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BF4 Hardware Upgrade Questions

U

Ustauk

n00b
Joined
Oct 21, 2004
Messages
31
My current system specs (approximate, as I'm at work)

AMD FX-4170 4.2 ghz quad core AM3+ , (stock cooler, kicking myself now), can OC to 4.6 ghz with a little instability

Asus M5A97 R2.0 AMD 970 motherboard

HyperX Genesis 8GB DDR3-1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit (2 x 4GB)

2 TB mechanical hard drive (can't remember brand now) + 2 other smaller mechanical drives

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1 GB memory

Corsair VX550 550 Watt power supply (specs in German on English page, don't know why, so need translation link)

Audigy2 ZS soundcard

Samusng 22" 2253BW 1680x1024 monitor (sometimes 50" 720p Panasonic Plasma when I feel like living room gaming single player so my missus can watch)

Windows 7 OS


I probably can't get BF4 until Christmas, at which time I might have around $100 for an upgrade. I'd rather not upgrade the board or CPU at this time (I know I should probably get a hex core, but I've never done a CPU upgrade myself before). With boxing day/week sales, I might be able to get an SSD, another 4 gb of RAM, or a video card upgrade. Which of these would provide the best bang for my buck?

With an SSD, can I get the performance increase when keeping the OS on the mechanical drive but running BF from it, or do I need to do a fresh install of the OS on the mechanical drive?

I can still get the same kind of memory. Given the rest of the system, is another pair of the Kingstons good, or should I look at a different (faster) memory type in 2x8 gb? I've read elsewhere that BF4 eats more then 8gb of memory; is that true?

Given I'm running at max 1680x1024 (not likely to change monitor soon), would a video card upgrade be worthwhile? Would moving up to a 2 gb 650TI boost be worthwhile upgrade, or do I at least need a 660? Can my power supply handle a 660? And do I either have to put the OS in out-of-box mode or do a fresh OS install if I want to move to a worthwhile AMD card, or is a driver uninstall enough? Which AMD card would provide an inexpensive upgrade over the 650 TI?

Thanks, everyone!
 
Wait until it comes out to see what you really need at minimum.
 
Nenu said:
Wait until it comes out to see what you really need at minimum.
Click to expand...

I asked my parents for a gift card from a local computer shop ([url="www.memoryexpress.com]Memory Express[/URL]) for Christmas, so I'll either want to spend the money on hardware or another game (COD Ghosts, maybe?). If I decide to go hardware, I was wondering what a good upgrade for BF4 and other future games would be. I'll have a limited window to decide, with boxing day being the next day, so that's why I putting this out their now. I might be able to get a 660, 7870 or 270x for $150 on boxing day, for example.
 
videocard upgrade is a good option, but ssd is for overall use of computer isnt bad either.
 
Ustauk said:
I asked my parents for a gift card from a local computer shop ([url="www.memoryexpress.com]Memory Express[/URL]) for Christmas, so I'll either want to spend the money on hardware or another game (COD Ghosts, maybe?). If I decide to go hardware, I was wondering what a good upgrade for BF4 and other future games would be.
Click to expand...
Wait until BF4 comes out.
There are memory leaks, unoptimised use of memory, unoptimised use of CPU, unoptimised use of video hardware.
And the game isnt finished so even when there are improvements, some may be negated because the final version does more.

Theres no point choosing hardware now that you will buy at Christmas anyway !
Ask again in 7 weeks.
 
1. No need to overclock your CPU 400mhz if it's not stable. Not worth the minuscule benefit etc.

2. A video card is definitely your optimal upgrade!! Like everyone else has said though, ask again in 7 weeks.
 
Dangman said:
What case do you have?
Click to expand...

An old Thermaltake Tsunami Dream that's been through at least two motherboards/cpus and many other upgrades. Stainless steel look, with no window, as pictured below. Still not too bad of a case, even given its age.

angleview.jpg.jpg
Insideview.jpg.jpg
back.jpg.jpg
 
I managed to score a copy of BF4 yesterday (2013-11-11) on a trade any used 360/PS3/WiiU game for a new copy of BF4 (among others). (Traded Shadowrun, since I don't have XBox Live).

I didn't get much of a chance to play, but the game seemed to be running smoothly at 1680x1050 with most settings on high and all AF and AA settings off. A world of difference from beta. I did notice the load times seemed atrocious, even more so then BF3. I'll try and defrag my hard drive tonight, and I may try and clear some space on a a secondary drive to run it from a different drive then the OS drive. If that doesn't help, and my RAM usage isn't exceeding my physical RAM (have to check tonight), I'm leaning towards getting an SSD at Christmas.

Any one already upgraded to premium and have a spare China Rising key from the deluxe addition to spare?
 
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