Upgrading Gaming Computer

[Brutality]

Hey OCC

 

I am not perfecty sure if this is the right forum to ask in, and if I'm posting in the right section here on OCC.

 

But, I need to upgrade my computer (see specs below), since I am starting to get low fps in newer games, at highest graphic settings (I HAVE to play games at max graphics ).

 

What should I upgrade, in order to obtain higher fps? - It's not fun to have less than 23 fps

 

Please try to redirect me to the right forum, if this is a bad forum to ask in.

 

Many thanks in advance! - Brutality

 

Specs:

MBD: Asus P5Q socket LGA775 1600MHz FSB

CPU: Intel Core2Duo E8500 @ 3.16Ghz

GPU: XFX ATI Radeon HD5870 850MHz clock, 1GB GDDR5 @4.8GHz

PSU: Corsair TX750W

RAM: 2x 2048MB Corsair PC2-6400 800Mhz DDR2

HDD: Samsung SpinPoint 1.5TB (32MB cache) 300MB/sec data transfer rate

MON: LG Flatron W2452T 24inch 10000:1 contrast FullHD HDCP 2ms

CAS: XCase Dracula Black ATX

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

 

PS. I'm not much of an overclocker, so I prefer to keep the hardware at its standard settings - But if you can teach me to overclock it, without having to buy liquid cooling or more fans etc. and without damaging my system or its lifetime (I guess not more than 5 years of lifetime is required, since by then I need to upgrade anyways? )

PPS. I am not home now, so I can't measure the fan sizes if that information is required, and I won't get home before Sunday, but I guess the fan on the side is like 75mm and on the back there is a 150mm, and then there are the standard fans on the cpu, gpu and psu and I think there is a small 75mm somewhere on the motherboard as well - This is by my brains memory so I am not 100% sure about the measurements =P

Edited November 4, 2010 by Brutality

[Utmost]

Guess you could add 2 more gigs of ram, but I'm not sure how much that will help. Could pick up a q9300 quad core at microcenter for $139 and OC that to 3.2. Also, you could sell that 24" monitor and pick up a nice 22" that runs at 1680x1050, that will increase yer FPS p

 

Other than that I guess it's move to i7/i5 platform, but that will cost more than the other solutions.

 

GL!

[NearlyEpic]

Only bottleneck I see is your dual core. That's the first thing you want to upgrade, but it can be the most expensive too if you bought a low-end motherboard that doesn't support the newer quad cores. If you're just starting to overclock, you can pick up a cheaper HSF from Cooler master like the Hyper 212 and lower the temps better than the stock cooler on your OC.

 

EDIT: Also, what game are you getting this 23fps from?

Edited November 3, 2010 by NearlyEpic

[Nyt]

I would say higher frequency RAM and a Core 2 Quad .I had a Q8300 quad and it was pretty decent but bottlenecked my GTX480 a little but a dual core would bottleneck a 5870 worse

 

This would get more responses in the system builds section but oh well

 

If the game your getting 23FPS from is Crysis then I would say that its acceptable at max settings at 1080p.

 

The Hyper 212 is a good cheap cooler and lowers the temps by an acceptable amount over the stock cooler

Edited November 3, 2010 by Nyt Ryda

[IVIYTH0S]

Also, what game are you getting this 23fps from?

This is what I want to know!!

 

I honestly wouldn't change anything, upgrading to a decent core2quad is a waste of money for how expensive they still are. I'd just overclock the e8500 to like 4ghz or higher with a good cheap cooler like the hyper 212+, you'll get some more performance out of your video card

[Brutality]

Only bottleneck I see is your dual core. That's the first thing you want to upgrade, but it can be the most expensive too if you bought a low-end motherboard that doesn't support the newer quad cores. If you're just starting to overclock, you can pick up a cheaper HSF from Cooler master like the Hyper 212 and lower the temps better than the stock cooler on your OC.

 

EDIT: Also, what game are you getting this 23fps from?

 

I'm afraid I would be breaking an NDA by telling you, but when I come to think of it, the low fps could be because of the game still being in beta etc.

But I think I do remember having laggy gameplay in SplitSecond

 

It wasn't Crysis though, I can run Crysis with highest graphics 1920x1200 no problems =)

 

But I really, really wanna play in highest graphics in this game, which I would be breaking NDA by telling which it is... I think (Not gonna take the chance)

 

Thank you VERY much for your replies, everyone!

I am currently having fun at comparing CPUs at http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/2

 

But what's this bottlenecking you're talking about, Nyt Ryda?

[Nyt]

But what's this bottlenecking you're talking about, Nyt Ryda?

