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upgrade question - keep the graphics card?
Hi.
My computer is still "alright" for most games. But when there is action going on at Diablo 3 (even with tuned down settings) it gets really slow. Or when I play Civilization V, it also becomes a drag quite quickly. Not to mention I was encoding a video recently, and it took 16 hours until it was finished.
So I want to upgrade my computer. But I think the graphics card ain't thaaat horrible, so I was wondering if anyone could tell me whether it would make sense to just keep the graphics card for now. Not to mention when I record stuff at the same time, or have the TV program running.
Currently I got:
- Mainboard: G33-DS3R
- RAM: 4GB
- CPU: Intel Core 2 DUO E8400
- Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 6800
I wanted to upgrade to something like:
- 8GB RAM
- i5 3570K
- GA-Z77M-D3H mainboard
So... would you keep the graphics card? Or keep it for a while?
I could spend the money, but I also just moved into a new flat, which put quite a dent into my bank account.
Thanks.
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
Comments
Id say keep that card, it aint bad, the processor is the main component I think you should upgrade.
Thanks
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
Hello
6850 or 6870? are you going to overclock your CPU?
If you game, the main component of your rig is the GPU, not the CPU. So even if your upgrade to a i73990X and 32GB ram, everything will game as fast as your GPU allows. So if you dont OC you could do as well with a i5 3450. Consider upgrading to a 7870 .
Enjoy
Normally I don't overclock my CPU.
Hmmm ok.
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
If you're getting poor performance even at low graphical settings, that usually means a processor bottleneck. Getting a faster processor would probably fix it.
Exactly which components are you planning on replacing, and which are you planning on keeping? Are you only going to keep the video card and perhaps peripherals, and replacing everything else? Or are you hoping to only replace the motherboard, processor, and memory? If the latter, then replacing the motherboard will probably require a new OS license. If you have to do a clean installation, then this would be a convenient time to add an SSD if you don't already have one.
Keep the card until you need something new, as Quiz said you want to look into an SSD. I upgraded a while back to a 256GB SSD, it was the best decision I made.
Until you upgrade to an SSD any other upgrade, like your GPU for instance, is going to be giving diminishing returns. CPUs are cheap so I say wait until you have a good SSD, then look at the rest.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
Hello
An SSD will give you blazzing fast windows execution, blazzing fast program opening, blazzing fast (depends) game level charging, but..................... 0 fps gain. Not saying that an SSD upgrade is worthless, on the contrary I couldnt live without it, BUT your diablo 3 fps will run as sluggish as before. More fps needs 90% GPU power and a up to a certain level of CPU power (varies from one game to another), some would say a dual core Sandy bridge will game you to heaven, I prefer to safe bet on a physical quad core intel (from Nehalem onwards, sadly AMD cannot keep up) with min speed of 3,1ghz. Take a look at tomshardware cpu guides, they are quite usefull.
Enjoy
Another thing to remember is that it's pretty easy to upgrade a video card independent of everything else, provided that you have a power supply and case that can handle the new card. So you could try your old card with the other upgrades first, and there's no need to replace the video card unless you're unhappy with the performance on your old card.
Well I dont know if this helps.
I have...
G31M-ES2L mobo
4 gigs RAM
Intel E 5300 ( oc'd to 1200 FSB, running @ 3.15 currently)
Raden HD 5750 (no oc)
I run Diabo at a low medium settin and havent yet gotten into a Lag situation, either in solo, or online group.
My OS is W7 64bit.
I have 40 proceeses running on task manager @ 27% physical memory
I would expect your machine to run the game better than mine, as Im sure you have a better CPU and GPU and Mobo.
My RAM is DDR 2 800mhz, and is not OC'd. perhaps that may be a factor?
Tho your board supports DDR 2 1066 you probably have equal or better speed on your RAM.
I run CCleaner every time I log off my machine, perhaps some caches are full?
Other than that, I can't think of anything, oh I use Microsoft Essentials.
All I can think of is either, a cache full of cookies, high processes in the background, slow RAM (maybe), 32 bit OS (maybe), or an Anitvirus that uses a lot of rescources.
Well one other thing, that AMD GPU Driver back in Feb, was kind of screwy, if you still have that I would expect problems. 12-4 and 12-6 work fine on the game.
Also I have a WD 500 gb Caviar Blue, 16 mb cache.
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