Asus Rampage II Extreme in 2017!

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Kenton82

Kenton82

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Hello all, my first post on Tom's Hardware after reading with great interest, many of the topics posted on here!
I have a gaming PC from 2009 that i purchased a few months ago for peanuts. My main aim for buying this antique was to get into some cheap PC gaming, mainly BeamNG Drive and spintires, which i had been playing on my i5 laptop for a while, but did not want to thrash the thing anymore, so decided to get an ageing PC which i could upgrade slightly and have some fun with along the way! Specs are: Cooler master HAF 922+ case, Asus Rampage II Extreme MOBO, Epsilon 1010W PSU, i7 950 CPU (running @ 3.2Ghz) Gainward GTX770 2GB GPU, 12GB Ballistix Sport RAM, 1TB WD HDD, Windows 10 PRO 64. This build, for its age and what i have paid for it, is amazing. Very fast, no errors what so ever, and achieves around 60+ Fps in BeamNG Drive which i am more than happy with. After waffling on, my question is should i update the MOBO BIOS to the last ever update (2101) or carry on with it as it is?? I am thinking "if it aint broke, dont fix it" So it is probably a silly question, but just thought id throw it out there. And to wave the flag for all the older PC's out there still going strong. Also, in the BIOS, should i enable 'Performance' rather than Normal?? I would like to squeeze as much power out of the old girl as poss, so looking at all possibilities! Sorry for making everyone yawn! Many thanks for any help, and any body remotely interested in my old project machine!
Kenton82.
 
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alexoiu
Hi, I still have an i5-750 and more than happy with it.
I wouldn't update the BIOS, since no compatibility issues. Same for Performance. It's an old pc, so I'd keep it at a normal pace, for a longer life.
About upgrade, not sure about the graphics card. Try searching on youtube for some demo with the i7-950 and the GTX 970.
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alexoiu

alexoiu

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Hi, I still have an i5-750 and more than happy with it.
I wouldn't update the BIOS, since no compatibility issues. Same for Performance. It's an old pc, so I'd keep it at a normal pace, for a longer life.
About upgrade, not sure about the graphics card. Try searching on youtube for some demo with the i7-950 and the GTX 970.
 
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Kenton82

Kenton82

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Hi Alexoiu, many thanks for the reply. That's exactly what i was thinking. The windows 10 upgrade was a pain to get going, but once installed and updated, it has been faultless. I did upgrade the GPU to the one i put in the specs, and seems to hold its own quite well, though it does take a bit of a kicking in high res mode! I will indeed have a look at the GTX 970! These cards are getting cheaper to pick up second hand all the time. I must say, i am very impressed with the i7-950, i was toying with the idea of an overclock, but cant see i will gain much from it??
Cheers,
Kenton82
 
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Kenton82

Kenton82

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Wow, many thanks for the info, i read that with great interest! I can see why this chip causes so many discussions now. Who would have thought that a 9 year old processor would still be able to perform so well?! I think i will hold off with the OC-ing for now! Plus the fact that the chip is getting on, i dont really see the need to stress it unnecessarily and risk damage. I did however run Prime 95 x64 on it last night (not for that long though) and although i did not really understand all of it, the core temps after half an hour were stable at about 75C and two tests were passed. I will have to have another look at this program and try and learn a bit more!

Have a good day, and thanks again!
Kenton82.
 
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Kenton82

Kenton82

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Hi alexoiu, just as an update, i have finally purchased an Asus GTX 970 Strix Card, and is all up and running, and working well (i think) I still need to educate myself on the fine tuning required to make sure i am getting the most out of it. It does seem to have taken a bit of the load off the CPU as i am seeing the card's core running at max, but mu CPU cores running at a max of 85-91% Where before, it was maxing out during the same game test! I presume this is a good thing??

Many thanks for your recommendation! This old beast of mine is kicking ass!

Kenton.
 
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