Pc upgrade?

Richard tea

Hello lads & lassies,

I want to get an idea if ill need a pc upgrade or not for the upcoming GTA 5 release. I know it hasnt been announced for the pc yet ( or ever ) but I feel that they will release it for the pc at some stage.

Im not looking for 100% eye pleasing graphics or anything. Just a pc that would run the game at above average graphics.

Below is my currant spec pc I got from Ankermann about 3 years ago.

I dont need a monitor, keyboard or mouse. Budget is tight so 200 euro is prob my limit. One thing I would really want is a SSD.

So are there any tweaks or upgrades that would give my pc a bit more life for the future?

Thanks all

BloodBath

It's getting on on a bit. GTA games tend to be pretty cpu reliant. Depending on how it's coded and how many cores it uses will dictate how well it does. If it uses 4 cores well you should be ok. Those q6600's are great overclockers if you have the right mainboard and cpu cooler if you wanted to squeeze a bit more performance out of it. Your board supports overclocking anyway.

Saying that a gpu would also help. Your card looks fairly dated and may struggle.

I noticed your monitor is set to 16 bit color. You should change it to 32 bit if you can for better color reproduction.

What computer case is it? What power supply?

I would say your best bet would be to buy a decent cpu cooler to overclock the cpu and a new graphics card. That should give you a lot of extra power.

These parts, assuming they will fit your case and that you have the power would do nicely. You should also get some free games with the card if you email them and ask for the game codes.

Item|Price
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€29.68
MSI R7790-1GD5/OC, 1024MB DDR5, PCI-Express|€108.97
SanDisk SSD 64GB 6,4cm S-ATA 600|€50.68
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€208.32

SweepTheLeg

For €200 you could buy a PS3 to play GTA5 when it's released :P


If not then overclocking your CPU and a new GPU like Bloodbath recommended is the best option.

Richard tea

Thanks lads.

I have a 750w power supply. Not sure what case I have. It was a standard ankermann case. It has plenty of free slots ? I can post a internal pic of the pc if that would help?

BloodBath

Internal and external pics would help.

Richard tea

All i have in the pc in a micro sd card reader and a dvd burner then just the gfx card on the motherboard.

BloodBath

You should measure the clearance between the cpu and the case door to see if that cooler would fit.

How many case fans are on that case? Is there any unused case fan mounts? The airflow doesn't look the best but the cpu cooler would help a lot regardless.

Richard tea

BloodBath wrote: »

You should measure the clearance between the cpu and the case door to see if that cooler would fit.

How many case fans are on that case? Is there any unused case fan mounts? The airflow doesn't look the best but the cpu cooler would help a lot regardless.

Clearance from cpu to case is about 14 cm and the cooler is 15.9 cm so it wont fit. Is there a smaller type cpu cooler?

There are 2 case fans and there is another fan connection if needed.

Can that SSD be used in conjunction with my exiting normal hard drive?

BloodBath

This should do the trick then. I'd throw in another case fan as well then. Whatever size it is.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/Intel+AMD/51759/Alpenf%C3%B6hn+Sella+-+92mm%2C+AMD+Intel.article

The ssd will work but it will be a little limited by your older sata connections. The transfer speeds on a smaller ssd like that won't really be much higher than sata1 speeds anyway. It's random access will still be hundreds of times faster than a hdd and would improve your windows and programs performance and speed by a lot.

You could either do that or grab a 1tb WD caviar blue hdd. You will need another sata cable if you don't have one spare.

Richard tea

BloodBath wrote: »

This should do the trick then. I'd throw in another case fan as well then. Whatever size it is.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/Intel+AMD/51759/Alpenf%C3%B6hn+Sella+-+92mm%2C+AMD+Intel.article

The ssd will work but it will be a little limited by your older sata connections. The transfer speeds on a smaller ssd like that won't really be much higher than sata1 speeds anyway. It's random access will still be hundreds of times faster than a hdd and would improve your windows and programs performance and speed by a lot.

You could either do that or grab a 1tb WD caviar blue hdd. You will need another sata cable if you don't have one spare.

Im a little confused. Are you saying my best option would be to get a ssd?

Will I notice a difference between the ssd and the 1tb wd caviar blue hdd?

Thanks for the input so far. Ill hold off ordering anything untill I hear about a release date for GTA 5 ( If ever :rolleyes: )

BloodBath

Both the ssd and hdd would be a lot faster than your older drive I'd say. Sequential speeds on the ssd and the hdd would be about the same but the random i/o speed of the ssd would be hundreds of times faster than the hdd.

It would make your windows and programs experience a lot faster and nicer. You will have to reinstall windows and your programs on the ssd though.

Go for the hdd if you need the space.

If you go for the ssd don't forget to disable hibernation and reduce the page file to 2gb. This will save 16gb of space on the ssd. Monotype has a guide on how to do it in his sig.