Upgrading my 7yo PC for Professional Gaming.

T_Amato · Aug 20, 2016

I have an 7-8 year old PC that I've built on my own to last.
I've already upgraded the VGA 3 times, the last one and current is a Radeob 4870 512mb. I've also added RAM up to 8gb.

Currently I'm getting (and I already think that I know the reason) intermitent Blue Screen errors. I believe they happen because I use an Asus p5k3 deluxe which is limited to 8gb RAM total.

I've also had some of the MOBO capacitors pop their metallic protection years ago, but it still seem to function without issues.

The current specs are:
1000w real power supply.
Radeon 4870 512mb
p5k3 deluxe
8gb ddr3 RAM
Intel Quad 6600 with Zalman Cooler.
500gb HD sata 2 or 3 (can't remember)

My question is how to proceed to upgrade this PC. Currently I'm getting in league with Semi-Pro CS:GO career pursuit, and I've just purchased an BenQ 144hz monitor. What I'm lacking tho is consistent FPS during game-play. Apparently my FPS (within updated maps) is floating from 60-200 FPS constantly, and I need consistent 140+fps instead.

I was thinking about downgrading my Dual Channel RAM to 4gb only (single slot, or as it is just remove one of the RAM boards) while getting a new 2gb GDDR VGA to increase performance.

What are your advice on this case? Should I proceed to downgrading my RAM while upgrading my VGA or should I retire my Quad processor, and change Mobo + Processor + VGA? I need to save as much money as I can atm with this, so if I were to change all 3 parts I would probably go for the cheapest AMD build possible (because I can't afford more than that tbh)

Thanks, T

T_Amato · Aug 20, 2016

PS: Possible alternatives I thought about are: Adding an Water Cooler to my Processor and overclocking it while upgrading the VGA and downgrading the RAM.
Buy 2x 2gb RAM instead of removing one of the RAM boards so I can use dual channel.

Get an AMD 6300 processor, change the Mobo into a mATX M5A78L-M LX/BR, reutilizing my current RAM and getting an r7 360...

ryguybuddy · Aug 20, 2016

Get 8GB of RAM, a i3-6100 or i5-6500, and a RX 460. That should net you some good FPS.

T_Amato · Aug 20, 2016

ryguybuddy :

problem with that is the MOBO RAM cap, I already have 8gb ram, and apparently that's the cause of the Blue Screen errors.

As far as I know the Quad Q6600 is in fact still one of the best processors performance wise, so that's why I've considered Water Cooling it so I can OC it to it's maximum capacity. The real concern here is how to get the best out of the situation expending as little as possible.

I live in Brazil so things here (hardware wise) can get excessively expensive.

ryguybuddy · Aug 20, 2016

T_Amato :

ryguybuddy :

problem with that is the MOBO RAM cap, I already have 8gb ram, and apparently that's the cause of the Blue Screen errors.

As far as I know the Quad Q6600 is in fact still one of the best processors performance wise, so that's why I've considered Water Cooling it so I can OC it to it's maximum capacity. The real concern here is how to get the best out of the situation expending as little as possible.
The Q6600 with water cooling makes zero sense. At all. Just get a i3-6100, it will net you much better performance than a $110 AIO on your old one.

I live in Brazil so things here (hardware wise) can get excessively expensive.

T_Amato · Aug 20, 2016

ryguybuddy :

T_Amato :

is the socket for i3-6100 the same as for the Q6600?

ryguybuddy · Aug 20, 2016

T_Amato :

ryguybuddy :

is the socket for i3-6100 the same as for the Q6600?

No. Get the GA-h100M-A for $53.

scuzzycard · Aug 20, 2016

T_Amato :

Unfortunately, that's not even close to true anymore. A Q6600 loses to a $60 dual-core Pentium now. An i3 would totally leave it in the dust. You're really going to need a complete overhaul, but if you can't do that, then upgrade the GPU first. A 512MB Video card is woefully inadequate for a modern gaming system. A $90 750TI is easily 3 times faster than your card, but I wouldn't get anything faster for that CPU because it will be bottlenecked severely.

Edit: Please note, I strongly advise you to follow ryguybuddy's advice if you can afford to. You'll get much better results than you would by just dropping a 750ti into your existing board.

DSzymborski · Aug 20, 2016

T_Amato :

That's not your problem - the RAM limit of a motherboard has nothing to do with the VRAM of a dedicated GPU. Something else is going on, but without more information it's hard to say.

