what to upgrade

[EvilKupo]

Hey guys, I built my computer about a year ago and got the unfortunate, but not surprising, news that some of the games coming out over the next year will not run that good (but will still run at least). I'm looking to upgrade both my processor and video card (and maybe add some ram) over the next year, but was wondering what would the best upgrade for the money be right now that would allow me to play these games on higher settings. My current setup is...

Windows 7 64 Pro
AMD Phenom 9100e Quad Core 1.8Ghz
4GB RAM
HD Radeon HD 4850 512MB
MoBo is Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-UD4H

I'm thinking my processor is what is keeping the low performance, but I'm not really sure. Any help would be great

Thanks all!

 

[Sp12]

Original phenom=bad. 1.8Ghz=very bad. Luckily, AMD is pretty good in terms of longevity because of the Am2/Am3 compatibility; you can keep your mobo/ram, even with an ultra-highend CPU (not that that's necessary).

The 4850 isn't too terrible, but it depends on your resolution.

What resolution do you play at/how much are you willing to spend on an upgrade?

What's your power supply? Brand and wattage.

 

[EvilKupo]

yeah...lets just say I got a GREAT deal on the Processor...I love AMD (I know INtels a little better, but like AMD better) and heard the 9100e at the time wasn't too bad if you OCed, but it seemed to never be stable when I tried....I'm glad to hear my mobo is keepable bcuz I spent extra just for that reason!

As for what resolution I play at...it depends on the game. Games that I can adjust the text size, I go to highest resolution possible and just make the text accordingly. However, I think my monitor can only go to 1440/900...I do, sometimes, also game on my TV via HTMI, it's a 1080p TV, but I never really checked to push the resolution up that high when I game on it.

As for how much am I willing to spend...I would like to keep it as low as possible, 100-150 would be preferable (right now, like I said over the next year I'll upgrade more) I know it's not much, I could probably push it to 200.

As for my power supply, I'll have to post it in a bit...I got it for free thanks to some round about friend buying it...and I know it was the best one available at the store (I know that's not saying much) so I think it should be okay, but again as soon as I turn off my computer I'll post what it is.

 

[EvilKupo]

Oh and I was looking around on cpubenchmark.net and am surprised to see how far processors have come since I bought mine! It's also nice to see my video card is still towards the top.

 

[Sp12]

As for what resolution I play at...it depends on the game. Games that I can adjust the text size, I go to highest resolution possible and just make the text accordingly. However, I think my monitor can only go to 1440/900...I do, sometimes, also game on my TV via HTMI, it's a 1080p TV, but I never really checked to push the resolution up that high when I game on it.

Well, the 4850 isn't too limiting at 1440, but if you want to run on your TV's native (which you don't seem to mind), then it is a tad limiting. I don't think it's worth upgrading a 4850 right now for 1440. I would wait it out for either pricewars with Nvidia's 460 part's release, or for the next-gen architectures.

As for how much am I willing to spend...I would like to keep it as low as possible, 100-150 would be preferable (right now, like I said over the next year I'll upgrade more) I know it's not much, I could probably push it to 200.

That's excellent, because for a CPU-only upgrade you can get some excellent procs for the 100-200 range. If you want you can drop to 99$ for an A2 x4 635. A very nice OC/game proc is the P2 x4 955 BE for 160. It's a black edition, so it's easier to overclock, and as a P2 has L3 cache. Make sure you get the one I have linked as it's the newer revision (better OCer).

This is likely not the best purchase for a purely-gaming scenario, but the 1055t is a 200$ hexacore P2 that runs at 2.8, but turbos to 3.3 in non-threaded apps. Depends on your usage scenario and how long you'd like to keep this platform. What are the top games you're looking forward to, as that'll be a big part in determining which proc is best. If you don't mind going down in cores a P2 X3 720 is a good buy at 105$, but may be limiting as games start to increasingly utilize multicore.

In terms of price/performance they're fairly close, but the 720 is likely the current champion. As games utilize multicore more that'll shift towards the X4/X6.

As for my power supply, I'll have to post it in a bit...I got it for free thanks to some round about friend buying it...and I know it was the best one available at the store (I know that's not saying much) so I think it should be okay, but again as soon as I turn off my computer I'll post what it is.

Still check, but it sounds like you needn't worry about it.


Edit: before you do any sort of upgrade make sure to ugprade your bios to the latest possible. There's always a chance your current revision will not recognize some of the newer processors.

 

[EvilKupo]

OK, so my power supply is Antec Earthwatts Model EA-500D 500W Max.

Thanks so much for the links! I've been doing a little research on those four processors and I think the 635 is my best bet. It got a really good benchmark for the price. Of course, if I could afford it, I'd go for the 1055T, but I think I'd rather use that extra 100 bucks on more ram, what do you think? The benchmarks on the 1055T are very impressive, though!

The main game I'll be playing, the reason I'm upgrading, is for Final Fantasy XIV Online coming in Sept. The benchmark came out yesterday and I got a low score. My brother, who has a similar setup but with a better processor, got a much higher score, so I figured my video card is good enough for now.

