Upgrade components or new build for BF4?

MayoForSam

I'm looking at upgrading my PC so that I can play BF4 on medium to high settings at 1080p. My current set-up is not really cutting the mustard, I have tried some CPU overclocking but am getting some instability at around 3.8 MHz, also I'm not sure if 4GB of RAM is sufficient for BF4 (stuttering won't go away even on low-to-medium settings at reduce resolution). My CPU cooler is also blocking one of the RAM slots on my MB so adding extra RAM won't be easy.

1. What is your budget? €300-ish plus anything raised by selling old components

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming, mainly BF4 but also Titanfall in 2014

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No, I have a W7 64-bit license, but might upgrade to Windows 8 if it gives me a performance increase

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Yes, any parts from my current set-up - Phenom II X4 965 BE, Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, MSI 770-C45, 4GB Corsair Twin3X4096-1333C9A DDR3, [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica][SIZE=-1]Crucial 256GB M4[/SIZE][/FONT]SSD, Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB, XFX Core Edition PR550W PSU, EVGA GTX 650 Ti Boost SC 1GB GDDR5, DVD-RW, Cooler Master Elite RC-332 (front audio ports are worn)


5. Do you need a monitor? No, my current 21" is fine

5a. If yes, what size do you need. n/a

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1080p, no upgrade planned

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Have keyboard and mouse

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes, nothing too ambitious though

8. How can you pay? CC, bank transfer, whatever

9. When are you purchasing? In time for Christmas hopefully, but willing to wait if something significant is around the corner e.g. Mantle

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Self-build

BloodBath

This could get you started for a new build anyway. You have to go through http://geizhals.de/ to get the discounted prices shown.

You could maybe sell your ram with your current parts and buy a matching 8gb kit instead of the extra 4gb below.

I'd assume you could get around €100 for the parts these would be replacing. If you could get around 100 for the card as well you could grab a 2gb 7870 with a decent cooler and overclock it.

Item|Price
AMD FX-8320 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€128.91
Gigabyte GA-970-UD3P, AMD 970, AM3+, ATX|€71.79
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€26.06
4GB Corsair Valueselect DDR3-1333 CL9|€32.34
Zalman Z3-Plus Midi-Tower - schwarz, ohne Netzteil|€36.94
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€315.03

SterlingArcher

Sell the 650ti for 100/120 get a 7870 as blood suggested for think 135 euro?

BloodBath

Yeah there's a 2gb 7870 on pixmania for €135 at the moment. Generic stock cooler but still a bargain at that price.

MayoForSam

That VTX3D brand doesn't get great reviews on Amazon, fan is noisy apparently so I might delay replacing the graphics card.

I will probably go ahead with the CPU, MB and RAM upgrade though.

marco_polo

If you are stuttering at low resolution/detail I suspect that 4GB RAM might well be your most immediate problem TBH, what is the memory usage while playing BF4 (if you can get the the Commit (GB) figure as well).

MayoForSam

marco_polo wrote: »

If you are stuttering at low resolution/detail I suspect that 4GB RAM might well be your most immediate problem TBH, what is the memory usage while playing BF4 (if you can get the the Commit (GB) figure as well).

Yes, I have noticed my RAM tending to max out while playing and after doing a spot of research, apparently 4GB of RAM is insufficient to run BF4 smoothly. I'll try and get 4GB of extra RAM and shoehorn it in somehow (might try turning my cooler through 90 degrees to see if the RAM will slot in) before I upgrade anything.

marco_polo

MayoForSam wrote: »

Yes, I have noticed my RAM tending to max out while playing and after doing a spot of research, apparently 4GB of RAM is insufficient to run BF4 smoothly. I'll try and get 4GB of extra RAM and shoehorn it in somehow (might try turning my cooler through 90 degrees to see if the RAM will slot in) before I upgrade anything.

It probably trashing the page file on disk alright. Supposedly BF4 will not even launch on a 4GB system without a pagefile enabled which suggests it wants reserve a fair chunk of memory.

Some coolers can't be turned 90 degrees on an AM3 board (the Hyper 212 is one, not sure about Freezer 7). If that is the case you might be as well off letting the 4GB go for 20-25 euro on adverts and just getting a new 2X4GB Kit