Just lost in th AM3 world and don't know what to do

pjmoses

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I have posted several questions and Tom's always comes through, but I am lost and not sure if I should do this.
Current build less than a month old.
M4A88TD-V EVO3.0 ASUS mobo
AMD Phenom II 965 OC'd to 4.0Ghz
2 Saphire HD 5770's
Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler
Antec NEW Truepower 750w modular PSU
42" JVC 1080P HDTV for monitor
2 4Gbs Kingston value ram 1333 OC'D to 1600 @ 1.65v
Smilodon Case which I do not recommend as you have to take out 3 fans for the Noctua cooler
2 Hich CFM fans in push-pull config.

I get a score of P16180 on 3DMark Advantage and wanted more, so I ordered th AMD 6 core 1100T. Have learned that was a mistake and it will not make any difference in gaming. So I have to refuse the UPS dilievery when he gets here today.
And I found out increasing my RAM will not help either. My mobo supports OC'd ram to 2000. Can my value Kingston handle that?

What, if anything can I do to increase my game playing with what I have? I do not have another slot for Crossfired X's 3 on video cards and know a HD 5870 preforms about the same as 2 HD 5700's. I was trying to go cheap, but have a system that could play any game and future proof it with the 6.0 SATA and 3.0 USB.

Is my NB maxed out at 2209 and frequency at 228? I have my PCIe upped to 110 and Multiplier at 20 with HT refer. clock at 205. It seems very stable at these setting but I am not getting the frame rate I would like for such an investment. It is all over the place when I run 3DMark advantage. I have no games to play yet as I was going to pay this system off before I start buying games, but can make some changes to I if it will help. Am waiting on the wireless adapter for Xbox 360 controller as I am old school and do not get the keyboard and mouse play with any success. I have Far Cry and S.T.A.L.K.E.R, but can not use keyboard and mouse over gamepad.

So, what is the masses opinion? Can't change over to Intel as I am stuck with AMD. Just not an option money wise.
 
You'll get very marginal improvement from RAM OC'ing for which your Kingston Value RAM is not a good candidate.
Same for further CPU OC'ing. I don't believe pushing the CPU to 4.2Ghz would yield a good result in terms of FPS gain.

For better gaming performance your only reasonable option (IMO) is getting a better GPU. Or GPUs.
 

pjmoses

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Should I try some OC'd RAM 2000 4Gbs X's 2 in there? It says on my mobo that it would take it. Would it make a difference then? I have great NB higher frequency available.
And I was told and looked at all the graphs that 2 HD 5770 was as good as a HD5870. But my mobo is only 16x's one slot and 4 x's the second. Should I sell both HD 5770's and go ahead and get the HD 5870?
 

pjmoses

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I have 2 4Gb Kingston value ram rated 2 1.5 v that is OC'ed to 1600 and 1.65v.
 

zooted

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Yeah if you plan on ever going crossfire again make sure it is at least 8x,8x. 8x to 16x is not that much of an improvement however that 4x is really holding your system back. The single 5870 will perform better in that scenario.