Building a balanced gaming rig

[VirtualLarry]

I have a friend that I built a gaming rig for a couple of years ago, and I was thinking of upgrading it for him.
He currently has:
IP35-E 775 mobo
E5200 @ 3.625Ghz
4x1GB HP DDR2-667
EVGA 9600GSO 384MB 96SP dual-slot
ThermalTake 500W PSU (with a single PCI-E 6-pin)


I already purchased an Antec 620W Neo Eco PSU (deal for $50), with a 6-pin and a 6+2-pin. That's going into his rig.

I've been talking to him about getting a GTX460. I ordered an MSI Twin Frozr II 768MB 750Mhz card for him already, but I have to convince him that's a good upgrade.

Would the 3.625Ghz E5200 hold back the GTX460 768MB card?

I have an M0-step Q8200 that we could drop in, and at 400FSB, would run at 2.8Ghz. The RAM might have to be replaced though.

Would it be a better idea to drop in the quad at the same time?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The CPU wouldn't hinder performance enough to worry about.

But whether or not to drop the quad core in depends on what games he'll be playing.

In the long run it would be a good idea to install the Q8200.

 

[digitaldurandal]

The CPU wouldn't hinder performance enough to worry about.

But whether or not to drop the quad core in depends on what games he'll be playing.

In the long run it would be a good idea to install the Q8200.

This is completely incorrect.

I have experience with similar performance card and cpu and upgrading to a quad core increased my minimum frames by around 20%. Minimum frames are often the key to playable vs unplayable.

I was running an E6300 (oc to 3.2ghz) and a 285gtx and upgraded to a q9550 and saw at least 20% minimum frame increase. Increases also were seen in average and maximum frame rates although perhaps a bit less than 20% for each.

I would NOT recommend pairing a 460 with an e5xxx as it would be overkill for the processor. The only way it wont hurt your frames is if your settings are so high that you already are dipping below the "ceiling" created by the rest of your system which will be quite low with a budget dual core.

My suggestion would be to sell the processor and gpu he currently has and put a modest increase in for both. Why not go for a 5770 and a q8xxx? cost you around the same price

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would NOT recommend pairing a 460 with an e5xxx as it would be overkill for the processor. The only way it wont hurt your frames is if your settings are so high that you already are dipping below the "ceiling" created by the rest of your system which will be quite low with a budget dual core.

My suggestion would be to sell the processor and gpu he currently has and put a modest increase in for both. Why not go for a 5770 and a q8xxx? cost you around the same price

As I understand it, minimum framerates won't increase with a faster gpu, but averages and maximums will.

I don't see how it's overkill though. I left out an important piece of information, he games at 1920x1200. Surely a gtx460 is better at that than a lowly 9600GSO. And if the 5770 is around the same price, then why not go with the 460?

I realize that for some games he will be held back by the cpu, but he doesn't play any games that really require quad-core. He used to play WoW, and played WHO, and Aion. A bit of SC2 beta too.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I was running an E6300 (oc to 3.2ghz) and a 285gtx and upgraded to a q9550 and saw at least 20% minimum frame increase. Increases also were seen in average and maximum frame rates although perhaps a bit less than 20% for each.

A Q8200 is not a Q9550. Also his current processor is faster than your previous processor. As such the 20% gain you saw will not be the same as what this proposed upgrade will do for him.

I don't doubt there will be improvements, but the improvements seen will be entirely dependent on what games he is actually playing. You can't really make a blanket statement because not all games are very well multithreaded.

I don't see how it's overkill though. I left out an important piece of information, he games at 1920x1200. Surely a gtx460 is better at that than a lowly 9600GSO. And if the 5770 is around the same price, then why not go with the 460?

At 1920x1200 you want all the GPU power you can get. A 460 would be a good choice, and as you said if you can get it for the same price as the HD 5770 then it's a no-brainer decision.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

In newer games the E5200 at those speeds will be holding it back, but not in older games. What games are we talking about here?

I'm partial to quads, especially after learning and working with this Q8200 setup, but I don't think this has anything to do with bias. I would drop in the Q8200 and do the safe OC to 2.8ghz. The added cores, even if they remain idle in an older game, with smooth gaming out. They take care of any OS/app tasks while you have one or two dedicated cores to gaming. I cant help but imagine what kind of minimum FPS raise that would do.

When I would be playing TF2 on my s939 x2 4200+ (2.2ghz, 512L2 percore) setup it would run awesome until someone logged onto steam (pop-up) or if I had something going in the background. My minimum FPS would often drop to nothing momentarily. I upgraded to my Q8200 and I have not once seen a hiccup like that, even while I was underclocked to 1.6ghz in the heat of the summer.

As I've always said, more cores the better. Even if it seems overkill or slower per core. The added 2MB of L2 and two cores on the Q8200 helps immensely with modern games. I don't consider 2.8ghz to be slow on a C2Q with that amount of cache. No old game is single-threaded and requires the power of a 2.4ghz C2D, so with the OC it will be fast enough for any old game. In newer games it wont hold back the games at all with its fast X86 parallel processing.

I remember people strongly advising me to go with the Athlon 4000+ for gaming, rather than me going to the X2 4200+. Look at those processors for todays games. The 4000+ is too darn slow for modern games but the X2 4200+ is fast enough in parallel to deliver playable frame rates. It will soon be the same for dual vs quad.

Quad @ 2.8ghz + GTX 460 >>>>>>> Dual @ 3.6ghz + GTX 460.

That's my opinion.