T_Amato · Aug 20, 2016

scuzzycard :

T_Amato :

Unfortunately, that's not even close to true anymore. A Q6600 loses to a $60 dual-core Pentium now. An i3 would totally leave it in the dust. You're really going to need a complete overhaul, but if you can't do that, then upgrade the GPU first. A 512MB Video card is woefully inadequate for a modern gaming system. A $90 750TI is easily 3 times faster than your card, but I wouldn't get anything faster for that CPU because it will be bottlenecked severely.

Edit: Please note, I strongly advise you to follow ryguybuddy's advice if you can afford to. You'll get much better results than you would by just dropping a 750ti into your existing board.

are there any advices for AMD equivalents, here in Brazil AMD parts are half the price than Intel ones. Whilst ATI is fairly cheaper than Nvidia (altho not by THAT much..)

scuzzycard · Aug 20, 2016

In that case, an FX-8350 and an RX-470 would be a respectable alternative.

T_Amato · Aug 20, 2016

scuzzycard :

thx for the reply, but what do you think about the following spec?

VGA: r7 360
MOBO: GA-78LMT
CPU+Cooler: AMD FX-8320E // corsair hydro h55

As I've said I live in Brazil, we don't even have RX-470 here, and if I manage to find it it'll be over 400 dollars or even more...
Also, FX-8350 is considerably more expensive than FX-8320E

scuzzycard · Aug 20, 2016

That will work - The 8320E is a better choice for that motherboard anyway.

f-14 · Aug 21, 2016

T_Amato :

i understand your problems with living in brasil, got a friend living in sau paulo. first, the thermal paste under the motherboard heatsinks might be dried out, try reapplying new thermal paste to them, i am familiar with that board it's a very good mother board. the processor speed is okay for what you are doing, it's quad core which is very good also. it's data transfer is adequate to what you are doing, but is falling behind fast.... however you have a very good board for overclocking cpu and even RAM some what and that will improve your gaming performance also. there are youtube videos but you should have some one who knows how t set all the timings because those can be very different depending on who made your ram and what speed your ram is, just like the motherboard maker and it's speeds. the q6600 is a great overclocking processor, i have never overclocked a 6600 myself as i waited for the Q9550.

you have more than enough ram in amount but that board is able to use alot of speeds of ram from Dual-channel DDR3 1333/1066/800 MHz if your all of your ram is not atleast 1066mhz or faster that could be a small part of your problem. you can use newer ram that is 1600, it should automatically down clock to 1333mhz if that's the cheapest stuff you can buy, but i don't think you need to buy that. an SSD will however vastly improve your game performance and kep your quad core 6600 well supplied and eating data in fuller amounts. a newer video card will greatly increase your fps also more than the SSD by about 40% with the SSD making a 30% improvement on it's own i would say rob ryan locthe, but he already left brasil (ha ha) upgrade your graphics card is priority #1.
you can buy used from your area to save some money.
for 140FPS nvidia gtx 550ti or AMD 6850 should keep you @120-140 fps
a GTX 560ti or gtx570 to GTX660 or AMD 6870 - 6970 to 7870 should keep you at 160fps

your problem with new graphics cards is a power issue as i am betting you don't have more than 1 6pin GPU plug on your power supply if you even have one at all. if you don't have one at all upgrade to a newer power supply that has atleast 34 amps on the 12v+ rail marked on the stickers on the sides of the PSU's you will need atleast 1 6 pin power plug for a newer GPU such as a gtx550/560/660/750/950 i have not kept up on my knowledge of AMD gpu's and their power plug requirements off the top of my head but some of the AMD cards i listed require 2 6 pin power connectors.

if you get a 500watts psu try to get an evga or corsair as they usually have 2 to 4 6 in connectors and sometimes 2 6 pin and also 2 8 pin power connectors less than 500watts psu usually only has 1 6 pin power connector. not going with a well known brand you might not even get any 6 or 8 pin power connectors.

if you have online ordering access, try buying good name brand from good user rating dealers in china to avoid to taxes problem being so bad, and have it sent by UPS if you get UPS service in your area so it will only take 4 weeks or less (i am not familiar with shipping wait times from china to brazil) ebay is great for this if you have a credit card.

