Where is my bottleneck on amd X3 440?

[hyeedo]

Amd ahtlon II x3 440 (3ghz)
2gb ddr3 ram
Oldish Sata Hard drive, transfer rates were in the 50s on hd tune (13ms)
Nvidia GTS 250 (512mb)
Biostar 870+ motherboard
My fps is in the 40s, 50s on Bad company 2 on medium or low settings, 1280 resulution
Should I get a new hard drive or more memory?
Whats going to be bottlenecking during a game or while cruising the web
I used a few core i3 laptops and they seemed much faster while cruising =(
Could it be because my hard drive is old? I didnt get a new one with the pc

 

[lowjack989]

IMO...up the RAM to 4GB minimum first.....Then go get you a WD Black or a Samsung F3 HDD

 

[mattius92]

I would upgrade the HDD and put a fresh install of Windows, I have been using 2GB of RAM in my PC even though I have 4GB (long story), and it has little effect until I game. So for BC2 I would say you need 4GB of Ram at least, but for web browsing and etc, your RAM shouldn't be the bottleneck.

I suggest an Samsung F3 HDD and what OS you using?

 

[lowjack989]

^ more RAM equals more speed nuff said......BTW OP is a gamer so RAM is a big deal in his rig as more RAM equals more available DATA...simple

 

[lowjack989]

The HDD is usually the last bottleneck....upgrades would be as follows in order:

1.} Memory Expansion to 4GB min. pick memory that has matching latency and speed
2.}6850-->6870 if AMD or 450-->460 nvidia vid card
3.}SATA II HDD min. 16MB cache WD Blue 500 GB fits the bill

 

[hyeedo]

windows 7 64 bit
The reason im hesitant to buy more ram is when I minimize BBC2
it doesnt lagg it all
It just instantly minimizes and I can do whatever else, or maybe thats a ddr3 thing.

 

[lowjack989]

Its just performing a halt on the program so it shouldn't lag...in essence pausing the game.

 

[lowjack989]

Trust me...memory is where its at on this rig

 

[mattius92]

Judging by the specs your PC shouldn't have any problems web browsing, only issues there might be just internet connection.

Gaming could very well be your memory, when it comes to attaining smooth gameplay and high frame rates. I did see a difference when I switched from 2GB to 4GB when gaming, however when I am doing everyday tasks I find zero difference in performance with either 2GB or 4GB in my pc.

Oh and for a sidenote, an i3 is amazing at doing everyday tasks, and will probably outperform the Athlon in everything except gaming. Since games like BC2 are made to take advantage of every core. So I wouldn't compare your rig to an i3 laptop you used.

 

[lowjack989]

Judging by the specs your PC should have any problems web browsing, only issues there might be just internet connection.

Gaming could very well be memory when it comes to smooth gameplay and frame rates. I do see a difference when I switch from 2GB to 4GB when gaming, however when I am doing everyday tasks I find zero difference when I have either 2GB or 4GB in my pc.

Oh and for a sidenote, an i3 is amazing at doing everyday tasks, and will probably outperform the Athlon in everything except gaming. Since games like BC2 are made to take advantage of all every core.

:lol: Your are kidding right? You make no sense...please stay away from this thread

 

[mattius92]

Yeah, I edited that post, I need to go back to school apparently, lol.

Oh and I used to have 2GB in my PC before I went to 4GB, thats how I am able to explain the differences I experienced.

 

[lowjack989]

where did you come up with the internet?????and web browsing????

 

[saint19]

Easy answer?: 2GB more RAM and better GPU.

 

[lowjack989]

Exactly...Thanks for the back up saint

 

[mattius92]

where did you come up with the internet?????and web browsing????

Thats called personal experience, no web browser is going to use 4GB of DDR3 RAM, that wouldn't be a issue with that. Gaming on the other hand is different.

I am not saying that he shouldn't get 2 more gigs of RAM, I am just saying there should be no difference with 2 or 4 gigs of RAM when it comes to web browsing and everyday tasks.

 

[lowjack989]

:lol: :lol: :lol: Stop your killing me...no for real stop

 

[lowjack989]

OP sorry to get you in the mix...please pick a best answer so this madness can end...

 

[saint19]

I will say this as a plus for this and with the idea that "bad" advices stops:

Check your task manager, if you have more that 1.5GB used, then you NEED more that 2GB RAM, that's it.

Now, I hope that this stops here because we aren't trying to find if he need 2GB or 4GB for "every day" use, the OP need know why the FPS are so low in BC2.

 

[lowjack989]

Ahhh..good point I couldn't see the trees for the forest...OP..make sure all background programs and services are shut off i.e. browsers, monitoring programs, anything thats not nessacery.... while gaming this will allow memory to be freed up so that you will be able to achieve more FPS while gaming

 

[mattius92]

What you two don't seem to understand is I answered everyone of his questions. And if you look at my very first posting I said that he should get 4GB for BC2 aka gaming.

I am not giving bad advice I stated personal experiences for everything he asked.

 

[lowjack989]

My last post ....That is your fix if you don't wanna spend money..otherwise mem/gpu/hdd

 

[hyeedo]

Best answer selected by hyeedo.

 

[hyeedo]

What is OP?

 

[lowjack989]

OP=orignal poster.... nice best answer btw....

 

[lowjack989]

look at your topic...