If I was to upgrade my video card, what would be recommended?

Also, would I need to reformat when I install the new processor? I've never upgraded my processor before and I wasn't sure....usually when my processor is out of date I upgrade the whole thing!

One last thing, do you know anything about NVIDIA AWRDACPI motherboard? Would I be able to upgrade a computer using that mobo or is it too old? I can't find any info on it online...

 

[mfenn]

OK, so my power supply is Antec Earthwatts Model EA-500D 500W Max.

Thanks so much for the links! I've been doing a little research on those four processors and I think the 635 is my best bet. It got a really good benchmark for the price. Of course, if I could afford it, I'd go for the 1055T, but I think I'd rather use that extra 100 bucks on more ram, what do you think? The benchmarks on the 1055T are very impressive, though!

The main game I'll be playing, the reason I'm upgrading, is for Final Fantasy XIV Online coming in Sept. The benchmark came out yesterday and I got a low score. My brother, who has a similar setup but with a better processor, got a much higher score, so I figured my video card is good enough for now.

If I was to upgrade my video card, what would be recommended?

Also, would I need to reformat when I install the new processor? I've never upgraded my processor before and I wasn't sure....usually when my processor is out of date I upgrade the whole thing!

One last thing, do you know anything about NVIDIA AWRDACPI motherboard? Would I be able to upgrade a computer using that mobo or is it too old? I can't find any info on it online...

That PSU should be more than sufficient. Either the 635 or 1055T would be good, depending on your budget. The 1055T is great if you like to multitask while grinding.

As for GPU, the 4850 should be pretty decent for that resolution. The next cost-effective upgrade would be the 5770, but that really isn't that much faster that a 4850 (20-30% or so).

As for the CPU, since you already have a multicore, you don't need to do anything with Windows. Just replace the CPUs and Windows should detect the new CPU and show 4 (or 6) core in the Task Manager.

Not sure where you got that "NVIDIA AWRDACPI" mobo name. That seems like a generic BIOS identifier. Your GA-MA790GP-UD4H will be fine, just use that.

 

[Sp12]

OK, so my power supply is Antec Earthwatts Model EA-500D 500W Max.

Well, that's not super-impressive, but it'll do. It won't run multiple GPUs or anything crazy, but still.

Thanks so much for the links! I've been doing a little research on those four processors and I think the 635 is my best bet. It got a really good benchmark for the price. Of course, if I could afford it, I'd go for the 1055T, but I think I'd rather use that extra 100 bucks on more ram, what do you think? The benchmarks on the 1055T are very impressive, though!

I'd recommend against the ram because:

• Ram is expensive right now
• You already have 4gb, are you running out?
• You have DDR2, which is an older tech not transferable to a new build, as such I advise against investing in it.

I agree the A2 635 is the best bang/buck general-purpose CPU, but some games really like the P2's L3 cache. The 1055T is very powerful, but is likely overkill for gaming right now. It may be more valuable in the future, but I don't think it's worth it for a purely light gaming scenario. The 955 BE is likely the best overclocking CPU, but probably the worst value.

The main game I'll be playing, the reason I'm upgrading, is for Final Fantasy XIV Online coming in Sept. The benchmark came out yesterday and I got a low score. My brother, who has a similar setup but with a better processor, got a much higher score, so I figured my video card is good enough for now.

That game's not terribly demanding, and the A2 635 is probably overkill for it. If there are any other games you're looking forward to, that might change that.

If I was to upgrade my video card, what would be recommended?

Right now? Nothing, at least for the price. If you're asking me if SLI GTX 480s (1000$+) would be a significant upgrade, well then yes, but there's not a whole lot of good budget upgrades from a 4850/4870, especially this late in the 5000 series' life. The cheapest card to provide a significant (<25&#37 increase in performance is the 5830 at 200$, which is both out of budget and a bad price/performance part. I would skip this generation at this point.

Also, would I need to reformat when I install the new processor? I've never upgraded my processor before and I wasn't sure....usually when my processor is out of date I upgrade the whole thing!

No, but you will probably need to upgrade your motherboard's bios.

One last thing, do you know anything about NVIDIA AWRDACPI motherboard? Would I be able to upgrade a computer using that mobo or is it too old? I can't find any info on it online...

The only thing I found was that it has an Nforce2 chipset, and supports the original athlon 64s..... Definitely way too old.

 

[EvilKupo]

Yeah, I wasn't sure about RAM...I know when I was running Vista it was a little laggy even at 4GB, but now on 7 and i've had no problems at all running anything I have.

I'll probably pick the The A2 635 later tonight at Frys, it's 115, but I'll pay the extra 15 for instant gratification!

NVIDIA Mobo I mentioned was the computer I built a while back for a friend of mine (he was on a big budget, it was part of a processor/mobo cheap combo) I was pretty sure it would need an upgrade...

Thanks again for all the info, I don't have time to keep up with parts between builds/upgrades, so this was a lot of help.

 

[Sp12]

Thanks again for all the info, I don't have time to keep up with parts between builds/upgrades, so this was a lot of help.

Sounds good, be sure to let us know how it goes.

No problem helping though.

 

[EvilKupo]

Bought the A2 635 from Frys for only $95, got home, installed with no problem, got it up and running and redid the FFXIV Benchmark and went from a 1800 (Able to play on lowest settings) score to a 3100 (Able to play a little above default settings) score, which makes me very happy. I'm curious how my computer stands up to other games...what games are out now that have the highest demand on your system?

Any idea why some benchmarks can't detect my processor? venturemark's Orb and youplayers.com couldn't detect it.

 

[Sp12]

Bought the A2 635 from Frys for only $95, got home, installed with no problem, got it up and running and redid the FFXIV Benchmark and went from a 1800 (Able to play on lowest settings) score to a 3100 (Able to play a little above default settings) score, which makes me very happy. I'm curious how my computer stands up to other games...what games are out now that have the highest demand on your system?

Any idea why some benchmarks can't detect my processor? venturemark's Orb and youplayers.com couldn't detect it.

If I had to guess you need to update your BIOS, that or the benchmarks are too old to identify it.

Nice find for 95$!

Umm the current champion of intensive games is probably Metro 2033, but you could spend thousands on a system and still not be able to play it well.

Unfortunately, I didn't think it was a very good game, definitely not worth buying to test a system. Batman AA is an excellent modern game and as such graphically taxing, it won Game of the Year last year.

 

[EvilKupo]

For the bios...that would be on gigabytes website? I tried updating drivers for the processor via amd.com but they didn't have a new update since 2006.

As for batman AA...I have it on 360 and I had it on pc before and it ran smooth on my old processor. Thanks though! Not only have you helped me, but you helped the 2 peoples computers who I'm upgrading...

One question that will help w a friends computer....what is the main difference between say.... radeon hd 4850 1gig vs radeon hd 4850 512 in terms of performance (and cost)? What about the 4850 vs the 4870?

 

[Sp12]

For the bios...that would be on gigabytes website? I tried updating drivers for the processor via amd.com but they didn't have a new update since 2006.

As for batman AA...I have it on 360 and I had it on pc before and it ran smooth on my old processor. Thanks though! Not only have you helped me, but you helped the 2 peoples computers who I'm upgrading...

One question that will help w a friends computer....what is the main difference between say.... radeon hd 4850 1gig vs radeon hd 4850 512 in terms of performance (and cost)? What about the 4850 vs the 4870?

Yes indeed, make sure the motherboard revision matches whatever revision your specific board is (1.0, 1.1, etc).

Awesome then.

Ummm the 1 gig cards have less of an issue with high resolutions combined with high AA. It's like your RAM, but for a graphics card. If you run out things slow down.

For example, my 5850 is able to run 4x AA at 5040*1050 and get 120+FPS in some games. If I turn it up to 8x, I drop to ~3 FPS, even in old games. I've hit a vram barrier. A 4850 would run into a performance barrier before that, so it's pretty much a non-issue except for crossfire setups.

It allows you to push higher AA/resolution combinations than otherwise. 1 GB models typically cost 20-30$ more than 512 models. As games continue to use more Vram just for in game textures, more Vram will eventually be required for a specific resolution/AA type.

The difference between the 4850 and 4870 are based entirely on the clockspeed and Vram chips used between the two. They are the same core chip in terms of shaders, but run at different speeds.

 

[mfenn]

For the bios...that would be on gigabytes website? I tried updating drivers for the processor via amd.com but they didn't have a new update since 2006.

As for batman AA...I have it on 360 and I had it on pc before and it ran smooth on my old processor. Thanks though! Not only have you helped me, but you helped the 2 peoples computers who I'm upgrading...

One question that will help w a friends computer....what is the main difference between say.... radeon hd 4850 1gig vs radeon hd 4850 512 in terms of performance (and cost)? What about the 4850 vs the 4870?

Here's Gigabyte's BIOS page for your mobo. You'll probably want to get the F7B BIOS there are two steppings of the 635, and F7B supports both.

After you download the BIOS, you can extract the archive onto a USB flash drive. Then Reboot and press the End key during the BIOS screen to enter Q-FLASH. It should be fairly self-explanatory from there, but refer to section 4-2-1 of your manual for detailed instructions.

 

[EvilKupo]

The BIOS update didn't work, it said it was invalid, any idea why? I tried to install F7B ones.

 

[Sp12]

At what stage did it say it was invalid?

I'm willing to bet it was for a different revision of your motherboard, that or it was decompressed incorrectly.

1. Format the USB drive.
2. Copy over the bios update named "MOTHERBOARD MODEL.REVISION NUMBER" (example only). Do not copy any other files to the drive.
3. MAKE SURE it's plugged directly into a USB port on the backplate. Hubs/front panel connections have a higher chance of disconnecting midflash if bumped, and can also have compatibility issues.
4. Boot into Q-flash, identify drive, apply update.