T_Amato · Aug 23, 2016

f-14 :

T_Amato :

i understand your problems with living in brasil, got a friend living in sau paulo. first, the thermal paste under the motherboard heatsinks might be dried out, try reapplying new thermal paste to them, i am familiar with that board it's a very good mother board. the processor speed is okay for what you are doing, it's quad core which is very good also. it's data transfer is adequate to what you are doing, but is falling behind fast.... however you have a very good board for overclocking cpu and even RAM some what and that will improve your gaming performance also. there are youtube videos but you should have some one who knows how t set all the timings because those can be very different depending on who made your ram and what speed your ram is, just like the motherboard maker and it's speeds. the q6600 is a great overclocking processor, i have never overclocked a 6600 myself as i waited for the Q9550.

you have more than enough ram in amount but that board is able to use alot of speeds of ram from Dual-channel DDR3 1333/1066/800 MHz if your all of your ram is not atleast 1066mhz or faster that could be a small part of your problem. you can use newer ram that is 1600, it should automatically down clock to 1333mhz if that's the cheapest stuff you can buy, but i don't think you need to buy that. an SSD will however vastly improve your game performance and kep your quad core 6600 well supplied and eating data in fuller amounts. a newer video card will greatly increase your fps also more than the SSD by about 40% with the SSD making a 30% improvement on it's own i would say rob ryan locthe, but he already left brasil (ha ha) upgrade your graphics card is priority #1.
you can buy used from your area to save some money.
for 140FPS nvidia gtx 550ti or AMD 6850 should keep you @120-140 fps
a GTX 560ti or gtx570 to GTX660 or AMD 6870 - 6970 to 7870 should keep you at 160fps

your problem with new graphics cards is a power issue as i am betting you don't have more than 1 6pin GPU plug on your power supply if you even have one at all. if you don't have one at all upgrade to a newer power supply that has atleast 34 amps on the 12v+ rail marked on the stickers on the sides of the PSU's you will need atleast 1 6 pin power plug for a newer GPU such as a gtx550/560/660/750/950 i have not kept up on my knowledge of AMD gpu's and their power plug requirements off the top of my head but some of the AMD cards i listed require 2 6 pin power connectors.

if you get a 500watts psu try to get an evga or corsair as they usually have 2 to 4 6 in connectors and sometimes 2 6 pin and also 2 8 pin power connectors less than 500watts psu usually only has 1 6 pin power connector. not going with a well known brand you might not even get any 6 or 8 pin power connectors.

if you have online ordering access, try buying good name brand from good user rating dealers in china to avoid to taxes problem being so bad, and have it sent by UPS if you get UPS service in your area so it will only take 4 weeks or less (i am not familiar with shipping wait times from china to brazil) ebay is great for this if you have a credit card.

Well, my PS has dual 6p and 6p+4p plugs.
To me it doesn't make much sense the need of extra pins when one could combine multiple plugs anyway Oo

My PS was made to support high-end Crossfire with the ancient 2900 ATI cards... Idk about now tbh, I have no idea because I do not follow the trends anymore... In any way, do you really think I should discard an real 1000w power supply?!?!?

DSzymborski · Aug 23, 2016

T_Amato :

f-14 :

T_Amato :

i understand your problems with living in brasil, got a friend living in sau paulo. first, the thermal paste under the motherboard heatsinks might be dried out, try reapplying new thermal paste to them, i am familiar with that board it's a very good mother board. the processor speed is okay for what you are doing, it's quad core which is very good also. it's data transfer is adequate to what you are doing, but is falling behind fast.... however you have a very good board for overclocking cpu and even RAM some what and that will improve your gaming performance also. there are youtube videos but you should have some one who knows how t set all the timings because those can be very different depending on who made your ram and what speed your ram is, just like the motherboard maker and it's speeds. the q6600 is a great overclocking processor, i have never overclocked a 6600 myself as i waited for the Q9550.

you have more than enough ram in amount but that board is able to use alot of speeds of ram from Dual-channel DDR3 1333/1066/800 MHz if your all of your ram is not atleast 1066mhz or faster that could be a small part of your problem. you can use newer ram that is 1600, it should automatically down clock to 1333mhz if that's the cheapest stuff you can buy, but i don't think you need to buy that. an SSD will however vastly improve your game performance and kep your quad core 6600 well supplied and eating data in fuller amounts. a newer video card will greatly increase your fps also more than the SSD by about 40% with the SSD making a 30% improvement on it's own i would say rob ryan locthe, but he already left brasil (ha ha) upgrade your graphics card is priority #1.
you can buy used from your area to save some money.
for 140FPS nvidia gtx 550ti or AMD 6850 should keep you @120-140 fps
a GTX 560ti or gtx570 to GTX660 or AMD 6870 - 6970 to 7870 should keep you at 160fps

your problem with new graphics cards is a power issue as i am betting you don't have more than 1 6pin GPU plug on your power supply if you even have one at all. if you don't have one at all upgrade to a newer power supply that has atleast 34 amps on the 12v+ rail marked on the stickers on the sides of the PSU's you will need atleast 1 6 pin power plug for a newer GPU such as a gtx550/560/660/750/950 i have not kept up on my knowledge of AMD gpu's and their power plug requirements off the top of my head but some of the AMD cards i listed require 2 6 pin power connectors.

if you get a 500watts psu try to get an evga or corsair as they usually have 2 to 4 6 in connectors and sometimes 2 6 pin and also 2 8 pin power connectors less than 500watts psu usually only has 1 6 pin power connector. not going with a well known brand you might not even get any 6 or 8 pin power connectors.

if you have online ordering access, try buying good name brand from good user rating dealers in china to avoid to taxes problem being so bad, and have it sent by UPS if you get UPS service in your area so it will only take 4 weeks or less (i am not familiar with shipping wait times from china to brazil) ebay is great for this if you have a credit card.

