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E8500 with GTX 550 Ti... Planning on upgrading a few things...

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So I've been reading a lot of articles and threads here on TH, but never really signed up and joined the community; so, this is one of my first real posts! Howdy y'all!

> I'm currently deciding on upgrading motherboards after recently upgrading a lot of other things... I came across a prebuilt eBay computer a while back, and since then, I've been adding little things here and there that I've had laying around to beef up the build. Just recently I picked up a GTX 550 Ti and feel like my E8500 is bottlenecking the performance. It's running at stock clock speeds and limited to OCing due to my mobo (very little options in bios) & psu (400w).

Now, my real question is if I upgrade mobo & psu, and possibly OC my E8500 to around 3.6-3.8Ghz... Will it still hold back the performance of my new GPU? I feel like I could be getting a lot more out of my GPU with a PCIe2.0 slot + higher cpu clock.

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To OC an E8500 to 3.6, you do not need to upgrade your mobo, unless you bought from OEMs like Dell, HP, etc. Can you name the brand of your PSU? Since you CPU is dual core, it's likely to bottleneck in many instances, especially on newer games that can take advantage of quad cores. However, you're still good to go if you're able to hit 3.8Ghz with your CPU, which should be easy since my E7400 could go much slightly further than that.

Well when I got the computer, it came with a Foxconn G41MXE and the only thing you can change in bios as far as OC options is the cpu FSB. I had a E5300 in it before and that OC just fine (by changing FSB) to a certain degree, but ever since swapping in the E8500, it won't post with anything other than stock settings.

The PSU is some cheap one that came with the comp (Orion 400w), and I was thinking about upgrading to something along the lines of a reputable 500w. I'm sure after upgrading the PSU, I MIGHT be able to change the cpu FSB and have it actually work... but then I want to run a PCIe2.0 slot along with having the option to run 1600 ram.
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Even then, I'm sure I'll benefit a lot more if I could OC my cpu to 3.6+ghz. I feel like the gameplay is slightly better with the 550ti than my previous GT430 but the numbers show a huge increase. Plus, using a mobo with a pcie2.0 slot would also help me benefit more, no?

I'm just tired of spending more money on this rig since it's a older generation cpu/socket, but I would like to get the most out of it as I can before any new cool things come out (IVY).

In order to game at 1080p at max settings, you'd need at least a 560Ti / HD6950. However, if you're willing to sacrifice some quality for performance, 550 is good too.

Yea, I'd probably have to play at a lower setting or what not, but then again, most of the game ay arent too graphic intense. I'll probably get another to run SLI whenever I upgrade to SB or IVY (depending on prices).

toneekay said:
Yea, I'd probably have to play at a lower setting or what not, but then again, most of the game ay arent too graphic intense. I'll probably get another to run SLI whenever I upgrade to SB or IVY (depending on prices).

True. No point upgrading now if you're limited on cash, since you won't have much problem gaming at current setup. Better to save and get a better rig one shot come this Christmas.

I want to run a i3 2100 for now with the possibility of running another 550ti, how well do you think that'll play against a similar build with a 560ti? The only problem is finding a decent board that will allow me to run at least x16/x8 or x8/x8.

toneekay said:
I want to run a i3 2100 for now with the possibility of running another 550ti, how well do you think that'll play against a similar build with a 560ti? The only problem is finding a decent board that will allow me to run at least x16/x8 or x8/x8.

Those decent boards with crossfire capabilities don't come cheap. How much are you willing to spend on upgrades? Throw a figure so that we can properly recommend something.

Well my budget is a strict $400 for all components except the video card (which I'll be using my old one), and whenever I can free up some funds, I'll either pick up another 550ti or sell the old and use the money to get an even better card.
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