My Gaming Setup... What's Next?

casual swift · Oct 22, 2010, 05:17 PM

Hi everyone!

I'm a new member and just started to get into pc gaming about 2 months ago. I built the system myself with used inexpensive parts where I could. So far I'm pretty happy. (I'm hoping everyone can see my specs in my profile so I don't have to type it out here...I'm on my iPhone)

Anyways, I just put the psu and gpu in last night... Loaded up crysis and was impressed, but i still feel like I could use a little more performance. Medium high resolutions with highest settings and AA 8x I'm still have some parts bog down a bit. I guess my question is based on what I have now, where do you guys see room for improvement in my setup? Faster CPU? Second vid card? More ram?

Thanks in advance!

Ps great site... I'm learning lots.

entropy13 · Oct 22, 2010, 05:21 PM

It would all depend on your budget and patience. Maybe waiting for the 6900 series would be worth it.

[Ion] · Oct 22, 2010, 05:24 PM

I'd start off by picking up an aftermarket cooler and overclocking that i5. Also, see what sort of overclock you could get on the video card.

casual swift · Oct 22, 2010, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by entropy13

It would all depend on your budget and patience. Maybe waiting for the 6900 series would be worth it.

Not really an option right now as I JUST picked up this 5870. I don't really have a budget because I don't know what I'm buying.

casual swift · Oct 22, 2010, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [Ion]

I'd start off by picking up an aftermarket cooler and overclocking that i5. Also, see what sort of overclock you could get on the video card.

Good call... Ill get this oc'ed and take it from there.

KingPing · Oct 22, 2010, 05:40 PM

enabling 8x AA

in Crysis = bye bye to your frame rate, i use 2x AA max, and with your monitor 8x AA is pointless, dont't upgrade anything, just lower the AA

erocker · Oct 22, 2010, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [Ion]

I'd start off by picking up an aftermarket cooler and overclocking that i5. Also, see what sort of overclock you could get on the video card.

I agree. Get that chip up over 3.6ghz. You may want to look into tweaking (or properly setting up your RAM). Get your system tweaked and stable and you'll notice a good difference. Oh, yeah 8x AA in Crysis pretty much hurts everyone's system.

cadaveca · Oct 22, 2010, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by erocker

I agree. Get that chip up over 3.6ghz. You may want to look into tweaking (or properly setting up your RAM). Get your system tweaked and stable and you'll notice a good difference. Oh, yeah 8x AA in Crysis pretty much hurts everyone's system.

Whut he ^^^ said.

Also, Crysis and Metro2033 are what I like to call "DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO PERFORMANCE" apps. The demands they put on ANY system are unrealistic.

So clock that cpu up(3.6ghz-4.0ghz should be your target), and give it another go. You might get up to 4.2, even.

You'll find that that gpu is good for 1920x1080 and 4xAA in almost every app, provided there is enough cpu to back it up.

casual swift · Oct 22, 2010, 06:57 PM

Can someone post a link to a good guide on overclocking/tweaking so I can get my feet wet? Thanks!

[Ion] · Oct 22, 2010, 07:38 PM

Pretty sure we have a good one here

My quick-n-dirty suggestion is disable Turbo Boost, up the BLCK to like 150mhz, the voltage to ~1.25v, and you're set. Leave the memory on auto for now.

This is assuming that you have a cooler that can handle this

douglatins · Oct 22, 2010, 07:45 PM

More ram and an SSD

casual swift · Oct 22, 2010, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [Ion]

This is assuming that you have a cooler that can handle this

Negative... my build as it sits is only fan cooled.

A Cheese Danish · Oct 22, 2010, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by douglatins

More ram and an SSD

Speaking of SSD, I have a 60GB for sale

I also agree on overclocking that chip of yours. And wait for the 69xx series of video cards to come out.

Zen_ · Oct 22, 2010, 08:03 PM

I would get a Cogage True Spirit or Cooler Master Hyper 212+ and overclock your i5. With the True 4 GHz should be completely realistic, maybe a little less with the 212+. At under $50 that's a no brainer upgrade to significantly boost performance.

