• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

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!
 
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 :)
 
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
 
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!
 
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
 
HeX said:
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.
Click to expand...

This worked a treat! Got it working at 3Ghz in seconds. Checked temps, all good.

Proceeded to play Battlefield 3 for an hour and a half. Max temp recorded was 55˚, so I might push it a bit later today.

However, I think I'm now a bit set on upgrading to the i5. It makes sense, since I can still make a bit of money on the Q6600 & Co.

Thanks for your help guys!
 
In terms of RAM, is it better to go for 8GB or flat out 16GB?

Even with Photoshop, coding and a few other apps, I don't think I'd ever need 16!

Does it make much of a difference when gaming?

And since it seems like RAM is a lot cheaper nowadays, would a kit like the
"Corsair 8GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Two Module", for less than £50, be worth it, or is it actually crap?

Cheers!
 
Thanks, Marine.

I'd order today, so I think I'll take the 1600mhz CL9 ones.

With that in mind, any tips on whether to go for Kingston, Crucial, G.Skill, or Corsair?


For instance, even if I am a gamer, do I need the crazy new heatsinks that the Corsair and Kingston have

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-124-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

or should I just go with something like these GeIL EVO Leggera?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-133-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Cheers
 
Last edited:
Crap.

Was ready to order but just realised that there are 2 versions of the i5 3570. The K and non K.

OCUK sell them for the same price, only the K is OEM and only has 1 year warranty.

Can anyone advise on 3570 vs 3570k, considering I'll have a dedicated graphics card anyway?
Does not getting the 3570k mean I can't overclock?
 
Hey Rojin,

It's a funny one. At 1st I noticed no difference when benchmarking with Uningine Heaven, and when looking at frame rates in-game.

However, all numbers aside, I've been playing BF3 Close Quarters (which my CPU found more demanding) with settings on HIGH and it's been running silky smooth. No drops, anywhere.

I think my gfx would probably not like ULTRA very much, but to be honest, I'm happy for now and would rather wait until prices come down a bit more.

Ultimately, if you think you're OK with what you have now, I'd wait until the new haswell cpus come out :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom