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Upgrading for BF3, Saints Row: The Third

I

Iteritron

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Oct 12, 2010
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So a buddy of mine got me a copy of Battlefield 3 for Christmas so we could play together but up until this latest patch it was totally unplayable on my machine (his old gaming rig that he replaced and passed down to me). Trying to pin down the cause of the huge fps drops I was getting (from 30 fps into single digits when people would come on screen) I upgraded my graphics card from the 9800 GTX+ that was in here to a 560 TI OC and found that NOTHING CHANGED! I was still getting the same FPS (at 1080p) and the same drops. The latest patches did a little to alleviate this and now I can sort of play Battlefield at 30fps that's pretty stable, but after the most recent steam sale I picked up Saints Row: The Third and in outdoor areas I'm getting the same sort of FPS drops (although not as bad) driving around and such.

Now given that my 560TI is plenty powerful, I've talked to various people and come to the conclusion that my processor/mobo may just be a little too old to run these new games that are really cpu intensive and I want to know the best and possible cheapest way to upgrade while not buying an entirely new rig.

So first off, my current rig:
E8400 Core2Duo 3.0ghz
560 Ti OC 1GB
I'm not sure what the mobo is, but I'm going to have to upgrade this if I upgrade the CPU, so it doesn't really matter.
I've got 8GB RAM in here and since this was built as a gaming rig I assume it was the best ram (or near to it) that you could get at the time he got the Core2Duo. So DDR 2 at least, possibly DDR3? Do I need to replace this when I upgrade the mobo/cpu? It's 4x2gb of gskill ram with dark metallic blue heatsinks.
550w Corsair PSU

So what's the cheapest, most cost-effective upgrade path I can do with this machine?

I was thinking of getting a 2500K core i-5 and a p8z68 mobo from new egg for about $350 shipped and just upgrading that way, since I've heard great things about it, but I'm not sure if I need to get new ram too or if I can just go with what I got. I don't need hard drives or a new case or optical drives and I think I can squeak by with my current PSU, but yeah, help me out here. Will this be a noticible upgrade? Will I be able to run Saints Row and BF3 at 1080p at medium or above with a stable 50-60 fps with this new rig?

As for the questions:
1.This upgrade is mainly to play the new really cpu-intensive games that my core2duo chokes on.
2. I have no set budget, but I'd like the best bang for my buck and don't want to spend more than say, $500 if possible.
3. I live in El Paso TX right now. I was planning to order from newegg or amazon, whoever had the cheapest parts and best shipping/service, basically.
4. I'm pretty sure I only need a new mobo/cpu combo and possibly a HSF, too, I guess. But I may need RAM and/or a new PSU too.
5. I'll overclock if it's easy and stable and provides a noticible benefit in those games I mentioned.
6. I try to run everything at native res of my monitor (1080p) so higher and lower resolutions and/or multiscreen stuff doesn't matter to me right now.
7. I want to do this ASAP UNLESS there's going to be a huge cpu/mobo revision around the corner (2-3 months) that's really worth waiting for.
8. on the motherboard... I just need SATA for my hard drives my dvd-rw drive is IDE I think. (I can toss the IDE drive for a sata drive if need be. They're pretty cheap, right?)
9. I have a license for windows home 64bit that I can use. I assume it will complain that my mobo/hardware is different, but I can just call that number and get an unlock, right?

Hope that answers most of your questions and I look forward to some help here.
 
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yes, your currently CPU is definitely holding you back, since BF3 is a very processor intensive game, especially in multiplayer. If you have the budget, then a i5-2500k plus an asus P8Z68V vanilla is definitely a great choice for upgrade.

Your current RAM is plenty for gaming, and the 560 Ti will run BF3 and Saints Row at medium and probably even high no problem at 1080p. Your power supply is on the low side, but since its a Corsair it should be up to the job.
 
Do you need the integrated grahpics and SSD caching support from the Z68? Otherwise you can get closer to $350 with a P67 board. Something like this:

$319 Intel 2500K and MSI P67A-G43 (B3)
$44 G.Skill Sniper 8GB DDR3-1600
$30 CoolerMaster Hyper 212+
 
^^
saints row the third just seems to run pretty crappy imo, you'll be off to a great start with a 2500k and your 560ti
 
So I've done some thinking and here's what I'm looking at:

$45 8Gb GSkill Ripjaw DDR3 1600
$122 ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 Motherboard
$220 Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz

and potentially

$65 CORSAIR CWCH60 Hydro Series H60
$60 Coolermaster HAF 912 Case

I'm loooking at the H60 because I want something that can keep an OC'd 2500k cool, but I'd rather not have a huge cpu cooler hanging off my motherboard. And I'm considering that case because my current case is a hand me down and there's some bent metal and the issue of spare parts that I don't have, so replacing all this stuff might end up being a nightmare if I don't get a new case.

The only thing I'm not too sure of is whether or not that ASRock mobo is any good or if there is a better/cheaper alternative. I actually want SSD caching, because I plan to upgrade to an SSD in the future.

If I do indeed go with an H60 and the HAF 912, what's the best way to mount fans and deal with airflow? As I understand it, I'll be replacing the back fan with the H60's fan (which will push air out of the case, just like the original fan would have) and then attaching the radiator to that. I was thinking of getting another fan to mount on the front of the radiator (push/pull setup?) and putting two 120mm fans at the front of the case. Would that be enough or should I go with 1-2 120mm fans on the top too? Would these best be pulling air into the case or pushing it out?
 
ASRock has a shorter warranty than the other major manufacturers, and at least according to the [H] reviews, is of lower quality. If you have no intention of going CrossFire/SLI you can get something along the lines of the Asus P8Z68-V LE or LX (they only do x16x4 so aren't a good choice for multi-GPU setups).
 
I wouldn't bother with a Corsair H60 unless you plan on pushing your processor past the 5.0GHz mark. Keep in mind that will most likely shorten the lifespan of your processor. Instead, get the CM Hyper 212+, it doesn't have the same bling/wow factor as the H60, but keeps the i5 just about as cool (you'll probably only see a diff of less than 5 degrees between the 212+ and H60 in real world applications).
 
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