Oct 22, 2010, 05:17 PM	#1
casual swift Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Edmonton, AB Posts: 89 (0.09/day) Thanks: 44 Thanked 11 Times in 7 Posts System Specs	My Gaming Setup... What's Next? Hi everyone! I'm a new member and just started to get into pc gaming about 2 months ago. I built the system myself with used inexpensive parts where I could. So far I'm pretty happy. (I'm hoping everyone can see my specs in my profile so I don't have to type it out here...I'm on my iPhone) Anyways, I just put the psu and gpu in last night... Loaded up crysis and was impressed, but i still feel like I could use a little more performance. Medium high resolutions with highest settings and AA 8x I'm still have some parts bog down a bit. I guess my question is based on what I have now, where do you guys see room for improvement in my setup? Faster CPU? Second vid card? More ram? Thanks in advance! Ps great site... I'm learning lots. Last edited by casual swift; Oct 22, 2010 at 05:24 PM.

System Name:	My Little Guy
Processor:	Intel i5 750 Quad Core @ 2.67Ghz
Motherboard:	Asus p7p55d
Cooling:	Fan Cooled
Memory:	4gb Crosair xms-3 DDR3 Ram
Video Card:	XFX HD5870 XXX Edition
Hard Disk:	500GB HDD
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung 23" 1920x1080p
Case:	Antec 900
PSU:	Galaxy 1000w
Software:	Windows Vista 64bit

Oct 22, 2010, 05:21 PM	#2
entropy13 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Philippines Posts: 3,423 (2.22/day) Thanks: 42 Thanked 1,132 Times in 713 Posts System Specs	It would all depend on your budget and patience. Maybe waiting for the 6900 series would be worth it. __________________ MSI P67A-GD65 (B3), Intel Core i5 2500K, Corsair H60, 2x MSI GTX 570 Twin Frozr II/OC, G.Skill RipjawsX (2x4GB) DDR3-1600 RAM, OCZ Agility 3 120GB + 2TB, Corsair AX1200, Corsair Carbide 400R MSI Z68MA-ED55, i5 2500K, Noctua NH-U9B SE2, Inno3D GTX 570, Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB, OCZ Agility 3 120GB + 1TB, Seasonic X660, Lian Li PC-V600FB The Big Useful List of Free Useful Programs To Use Usually For Free

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PSU:	Thermaltake Toughpower 1350W 80PLUS SILVER\|Corsair AX1200 1200W 80PLUS GOLD
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Oct 22, 2010, 05:24 PM	#3
[Ion] WCG Team Assistant Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: North Carolina, US Posts: 10,662 (7.93/day) Thanks: 8,247 Thanked 9,325 Times in 4,260 Posts System Specs	I'd start off by picking up an aftermarket cooler and overclocking that i5. Also, see what sort of overclock you could get on the video card. __________________ Ion's WCG Essentials Thread Crunching (64 Threads + 896 CUDA Cores + 6272 Shaders): i3-2100@ 3.1 + HD7850 -- Atom D510 @ 1.66 -- C2D-M T9600 @ 2.8 -- i7-3612QM @ 2.8 -- i7-860 @ 2.9 + HD7950 -- i7-2700k @ 4.4 + 2xGTX470 -- PentDC-M T4200 @ 2.0 -- i7-920 @ 3.83 + 3xHD7770 -- DP Xeon E5420 @ 2.5 + HD7930 -- E1600 @ 2.4

System Name:	Peenemunde/Salzburg/Osnabruck/Rostock/
Processor:	i7-860 @ 2.9GHz / i7-2700k @ 4.4GHz / i7-920 @ 3.83GHz / Core i3-2100
Motherboard:	Asus Maximus III Gene / Asus Maximus IV Gene / EVGA X58 SLI / Asus P8H77-I
Cooling:	Xigmatek Gaia / Xigmatek Gaia / Antec H2O-620 / Stock
Memory:	4x2GB G.SKILL / 2x4GB Crucial / 1x2GB Corsair / 2x4GB G.SKILL
Video Card:	Powercolor HD7930 / PNY GTX470 + nV GTX470 SLI / 3x MSI Radeon HD7770 GHz Edition / Sapphire HD7950
Hard Disk:	Western Digital 320GB / Western Digital 320GB / Western Digital 250GB / 320GB
Optical Drive:	None
CRT/LCD Model:	Asus VH242H (23.6")
Case:	None / NZXT Source 210 / NZXT Source 210 / Cooler Master Elite 120
Sound Card:	Onboard
PSU:	Antec TruePower New 650w / Antec TPN 650w / Antec Earthwatts 650w / Antec 430w
Software:	Windows 7 Professional x64

Oct 22, 2010, 05:40 PM	#6
KingPing Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Argentina (South America) Posts: 749 (0.55/day) Thanks: 132 Thanked 243 Times in 172 Posts System Specs	enabling 8x AA in Crysis = bye bye to your frame rate, i use 2x AA max, and with your monitor 8x AA is pointless, dont't upgrade anything, just lower the AA __________________ TRUTH is subject to change without notice

System Name:	Classy Gal /// Ugly Betty
Processor:	Intel i7 2600K /// C2Q Q9550 e0
Motherboard:	Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3-B3 /// ASUS P5E (rampage formula bios)
Cooling:	Deepcool Ice Blade Pro /// CM Hyper 212 plus
Memory:	8GB DDR3 1600Mhz G.Skill Ripjaws X /// 8GB DDR2 800Mhz OCZ Titanium
Video Card:	MSI GTX570 Twin Frozr III - EVGA GTS250 PhysX /// Sapphire Toxic 5850
Hard Disk:	2x500GB WD RAID0 - 1x500GB WD - 3x1TB WD green /// 2x150GB Samsung F1
Optical Drive:	Samsung something /// Sony something
CRT/LCD Model:	LG 23" 1920x1080 /// Samsung 32" 1920x1080
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Sound Card:	Creative SB Titanium HD & ASUS Xonar DX /// Creative SB X-Fi Titanium
PSU:	Cooler Master UCP 700W /// TT thoughpower 700W
Software:	Win7 Ultimate 64bit /// Win7 Ultimate 64bit

Processor:	Intel i7 3770K @ 4.6ghz 1.256v
Motherboard:	Asus Maximus V Formula
Cooling:	Water
Memory:	2x4gb Patriot Viper 2133mhz 10-11-10-25 2T 1.55v
Video Card:	Sapphire HD 7970 1125/1575 1.14v
Hard Disk:	Crucial M4 128Gb / Corsair Force 3 120Gb / Samsung 240Gb / 2Tb Seagate
Optical Drive:	None
CRT/LCD Model:	Acheiva Shimian 27" IPS 2560x1440
Case:	Corsair 500R White
Sound Card:	Onboard
PSU:	NZXT Hale90 1Kw
Software:	Windows 8 x64

System Name:	Eyefinity Gamer
Processor:	Intel i5 3570K @ 4.6 GHz
Motherboard:	ASUS Maximmus V Formula
Cooling:	Corsair H100
Memory:	16 GB G.Skill F3-2666C11Q-16GTXD
Video Card:	AMD Radeon HD7950 3GB x2 w/AMD Catalyst 12.10
Hard Disk:	OCZ Nocti 60GB mSATA, Crucial M4 120GB x2
Optical Drive:	LG BluRay/HD-DVD
CRT/LCD Model:	3x Dell U2412M
Case:	LianLi T60
Sound Card:	N/A
PSU:	Silverstone Strider 750W GOLD
Software:	Windows 8 Pro
Benchmarks:	Benchmarking is for suckers. ;)

Oct 22, 2010, 06:57 PM	#9
casual swift Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Edmonton, AB Posts: 89 (0.09/day) Thanks: 44 Thanked 11 Times in 7 Posts System Specs	Can someone post a link to a good guide on overclocking/tweaking so I can get my feet wet? Thanks!

