How would you upgrade this?

[CAM]

My rig has been suffering from stuttering and low framerate on newer games lately. Lighting is especially bad and kills FPS whilst titles like BF3 or the new Saints Row require quad-core as the industry shifts away from dual core.

 

So how would you upgrade this PC? I am trying to work out if it is easier to upgrade or buy a new rig outright! Sadly I have no idea what motherboard I have (not that I am too confident in replacing that or the CPU!)...

 

AMD Phenom II X2 3GHz (unlocked to 3 cores)

8GB RAM

nVidia GTX275

On-board sound

[HaleStorm]

upgrade Graphics to maybe a GTX650 or GTX660 that will give you the main boost of performance you need

 

without being to expensive

 

And if your motherboard will take AM3+ CPUs then perhaps something like this AMD Piledriver FX-6 will give you that extra oomph needed for running more multi-core stuff

Edited August 9, 2013 by HaleStorm

[Kitkatninja]

You haven't listed your motherboard or the type of ram that you're using, plus also the PSU is also important

 

You may find that purchasing a AMD CPU with built in GPU, eg the AMD APU A10 6800K (that has a HD 8670D) with a compat motherboard and compat ram (if your current ram isn't), may be a cheaper option than upgrading your GC and Processor separately (but it does really depend on your upgrade choices/spec and budget).

Edited August 9, 2013 by Kitkatninja

[CAM]

I'll be honest, I have no clue what RAM and motherboard I have as I have long since thrown out the manuals etc.

 

Oh god I'm turning into an end user. D:

[Domino]

Download CPU-Z and that should tell you EVERYTHING EVAAARRRR CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

[CAM]

OK this is the stuff reported back by CPU-Z:

 

AMD Phenom II X2 B50 3.1GHz (Bumped up to 3 core).

ASUS M4A77TD Motherboard

8GB DDR3 667MHz

nVidia 896MB GTX275

[mrbios]

Biggest difference purely for gaming would be a new graphics card without a doubt, but that said it depends how much you're looking to spend as to what you replace and what you replace it with.

[CAM]

I just priced up a new processor and mobo with a friend and...ouch! I will probably get a GTX660 then do the motherboard upgrade. If performance with the Phenom is acceptable then I won't bother ripping it out.

[CAM]

Update: Almost pay day and I am shopping around!

 

Thinking of the following:

- Fan (with pre-applied paste) Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 Intel and AMD Socket.. | Ebuyer.com

- FX-6350 AMD FX-6350 Socket AM3+ 3.9GHz 14MB Cache Retail Boxed.. | Ebuyer.com

- Recommended AM3+ Motherboard Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 Socket AM3+ 7.1 Channel Audio ATX.. | Ebuyer.com

 

What do you think? I was considering the A10 APU but I already have a GTX760 card since posting which proved quite awesome.

[mrbios]

Personally i reckon you'd be better off with this:

Intel Core i3 4130 3.40GHz Socket 1150 3MB Cache.. | Ebuyer.com

Asus B85 Plus Socket 1150 DVI D-Sub 8-Channel HD Audio.. | Ebuyer.com

 

faster single threaded performance, much much lower energy usage, better motherboard and loads more scope for massive performance improvements should you need it. Obviously if you happened to have an extra £40 then the i5 4430 would kick the gonads off that AMD cpu.

[Garacesh]

You may find that purchasing a AMD CPU with built in GPU, eg the AMD APU A10 6800K (that has a HD 8670D) with a compat motherboard and compat ram (if your current ram isn't), may be a cheaper option than upgrading your GC and Processor separately (but it does really depend on your upgrade choices/spec and budget).

Built myself an A10 rig ~6 months ago. Hasn't let me down at all. I don't particularly thrash it, most recent games I've played are DOTA 2, BF3, Saints Row 3, so hardly 'brand spanking new', but they run wonderfully at max settings.

 

ASUS F2A55 sFM2 Motherboard, AMD A10 5800K Black Edition CPU with Corsair H60 watercooler, 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM, 1GB MSI HD7850 Graphics Card and a 2TB Western Digital SATA3 HDD, all wired up to a SStone Strider ST60F-ES 600W PSU. Got a case and some USB speakers with it, too, but they're less important. Cost me around £650

[Sunnyknight]

Copy my rig.

 

See and feel the difference. Only thing i might change is the HDD. Buy a Samsung, or the OCZ pci-e hdd.

 

Also, @CAM, if you buy a AMD, you'll miss out on about 50 - 70fps on most games. Just a heads up.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Sunnyknight

[sonofsanta]

Also, @CAM, if you buy a AMD, you'll miss out on about 50 - 70fps on most games. Just a heads up.

 

[citation needed]

 

EDIT: just to add, if you can get a Phenom II X4 it will be plenty fine. I have a Phenom II X4 965, stock-clocked at 3.4GHz, with a new Geforce 680. The CPU is what is limiting my system now - I can watch the graph in Battlefield 3 and see it happening. My FPS is still around 80-90 with never a dip below 60, with everything dialled all the way up. A quad core Phenom II is just fine.

 

I suspect a lot of what was limiting you with the 275 was the amount of VRAM. 760 is still a good GPU, although there's been some cracking deals on 680s and 7970s recently

Edited September 24, 2013 by sonofsanta

[3s-gtech]

^^Totally disagree with you @Sunnyknight - there's so many variables there I don't know where to start. 50-70fps? More like 5-7.

