even at 3.6ghz. the minimum fps is as low as 28fps on my rig and changing settings does nothing.

Now my brother has a 7770oc with a ivy bridge i5 3470 and never drops below 55 fps.

In Crysis 3 beta, the q6600 was ok due to that game being gpu bound. We could run that on high settings but preferred medium for higher frames.

Company of hereos and world in conflict held the 7850 back as the i5 3470 setup was faster as well even though the q6600 was very playable.

I have just put in a ssd on that old setup and even though it's only has sata 2 ports, it has transformed that pc to the point that it feels like a new one. I know that I need to upgrade the cpu but won't just yet.

If you look at bf3 benchmarks between a 5850 and 7850, there is not that much difference imo which may suggest that like bad company 2, the cpu makes the difference at least in my experience.
Driver differences should be noted though.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/512?vs=549

Now a quick look at cpu benches even on a last gen i5 though bf3 isn't here.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/512?vs=549

The q6600 is slow by today's standards but I just don't want to throw away working parts that probably wouldn't be worth selling. I know you love your setup tc as the q6600 setup is as tough as old boots.
 
That's really interesting.
I have a Kingston SSD as my main drive as well, for Windows and fave games, such as BF3.

Basically, I feel like my PC is a beast when I do anything on it, except gaming at the moment.

I can have Photoshop open with a few other big apps, and it doesn't even flinch.
Lately, however, especially since I've started playing Close Quarters in BF3, I've been feeling it a little.

I've had this CPU for 5.5 years, so it's served me well and continues to do so.

If the right thing to do is to sell it with the mobo and invest in an Intel i5, for example, then maybe that's what I should consider 1st, rather than thinking about GPU.


With that in mind, and just so I can see how much I'd have to invest if I went down this route, is there a CPU you guys would recommend? Definitely want quad-core.
Heard good things about the 3570k!

Cheers
 
Right, at least i've got the right idea for the CPU!

Thing is, my 6gb of RAM are DDR2. I think I'd have to upgrade to DDR3 as well.
So really, it's CPU + motherboard + RAM.
That'd probably take me to £250 if I wait for the right deals.

Let's say I sell my RAM, Cpu and board for near £100, that's not the biggest investment ever :)

Going to search the forum to see which board to buy for a 3570k!

Thanks guys
 
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