Oct 22, 2010, 07:38 PM	#10
[Ion] WCG Team Assistant Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: North Carolina, US Posts: 10,662 (7.93/day) Thanks: 8,247 Thanked 9,325 Times in 4,260 Posts System Specs	Pretty sure we have a good one here My quick-n-dirty suggestion is disable Turbo Boost, up the BLCK to like 150mhz, the voltage to ~1.25v, and you're set. Leave the memory on auto for now. This is assuming that you have a cooler that can handle this __________________ Ion's WCG Essentials Thread Crunching (64 Threads + 896 CUDA Cores + 6272 Shaders): i3-2100@ 3.1 + HD7850 -- Atom D510 @ 1.66 -- C2D-M T9600 @ 2.8 -- i7-3612QM @ 2.8 -- i7-860 @ 2.9 + HD7950 -- i7-2700k @ 4.4 + 2xGTX470 -- PentDC-M T4200 @ 2.0 -- i7-920 @ 3.83 + 3xHD7770 -- DP Xeon E5420 @ 2.5 + HD7930 -- E1600 @ 2.4

Oct 22, 2010, 07:45 PM	#11
douglatins Join Date: May 2008 Location: Brasil Posts: 2,607 (1.42/day) Thanks: 295 Thanked 268 Times in 204 Posts System Specs	More ram and an SSD __________________ \|\| My Heatware \|\| My WIP Custom Case \|\| My Steam Profile \|\|

System Name:	Sovereign // HTPC
Processor:	i7 3770k 4.2 // i7 3770k 4.2
Motherboard:	Maximus V Gene // Sabertooth Z77
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Memory:	16GB Samsung // 16GB VengeanceLP
Video Card:	Deciding // 660 DC2
Hard Disk:	OS (X25-M), Data (Seagate 1TB) // Samsung 840 120GB & bunch of drives
Optical Drive:	None // None
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung T240HD // LG TV
Case:	TJ08e // Grandia GD08
Sound Card:	DT880 Pro 250 ohm // TV speakers
PSU:	Seasonic Plat 1000 // Seasonic Gold 760
Software:	Windows 8 Pro x64 // Windows 7 Pro x64

System Name:	HTPC\|\|Lenovo IBM ThinkPad
Processor:	AMD Phenom II x4 965 stock 3.4GHz\|\|Intel C2D T9300 @ 2.5GHz
Motherboard:	Zotac 890GX-ITX WiFi\|\|Lenovo 8918CTO
Cooling:	Stock 3x 120's\|\|Stock stuff
Memory:	8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 6-6-6-15\|\|3GB DDR2
Video Card:	Asus 3870x2\|\|nVidia Quadro NVS 140M
Hard Disk:	1TB Seagate Barracuda, 1x 2TB WD EARX \|\|Hitachi 160GB 7200RPM
Optical Drive:	Lite-on\|\|Basic DVD-ROM
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PSU:	Cooler Master 450W\|\|6-cell
Software:	Windows 7 Pro x64\|\|Windows 7 Pro x64/Linux Mint x64

Oct 22, 2010, 08:03 PM	#14
Zen_ Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Cloud Nine Posts: 398 (0.35/day) Thanks: 16 Thanked 97 Times in 72 Posts System Specs	I would get a Cogage True Spirit or Cooler Master Hyper 212+ and overclock your i5. With the True 4 GHz should be completely realistic, maybe a little less with the 212+. At under $50 that's a no brainer upgrade to significantly boost performance. __________________ Heatware \| Rig \| BC2 Stats

Processor:	i5-2500k @ 4.6 GHz
Motherboard:	ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
Cooling:	Cooler Master Hyper 212+
Memory:	8GB DDR3-1600 Mushkin Blackline
Video Card:	PowerColor 7870 Myst (Tahiti LE)
Hard Disk:	128GB Samsung 830 SSD
Optical Drive:	Samsung
CRT/LCD Model:	HP LV2311
Case:	Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B
Sound Card:	Aune MK2 DAC
PSU:	Cooler Master Silent Pro
Software:	Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

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