Upgrade or not

[kreater]

Hello,

I am looking to increase my performance in games still though being relatively happy with it right now i always look to be better.

So I currently have:
Phenom x4 965 BE @ 3.5ghz
GTX 580
6gb ram @ 1066
Corsair 850w PSU

I am unsure whether or not for a start if my cpu is bottlenecking or not, and whether I should overclock it more to around 3.8 if possible or just buy a new cpu, something like a i7 2600k (though i would need a new motherboard for this)

Would like to hear your thoughts.

 

[amuffin]

Overclock. and get 8gb of ram.

 

[kreater]

amuffin, hmm, i barely utilize 4gb let alone that.

I dont think its worth it but maybe im wrong , i will look into overclocking my cpu more though.

 

[kreater]

I am just wondering if this overclock would make much of a difference.

 

[amuffin]

I am just wondering if this overclock would make much of a difference.

Seems like your 580 is getting bottlenecked. Overclocking won't hurt and will give you better performance, just make sure you have a good cooler

 

[kreater]

What is a safe temp for a cpu to get to under load ?

 

[amuffin]

What is a safe temp for a cpu to get to under load ?

I would say 65-70 would be the max you can go, which cooler do you have?

 

[kreater]

i dont know exactly what cooler i have sorry, not so good when it comes to these bits its just a standard fan over my cpu and some other 1 on the side of the case if thats what you meant

 

[kreater]

I ran prime95 and it was at 64c, and it was only ran for around 20 mins, seems pretty high ?

 

[kreater]

I think it would get too hot with such a bigger overclock probably?

 

[unknown_13]

What motherboard and PSU have you got? This is very important in OC'ing, just as the cooler is.

 

[Ariunbold]

And whats your os? I recommend install windows 7 64bit and oc ur cpu ,gpu

 

[kreater]

What motherboard and PSU have you got? This is very important in OC'ing, just as the cooler is.

I stated my psu at the top, corsair tx850w. And my mobo is nforce 750a, pretty old.

 

[kreater]

And whats your os? I recommend install windows 7 64bit and oc ur cpu ,gpu

Thanks I am already using this however

 

[kreater]

I will point out that my idle temps are pretty high.. at 45/46c

 

[truegenius]

only thing you should try to upgrade is your cpu cooler (may be a water cooling solution) and it will be compatible with all your future cpu/mobo upgrade

and (after new cooling system) then try to push your cpu over 4ghz and this will be enough to handle that gtx580.

and their is nothing else to upgrade in this amd system

 

[kreater]

only thing you should try to upgrade is your cpu cooler (may be a water cooling solution) and it will be compatible with all your future cpu/mobo upgrade

and (after new cooling system) then try to push your cpu over 4ghz and this will be enough to handle that gtx580.

and their is nothing else to upgrade in this amd system

Yea i believe this is it, thanks.. can you reccomend a good cooler?

 

[Salt]

I agree with the people who say put in a bit more RAM if you want to keep the platform you have. The number of applications we have, services, and total processes climbs with time. 4GB was a lot not long ago, but it isn't much now.

The best way to see if you need more RAM is to open up task manager, then go to resource monitor. On the memory tab look at hard faults per second. If you see a fair number of hard faults then its time to stick more memory in. Any time your system has to cache to the HD it is paying a huge performance penalty.

As to the relative benefits of switching platforms.. If you upgrade to 8GB of ram along with a new MB, and a 2600K -- I wouldn't expect much more than 6-10FPS in most games. That might be enough to justify it you, but you might as well try the overclock first.