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Upgrade(s) for Gaming

M

Maullus

n00b
Joined
Jan 15, 2012
Messages
14
Hey there,

I built my current system in April of '08, primarily for gaming (and, of course, standard surfing and office type stuff). I'll list the specs and then answer the questions from the "Asking for Build Help?" thread. Please let me know if I need to provide more information. I'd say my level of expertise is hovering around 'enthusiastic amateur.' I built the system, but I'm still kind of clueless when it comes to the details of much of this.

MB: Asus P5K-E/Wifi-AP
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz
PSU: OCZ GameXStream 600W
GPU: EVGA Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
RAM: G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB)
HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 750GB 7200 RPM 32Mb Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

So, I've been told that a video card upgrade would be sufficient, but I'm concerned that the rest of my hardware would bottleneck it and prevent me from getting good performance out of a newer card. I've also been experiencing some speaker-pop from several games lately; not constantly, only in certain areas or at certain times. I've got on-board sound, and I was wondering if a sound card might fix that up.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming; SWTOR is the main thing prompting the upgrades. I had to turn most of the settings way down and I still get awful FPS in certain places. I'd like to be able to run Skyrim and SWTOR well.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I don't have a specific budget, but let's say $300 or less? I don't know if I'd even be able to accomplish what I'm trying to do with that, but I guess it's a start.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible?U.S., Atlanta, Georgia

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc.
Video card, I think, if that would actually yield a significant (or even better, dramatic) performance increase.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
For the time being I plan on reusing everything I listed up there. A friend pointed out that it was stupid to build a rig and then wait until I needed to upgrade everything at the same time. He said I should upgrade a piece at a time to keep the system more or less up to date. It's a good idea, so I'm going to try to start with the vid card, and then upgrade the mobo and CPU when I can.


6) Will you be overclocking?
Nope.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
It's an old 19" CRT, 18" display. Highest res is 1600 x 1200, but I usually run it at 1024 x 768. I...uh... I suppose I should probably update all this.


8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Soon. Within the next month or so.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? etc.
Not a clue. For now, not really an issue, I think.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I don't really think this is an issue right now, but I am using Win XP Pro. 32-bit.

I hope I provided enough information. Again, I'm hoping that a video card upgrade (if it's feasible) would significantly improve my performance, and a sound card would eliminate the weird popping/crackling I'm getting intermittently.

Thanks in advance.
 
Hmm, I'm assuming that you're using DDR 2 ram? If you can swing it, I'd go with a 6870 and a Q6600 processor from someone on these forums. If you wanted to spend a little extra cash, I'd recommend getting a i3 2100/Mobo from MC, DDR3 and a 6870.

6870 will be overkill for your res, but it's hard for me to recommend upgrading a LGA 775 rig.
 
If anything, grab a 6870 and a Hyper 212+, then OC that Wolfdale to 3.6GHZ and call it a day, until you can afford to upgrade your mobo/processor/ram.
 
Melon said:
If anything, grab a 6870 and a Hyper 212+, then OC that Wolfdale to 3.6GHZ and call it a day, until you can afford to upgrade your mobo/processor/ram.
Click to expand...

The E6750 is a Conroe, not a Wolfdale. 3.6Ghz is still possible but harder to do so. But I do agree with you: Due to the OP's budget and the fact that the socket 775 is a complete dead-end and dead platform, I don't recommend upgrading the CPU to another socket 775 CPU.

Maullus, your best bet is to OC that CPU, buy a new card and PSU, and wait till you can afford a full CPU + mobo + RAM upgrade (roughly $300 to $400 for Intel). That CPU is already a bottleneck for many new cards. As such, overclocking will allievate/diminish/mitigate some of that bottleneck. Though even with an OC, that CPU would still be a bottleneck.

However, even with the bottleneck, a new GPU, like the HD 6870 for example, should still offer significant performance improvements over the 8800GT. Hell I saw significant performance improvement with the HD 6850 over the 8800GT so the HD 6870 should do just nicely.

Note that I said new PSU as well: Your current PSU wasn't a good choice back in 2008 on account of it only being capable of 500W and even then offering so-so performance. So clost to 4 years later, it's definitely not a good PSU for a modern system as it may not even be capable of its original 500W capability.

So I recommend the following upgrades:
$180 - XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$70 - Seasonic S121II 620 620W PSU
----
Total: $250 shipped.

Also what case do you have?
 
Danny Bui said:
The E6750 is a Conroe, not a Wolfdale. 3.6Ghz is still possible but harder to do so. But I do agree with you: Due to the OP's budget and the fact that the socket 775 is a complete dead-end and dead platform, I don't recommend upgrading the CPU to another socket 775 CPU.

Maullus, your best bet is to OC that CPU, buy a new card and PSU, and wait till you can afford a full CPU + mobo + RAM upgrade (roughly $300 to $400 for Intel). That CPU is already a bottleneck for many new cards. As such, overclocking will allievate/diminish/mitigate some of that bottleneck. Though even with an OC, that CPU would still be a bottleneck.

