Decision Time!

Hank Scorpio

Hi all

Currently i have a decision to make , upgrade or buy a new rig alltogether

Current specs

Q8200 2.33 Quad core
Geforce 9500GS 512MB
3 GB of standard DDR2 Ram

I bought this PC a while ago for about 400 euro which i felt was decent value. It runs most new games but struggles on high settings

My budget is about 450e at the moment. I could also sell this PC to help, might get around 250/300 for it

I was thinking of upgrading the gfx card to a 4780 or something similar, and maybe buying better ram. Wont be replacing the CPU.

Would it make better sence to sell this machine and buy a new rig alltogether? I use the machine for sufting/playing games like fallout3/farcry2 and for playing poker

Thoughts please!

Solitaire

If the BIOS allows for overclocking you might be able to get a lot more grunt out of an admittedly pretty weak CPU. Its not terrible, but it really needs a little more oomph in games. Even if you don't get much past 2.8GHz it'd be an improvement.

If you're not playing games at 1080p resolutions then you can get a HD4850 and save a bundle. But in any case have a good look at your PSU and tell us all about it. Literally. You might need a new one, but hopefully you should have enough.

kfish2oo2

3GBs of RAM is ringing some bells for me. You should always have matched RAM sticks (same brand, same clock, same size) in matching RAM slots (which are color coded) to fully take advantage of the dual channel nature of DDR2. I reckon your CPU is just fine, and if I remember correctly the 8XXX series overclock extremely well. What motherboard do you have?

If your motherboard allows for overclocking, I would recommend the following upgrades:
1. 2X2GB RAM. I'm quite fond or Crucial, OCZ and G. Skill RAM. Here's a good pair.
2. A decent CPU cooler like this
3. 2x HD4870 in crossfire

Total: €400. With that rig, I would expect your PC to pretty much take any game around and rape it hard. (In a good way.... :rolleyes: )

Solitaire

kfish2oo2 wrote:

if I remember correctly the 8XXX series overclock extremely well

They're mobo-limited due to very low multipliers. That Q8200 has a miserable x7 mult, so even if the mobo could hold stable at 400MHz (FSB1600, and a lot of cheap and OEM parts can barely manage Q8X00's native FSB1333!) it would only scrape 2.8GHz. That said, 2.8GHz would probably be a lot more comfortable than 2.33GHz...

Keep an eye on temps with CoreTemp. If you can't maintain stability then try to raise CPU voltage a tiny bit in the BIOS and see what temps you get when checking stability with torture testing. If you get up to 2.8GHz by some miracle the CPU may be getting a bit hot under the collar which would neccessitate buying a decent CPU cooler. If you can't bump up the voltage then odds are you're stuck with a nasty OEM mobo and will have to bin either it or the CPU What brand is your comp anyway? Sounds like a Dell or a Tevion/Medion Group. If the latter you're SOL and will have to replace at least the mobo+CPU cooler (or a pricey new CPU) and PSU as well as the RAM and graphics card. If its Medion/Tevion you might be lucky - most have at least some OC options in the BIOS and some even start life with an okayish aftermarket CPU cooler (seriously!). But the PSU will need careful checking in any case if you want to get a graphics card better than a HD4830

HD4870X2 (either as a single card or as CF'd HD4870s) is utter overkill. Hell, even a single HD4870 1GB can handle almost anything with reasonable quality and fps at 1080p+! And even one HD4870 may end up being CPU-bottlenecked if the Q8200 isn't OC'd at least a little or replaced completely.

kfish2oo2

Solitaire wrote: »

They're mobo-limited due to very low multipliers. That Q8200 has a miserable x7 mult, so even if the mobo could hold stable at 400MHz (FSB1600, and a lot of cheap and OEM parts can barely manage Q8X00's native FSB1333!) it would only scrape 2.8GHz. That said, 2.8GHz would probably be a lot more comfortable than 2.33GHz...

Keep an eye on temps with CoreTemp. If you can't maintain stability then try to raise CPU voltage a tiny bit in the BIOS and see what temps you get when checking stability with torture testing. If you get up to 2.8GHz by some miracle the CPU may be getting a bit hot under the collar which would neccessitate buying a decent CPU cooler. If you can't bump up the voltage then odds are you're stuck with a nasty OEM mobo and will have to bin either it or the CPU What brand is your comp anyway? Sounds like a Dell or a Tevion/Medion Group. If the latter you're SOL and will have to replace at least the mobo+CPU cooler (or a pricey new CPU) and PSU as well as the RAM and graphics card. If its Medion/Tevion you might be lucky - most have at least some OC options in the BIOS and some even start life with an okayish aftermarket CPU cooler (seriously!). But the PSU will need careful checking in any case if you want to get a graphics card better than a HD4830

HD4870X2 (either as a single card or as CF'd HD4870s) is utter overkill. Hell, even a single HD4870 1GB can handle almost anything with reasonable quality and fps at 1080p+! And even one HD4870 may end up being CPU-bottlenecked if the Q8200 isn't OC'd at least a little or replaced completely.

Ah, I missed the Q part. The Dual Core 8XXX series is what I was thinking of. And hey, my motto is: overkill today, adequate tomorrow, useless the day after!

Solitaire

kfish2oo2 wrote:

And hey, my motto is: overkill today, adequate tomorrow, useless the day after!

Sorry, you can't use that one. The entire IT industry copyrighted that motto years ago

kfish2oo2

Solitaire wrote: »

Sorry, you can't use that one. The entire IT industry copyrighted that motto years ago

Hahaha precisely my point :P

In all seriousness though, to the OP: If you slap a 4850 or 4870 into your rig (and have a motherboard with 2x PCIe slots and true 16x16bit like the X38 or above) that should handle most new games. And when it comes to you starting to feel a lag in performance in a few months/years, slap a second card in there and WHAM. Near double performance.

EDIT: Oh, and one little thing... I dont think a 4870 will be bottlenecked by the CPU. I'm running a Intel E6750 at stock with a 512MB 4870 and so far I've been getting a fantastic gaming experience. Haven't come across a game yet thats hurt by the CPU.

StopNotWorking

Never played GTAIV I take it.:pac:

Solitaire

I'm running an E5200 OCd to 3.33GHz and my HD4830 (also OCd - 650/1900MHz) is CPU-limited at 39fps@1280*1024 :eek: PHEAR GTA4!!1!

kfish2oo2

Solitaire wrote: »

I'm running an E5200 OCd to 3.33GHz and my HD4830 (also OCd - 650/1900MHz) is CPU-limited at 39fps@1280*1024 :eek: PHEAR GTA4!!1!

Thats actually a good FPS for GTA:IV, regardless of your setup. GTA:IV is, without a doubt, the single worst optimized game port I have ever come across. I know of a guy who had a Core i7 920, 6GB of RAM and a 1GB 4870 and he was hovering around 50fps

Back on topic: OP, what is your PC? Prebuilt or self built? What motherboard are you running?