 

Your current mobo won't take an A series APU, it's on AM3. It may take an AM3+ (Bulldozer or Piledriver) CPU. A Phenom II x4 or x6 will be a decent upgrade if you stuck with your current rig, still some x4s kicking around in the channel.

 

GPU upgrade will make the most difference, as stated. An Intel system (like for like) will give you better performance no doubt though.

[Sunnyknight]

@3s-gtech

 

I moved from a high end AMD rig, to a high end (at the time) Intel rig.

 

Guild wars 2:-

 

Amd - 40fps tops

Intel - 110 with ease

 

BF3:-

 

Amd - 50fps - 70fps

Intel - 150+ constant

 

Arma 2:-

 

Amd - 20 - 40 fps

Intel - 90+

 

League Of legends:-

 

Amd - 60 - 70

Intel - 130+

 

This is with a straight CPU + Mobo swap. I could go on, but... i'm tired lol

[3s-gtech]

Yes, but swapping the CPU and mobo directly will mean a rebuild of Windows (unless you want the fun of clearing out the drivers and hoping you can get it to boot). Therefore, you had a different Windows install. Even my antiquated AMD setup with a GTX 680 would not be beaten by those margins versus a Haswell i7, on a like for like fresh OS install.

 

Personal experience is valuable, but not definitive!

[mrbios]

@3s-gtech

 

I moved from a high end AMD rig, to a high end (at the time) Intel rig.

 

Guild wars 2:-

 

Amd - 40fps tops

Intel - 110 with ease

 

BF3:-

 

Amd - 50fps - 70fps

Intel - 150+ constant

 

Arma 2:-

 

Amd - 20 - 40 fps

Intel - 90+

 

League Of legends:-

 

Amd - 60 - 70

Intel - 130+

 

This is with a straight CPU + Mobo swap. I could go on, but... i'm tired lol

 

I'd argue that you had some sort of driver issue or messy windows install on your AMD machine. Though at the same time i completely agree with you that Intel would be better for a gaming machine than AMD would, I can't think of a single reason to build an AMD machine for a gaming PC that would be beneficial over an Intel one. Performance, energy use, drivers, even price if we talk single threaded only performance like for like (which 99% of games are) are all better on an Intel system at the moment.

[CAM]

[citation needed]

 

EDIT: just to add, if you can get a Phenom II X4 it will be plenty fine. I have a Phenom II X4 965, stock-clocked at 3.4GHz, with a new Geforce 680. The CPU is what is limiting my system now - I can watch the graph in Battlefield 3 and see it happening. My FPS is still around 80-90 with never a dip below 60, with everything dialled all the way up. A quad core Phenom II is just fine.

 

I suspect a lot of what was limiting you with the 275 was the amount of VRAM. 760 is still a good GPU, although there's been some cracking deals on 680s and 7970s recently

 

It's an AM3 board so I can just put another Phenom in? I'm technically running an X4 at the moment but it isn't a true X4 since it involved unlocking the fourth dodgy core that spams the Event log with Cache Hierarchy Error so I don't quite think it is going full pelt.

[3s-gtech]

With AM3, you can even put a Thuban core Phenom II (x4 cores with the 960T or x6 with the 1090T etc). These brought some more advances to the architecture, including Turbo-Core. They're fairly quick, and beat out Bulldozer and Piledriver in some benchmarks.

[sonofsanta]

It's an AM3 board so I can just put another Phenom in? I'm technically running an X4 at the moment but it isn't a true X4 since it involved unlocking the fourth dodgy core that spams the Event log with Cache Hierarchy Error so I don't quite think it is going full pelt.

 

Anything Phenom II will slot in. Replacing a CPU isn't difficult, just a case of taking off the cooler, undoing the lever and lifting the old CPU out. If you're going to re-use your existing cooler you'll want some new thermal paste (clean all the old gunk off first), but it's not much more involved than any other component swap.

 

See what eBay may bring, there doesn't seem to be any stock left at the usual suspects.

 

See how you run with your existing CPU first though, it may not bring you many gains now you've upped your GPU.

[HaleStorm]

Id say your AMD install was messed up with those kind of framerates....see my sig for my AMD spec, I get aroun 80fps in BF3 and in 1080p you wont notice a massive difference in any framerate over 60 because your eyes just dont detect the difference

 

Its a shame its not an AM3+ slot because the FX range are pretty good especially for the price...perhaps the highest phenom you can get your hands on is the best bet, even the highest end x4s are reasonably priced now

Edited September 25, 2013 by HaleStorm

[X-13]

you wont notice a massive difference in any framerate over 60 because your eyes just dont detect the difference

 

I don't think I can tell the difference if it's above 30FPS... But that may be because I've never really managed to get anything higher than 40FPS.

 

[One time, I got 120FPS on WoW. Then they did an update... Bye, awesome FPS.]

[Garacesh]

I'm commonly clocking at least 60fps as a minimum on my rig (spec on previous page) and that's an AMD

[HaleStorm]

Having Windows 8 Installed helps your Framerate too...i saw a boost of 10-15fps on W8 over W7