Well, my PS has dual 6p and 6p+4p plugs.
To me it doesn't make much sense the need of extra pins when one could combine multiple plugs anyway Oo

My PS was made to support high-end Crossfire with the ancient 2900 ATI cards... Idk about now tbh, I have no idea because I do not follow the trends anymore... In any way, do you really think I should discard an real 1000w power supply?!?!?

Would need more information on this old power supply - never heard of a "Real" power supply.

T_Amato · Aug 24, 2016

DSzymborski :

T_Amato :

f-14 :

T_Amato :

i understand your problems with living in brasil, got a friend living in sau paulo. first, the thermal paste under the motherboard heatsinks might be dried out, try reapplying new thermal paste to them, i am familiar with that board it's a very good mother board. the processor speed is okay for what you are doing, it's quad core which is very good also. it's data transfer is adequate to what you are doing, but is falling behind fast.... however you have a very good board for overclocking cpu and even RAM some what and that will improve your gaming performance also. there are youtube videos but you should have some one who knows how t set all the timings because those can be very different depending on who made your ram and what speed your ram is, just like the motherboard maker and it's speeds. the q6600 is a great overclocking processor, i have never overclocked a 6600 myself as i waited for the Q9550.

you have more than enough ram in amount but that board is able to use alot of speeds of ram from Dual-channel DDR3 1333/1066/800 MHz if your all of your ram is not atleast 1066mhz or faster that could be a small part of your problem. you can use newer ram that is 1600, it should automatically down clock to 1333mhz if that's the cheapest stuff you can buy, but i don't think you need to buy that. an SSD will however vastly improve your game performance and kep your quad core 6600 well supplied and eating data in fuller amounts. a newer video card will greatly increase your fps also more than the SSD by about 40% with the SSD making a 30% improvement on it's own i would say rob ryan locthe, but he already left brasil (ha ha) upgrade your graphics card is priority #1.
you can buy used from your area to save some money.
for 140FPS nvidia gtx 550ti or AMD 6850 should keep you @120-140 fps
a GTX 560ti or gtx570 to GTX660 or AMD 6870 - 6970 to 7870 should keep you at 160fps

your problem with new graphics cards is a power issue as i am betting you don't have more than 1 6pin GPU plug on your power supply if you even have one at all. if you don't have one at all upgrade to a newer power supply that has atleast 34 amps on the 12v+ rail marked on the stickers on the sides of the PSU's you will need atleast 1 6 pin power plug for a newer GPU such as a gtx550/560/660/750/950 i have not kept up on my knowledge of AMD gpu's and their power plug requirements off the top of my head but some of the AMD cards i listed require 2 6 pin power connectors.

if you get a 500watts psu try to get an evga or corsair as they usually have 2 to 4 6 in connectors and sometimes 2 6 pin and also 2 8 pin power connectors less than 500watts psu usually only has 1 6 pin power connector. not going with a well known brand you might not even get any 6 or 8 pin power connectors.

if you have online ordering access, try buying good name brand from good user rating dealers in china to avoid to taxes problem being so bad, and have it sent by UPS if you get UPS service in your area so it will only take 4 weeks or less (i am not familiar with shipping wait times from china to brazil) ebay is great for this if you have a credit card.

Well, my PS has dual 6p and 6p+4p plugs.
To me it doesn't make much sense the need of extra pins when one could combine multiple plugs anyway Oo

My PS was made to support high-end Crossfire with the ancient 2900 ATI cards... Idk about now tbh, I have no idea because I do not follow the trends anymore... In any way, do you really think I should discard an real 1000w power supply?!?!?

Would need more information on this old power supply - never heard of a "Real" power supply.

massive reply... If I'm not wrong it's this PS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104040

T_Amato · Aug 30, 2016

DSzymborski :

still waiting for an answer

Upgrading my 7yo PC for Professional Gaming.

Commendable

Commendable

Estimable

Commendable

Estimable

Commendable

Estimable

Honorable

Curmudgeon Pursuivant

Commendable

Honorable

Commendable

Honorable

Distinguished

Commendable

Curmudgeon Pursuivant

Commendable

Commendable

Share this page