Upgrade advice for gaming system

[maracle]

Hi All,

I just bought BF3 premium and I've found that some of the new maps I'm getting really poor framerates on. I was getting 40+ on some of the core BF3 maps which is good enough for me but 20-25 on the bigger maps which is a slideshow... I found that I can get 30+ by reducing my resolution but I find it much harder to see what's going on that way.

I want to build a really nice gaming rig next year but for now I think I'm limited to a small upgrade. I'm hoping there's something I can do for maybe ~$200 or less that could hold me for a year.

My current specs are:

ASRock 870 EXTREME3 Motherboard
AMD Athlon II X3 450 processor
ASUS EN GTX 460 w/ 768MB GDDR5
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333
Antec VP-450 450W Power Supply

I've tried unlocking the 4th core and overclocking the CPU, both make the system unstable. I used CoreTemp and MSI Afterburner to try to figure out where my bottleneck is and I found that the CPU is running at 95+% utilization and the GPU is running at 60-70% utilization.

So, it looks like my best bet is a CPU upgrade? How much benefit do you think that could provide before my video card bottlenecks me? Will I bet able to get 10+ more fps, or is that too much to hope for?

Newegg has Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition for $99, which seems like it would give a nice boost plus another core plus the ability to overclock.

Also, is it a bad idea to mix in RAM like I have? I have them paired in their proper channels, so I figured it would be fine. But I don't think I considered that they're different speeds. Can the mobo handle that or is my DDR3 1600 being downclocked to 1333? Would it be better to use just 8GB instead of 12?

Thanks!

 

[riversend]

Just to help move things along, what is your resolution?

 

[Sleepingforest]

8GB is probably enough. The problem is that your CPU and GPU are really weak in comparison to what is now available.

 

[maracle]

My native resolution is 1980x1080.

I realize they're not the best right now...and maybe it's not possible to get much of an improvement without a full refresh.

Am I at least right in thinking that a better graphics card will do me no good with the CPU I have now?

The frustrating thing is I wouldn't mind paying for a high end piece of gear, but probably won't get the benefit unless I put together a whole new system. For example, I'd be willing to get an expensive current tech video card since it'll work equally well when I get a new system. But there's probably no point due to the processor.

I'd also be willing to get an expensive processor, but my mobo is AM3 only so I'm not sure if thats possible since newer ones are AM3+? And I've actually been reading that Intel's processors seem to do quite a bit better for gaming at the moment even comparing equivalent dollar values.

If the answer is, just deal with it till I can put together a whole new system then that'll be great to know. I'm selling a motorcycle right now and while I was planning to put that money to other use if there isn't a useful upgrade path besides replacing most of the system I might be persuaded to do that instead.

 

[mfenn]

Since you only have the money to really make a meaningful upgrade to one part, the important question is, "Am I CPU or GPU limited?" To answer that, you need to collect some more data.

Drop all your graphics settings (including resolution) down to the absolute minimum and play a match or two. If you don't see (much) improvement, then you are CPU-limited. If you see a big improvement, then you are GPU-limited.

 

[Sleepingforest]

He did say this:

I found that I can get 30+ by reducing my resolution but I find it much harder to see what's going on that way.

So he's probably GPU limited. But the CPU bottleneck is probably not much further ahead...

He can get a roughly 30% faster processor on the same mobo by getting the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition for $100. Then he could upgrade to a 660 (80% faster in many cases!) or something for another $220AR. It comes with some in-game currency for Planetside 2, World of Tanks, and Hawken.

 

[maracle]

That looks like a pretty good plan. But is my 450 watt PSU going to cut it if I upgrade both of those?

In general I prefer not to overclock. Though I know my mobo has an automagic overclocking mode and most graphics cards come with software to auto-overclock so I would potentially try those. But if it's unstable that way I'm unlikely to do any customized settings.

 

[Sleepingforest]

That should be plenty of power. The system should only draw around 300W.

 

[Termie]

Good advice above. OP, just to confirm, you really must upgrade your cpu at the same time, as a gpu upgrade alone will do nothing in BF3 with your system. The GTX660 will actually be bottlenecked by even the phenom x4, but at least it will be a relatively good match.

 

[mfenn]

He did say this:
So he's probably GPU limited. But the CPU bottleneck is probably not much further ahead...

I saw that, but the OP wasn't specific about what he did. I figured it's better for us to all be on the same page before he goes out and spends $300.

He can get a roughly 30% faster processor on the same mobo by getting the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition for $100. Then he could upgrade to a 660 (80% faster in many cases!) or something for another $220AR. It comes with some in-game currency for Planetside 2, World of Tanks, and Hawken.

:thumbsup:

 

[maracle]

Ok, thanks heaps for all the help everyone. I ended up getting those two and threw in a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO and some Arctic Silver 5 as well to make my system a bit quieter and so I have enough cooling to overclock I want.

I think it'll tide me over for a while! I'll let you all know how much of a difference I see.

Incidentally, that $150 in game credit coupon seems to be selling on ebay for about $35-40. And Newegg has a promotion right now to use Visa's new checkout program to save 10% up to $50 (basically just like using paypal or Google Checkout on a third party site). The 10% doesn't apply to items with a "free gift" like that video card, but worth using for people ordering things that are just normal prices or have rebates only.

 

[Hubb1e]

Just to confirm your purchase, the extra core and a bit more clock will do wonders for you on BF3. The game is very playable on a 965, and gets even better with an overclock. The 660 is also a good choice for BF3 as it performs better than AMD's graphics in that game. An upgrade to a core i5 and 670 would have been even better, but is quite a bit more expensive and more involved.

 

[maracle]

Yeah, I've read some things recently that make me think I'd like to go Intel next time around. But since that would require a motherboard swap, it'll probably be what I do next major upgrade.

 

[mfenn]

Let us know how it goes once you get the parts!