Its when your cpu cant feed enough data to your gpu , but this doesn't hurt performance too much unless the game is highly multi-threaded . Also remember that your very secretive game (It would be amazing if you were beta testing Crysis 2 or something) is not optimised in the current ATI drivers therefore you will be getting bad performance

[dihartnell]

This is what I want to know!!

 

I honestly wouldn't change anything, upgrading to a decent core2quad is a waste of money for how expensive they still are. I'd just overclock the e8500 to like 4ghz or higher with a good cheap cooler like the hyper 212+, you'll get some more performance out of your video card

 

+1. Totally agree. I have a very similar system and I've not encountered anything I couldn't run at max so far. Your cheapest option is to get yourself a good CPU cooler and overclock your GPU, CPU and Ram.

[Brutality]

Ah, I see - Thanks Nyt Ryda

 

Can anyone explain how RAM works?

 

What I mean is...

I searched on my favourite hardware search engine (www.edbpriser.dk) for the highest frequency RAM, and found Kingston HyperX T1 3 x 2 GB @ 2250 MHz but it's of the PC3-18000 type, but when I search for a motherboard, there is no PC3-18000 option, only PC3-17600 (and lower) and PC3-19200 - Is this because the search engine I use (It searches for hardware being sold by verified companies etc.) doesn't know any PC3-18000 sellers or is it because I have misunderstood it? Like I did back when I thought a 1600MHz FSB motherboard could have 2x 1600MHz RAMs... later I found out u gotta add the MHz of each RAM...

 

How does this work?

 

Many thanks in advance! - Brutality

 

PS. Here is the link to the Kingston RAMS, beware it's in Danish:

http://www.edbpriser.dk/Product/Details.aspx?pid=4190902

 

EDIT:

Here's another question:

I was looking at motherboards and wanted to see if I could get one with two PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots and found this:

ASUS Sabertooth 55i

...

PCI Express 2.0 x16: 2x ... CrossFireX: x8, x8 mode; SLI: x8, x8 mode; single card: x16 mode

 

What's best? one card at x16 mode, or two cards at x8 mode?

See my signature for the graphic card I use and might buy another one of

Edited November 3, 2010 by Brutality

[IVIYTH0S]

That memory is for a 1366 computer, would you want to upgrade to (2x4GB or 4x2GB)8GB or downgrade to (2x2GB)4GB.

Get 1600mhz , anything over that speed is a waste of money, and try to get the lowest timings you can in your price range.

[Brutality]

That memory is for a 1366 computer, would you want to upgrade to (2x4GB or 4x2GB)8GB or downgrade to (2x2GB)4GB.

Get 1600mhz , anything over that speed is a waste of money, and try to get the lowest timings you can in your price range.

 

Oh, okay

 

Well that gives 2 search results: (1600MHz)

 

Mushkin 3 x 2 GB

http://www.edbpriser.dk/Product/Details.aspx?pid=813760

 

OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 3 x 2 GB

http://www.edbpriser.dk/Product/Details.aspx?pid=4313323

 

I think I'm going for a Core i7 I7-870 8 MB

Now I just need to find some good RAMs and a motherboard that fits them both (hopefully one that can support CrossFire, in case I buy another HD5870 some day)

 

EDIT:

 

Searching for a LGA1156 (Core i7 870) socket motherboard with PC3-12800 (above RAMs) support gives 72 results >_<

I could of course search for a specific chipset, but I have no clue what's best?

H55/57, P55 or Q57?

Edited November 3, 2010 by Brutality

[Brutality]

Only bottleneck I see is your dual core. That's the first thing you want to upgrade, but it can be the most expensive too if you bought a low-end motherboard that doesn't support the newer quad cores. If you're just starting to overclock, you can pick up a cheaper HSF from Cooler master like the Hyper 212 and lower the temps better than the stock cooler on your OC.

 

EDIT: Also, what game are you getting this 23fps from?

 

What about the Thermaltake Frio? I saw a review from trubritar (

) and it only costs $30-45 (25-30€ or 20-30£) more than the Cooler Master Hyper 212

Is that total overkill or how much do you reckon I could overclock my E8500 to with the Thermaltake Frio?

Or should I get rid of the dual core because of the bottlenecking? (Nyt Ryda)

 

PS. Is it possible to get the topic moved to System Builds?

 

EDIT:

Looking at http://frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2525&page=5 then Noctua NH-D14 and Spire Thermax Eclipse II are also options I guess? =P (I couldn't find Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme at Danish retailers)

Edited November 4, 2010 by Brutality