However, even with the bottleneck, a new GPU, like the HD 6870 for example, should still offer significant performance improvements over the 8800GT. Hell I saw significant performance improvement with the HD 6850 over the 8800GT so the HD 6870 should do just nicely.

Note that I said new PSU as well: Your current PSU wasn't a good choice back in 2008 on account of it only being capable of 500W and even then offering so-so performance. So clost to 4 years later, it's definitely not a good PSU for a modern system as it may not even be capable of its original 500W capability.

So I recommend the following upgrades:
$180 - XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$70 - Seasonic S121II 620 620W PSU
----
Total: $250 shipped.

Also what case do you have?
Click to expand...

Ah, figured the E6750 was the Wolfdale, as I've got the E6300, which is. (That's what I get for not Googling, haha.)

You can get the CPU/Mobo combo much cheaper if you go to a Micro Center while they're having one of their frequent promotions. I was able to pick up a Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 + Sandy Bridge i3 2100 for $171 after tax, which is a steal. Combine that with this ram (coupon code: EMCNJJH29) and you've got a plat form upgrade for $200. You could get a cheaper board for $50 less, if you didn't want Sata III, USB 3.0, or CFX.
 
Wow, thanks. You guys rock; I feel a bit out of my depth here, but I definitely want to learn. Anyway, I forgot to mention my case and the cpu cooler I bought because, for some odd reason, it's not on the old invoice I have.

Case: Cooler Master Chassis CM 690
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm

Melon, yea, sorry, the RAM is 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM... description also says DDR2 800 (PC2 6400). Not sure what that means, but there it is.

I'm not quite ready to do an overhaul; wife is finishing up nursing school, so our belts have been just a notch tight. I can swing a video card and PSU, though. Do you folks still think I need to replace the CPU cooler with the Hyper 212? It's not a big expense, but I'm not sure if it's strictly better than the one I listed above.

I imagine I can find a decent guide to overclocking on these forums; on a slightly unrelated note (and at the risk of dramatically oversimplifying things), I don't suppose anyone could point me towards a good resource for learning more about all this? Like I said, once the conversation moves beyond some pretty basic details I'm clueless but very interested in learning (so I don't have to keep pestering people for guidance).

Anyway, tentative plan is to follow the advice in this thread: snag a 6870, a sound card for that little issue, a new PSU, and a cooler if still needed. Overclock the CPU and try to stretch out the mobo/cpu platform until I'm reading to replace those as well.

Once again, at the risk of gushing, thanks. Really appreciate it.
 
Maullus said:
I'm not quite ready to do an overhaul; wife is finishing up nursing school, so our belts have been just a notch tight. I can swing a video card and PSU, though. Do you folks still think I need to replace the CPU cooler with the Hyper 212? It's not a big expense, but I'm not sure if it's strictly better than the one I listed above.
Click to expand...
The Hyper 212+ is significantly better than the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. However, the old Freezer 7 Pro is stilll a decent enough HSF for overclocking. I had that exact HSF and I was able to hit 3.2Ghz with my ol' E6400.

Maullus said:
I imagine I can find a decent guide to overclocking on these forums; on a slightly unrelated note (and at the risk of dramatically oversimplifying things), I don't suppose anyone could point me towards a good resource for learning more about all this? Like I said, once the conversation moves beyond some pretty basic details I'm clueless but very interested in learning (so I don't have to keep pestering people for guidance).
Click to expand...

This might not help considering that you have an Asus mobo but it helped me when I had a Gigabyte mobo:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1169366
 
Danny Bui said:
The Hyper 212+ is significantly better than the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. However, the old Freezer 7 Pro is stilll a decent enough HSF for overclocking. I had that exact HSF and I was able to hit 3.2Ghz with my ol' E6400.



This might not help considering that you have an Asus mobo but it helped me when I had a Gigabyte mobo:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1169366
Click to expand...

You'll be able to overclock that CPU with no problems if you stick with the Freezer 7 Pro. I'm running an E6300 Wolfdale 2.8 with the stock cooler @ 3.6GHZ, never hitting above 64c under full load -- just make sure you have your case fans positioned in an optimal air flow orientation.

Also, the PSU you have now should be adequate at powering that 6870, as it uses 44w more than your 8800GT; Upgrade only if you're nervous about running it.

The Antec 620 is the same as the Seasonic 620 that Danny linked, I'd get whichever you prefer.


I also noticed that you're running a 32bit OS with 4GB of RAM. 32bit OS' can only utilize up to 3.5GB of RAM, so I'd recommend using your product key on a 64bit copy of XP. (Not sure if you can do that, as I've always purchased 64bit OS's and the missing 500MB of RAM isn't going to matter, at all.)
 
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