Gaming Rig bottlnecking somewhere? SPECS

[pmct132]

So over the last couple months I put together a pretty good gaming setup, but am still having troubles running quite a few games up to my standards on it, and I am wondering if something is bottlenecking the system, and what would be the next best upgrade, any input is appreciated. (I know its hardware related, tried everything possible to do with drivers, software ect.)

Heres the setup:

Motherboard: foxconn A7DA-S AM2+

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 @3.8GHz (aftermarket cooler, runs cool)

Video Cards: crossfired: sapphire AMD Radeon 6850 X2 (OC'd)

RAM: 8GB ddr2 -2gb kingston400mhz X4

PSU: Corsair GS800watt

Storage: SeagateBarracuda Hard Drive - 1TB, SATA 6Gbps, 7200 RPM, 32MB

Cooling: shitload of fans, mesh case (hardware runs nice and cool)

So there it is. Im thinking off just going all out on a nice am3+ board and high performance ddr3 ram but need some reassurance
What should my next upgrade be is basically what I'm getting at.

 

[HugoStiglitz]

all looks fairly fine.

what games are getting what FPS.
pls also list what resolutio you are playing at.

can you run 3d mark vantage on it.

3DMark11 - Enthusiast
Graphic Tests 1 to 4 (640x480, 8xMSAA, 16xAA)

compare the results to what is here.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2011-gaming-graphics-charts/3DMark11-Enthusiast,2660.html

you should be a little under the results in the above graph (as i believe it was done with an overclocked i7 980x or 2600k)

ram+mobo will yeild gains. but depends on the answers to the above questions.

 

[Zero_]

You were spot on about the motherboard and RAM. Upgrade ASAP.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

if your going to get a different motherboard you may aswell switch to an intel socket 1555 platform and an i5 2500k cpu. Its much better for gaming. What problem are you currently having? that rig should handle anything with good fps. faster ram and an am3 board wont help. Id say if anything is the problem its the 6850's in crossfire. Often a faster single card yields more consistent performance and won't be affected by microstuttering. But please, tell us what problem your having, there may be a better solution than just randomly swapping what seem to be perfectly good parts.
"You were spot on about the motherboard and RAM. Upgrade ASAP" < and what the hell is that going to fix????

 

[ukee1593]

My best guess would be that your bottleneck is occurring with the RAM only running at 400MHz, and it being DDR2.

You could possibly squeeze out some performance with 800MHz DDR2, or even overclocking the RAM, but sooner or later your going to have to upgrade your motherboard and RAM. Beware though if you are using OEM windows, Microsoft considers a new motherboard to be a new computer, so you might have some issues with loading your windows back on.

For a new motherboard I'd suggest a nice AM3+ 990 chipset range from either ASUS, GIGABYTE, or MSI. (I really don't like Foxconn)

I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, but I hope this helps anyway!

Cheers...

 

[pmct132]

new to the site thanks for the fast replies, i can only run the free default 3dmark test and i score arround 5700-5900, space marines 40k is kinda chopping out on me and i have no idea why it goes through severe lag spikes, my system should easily be able to run this game.
Also i cant play dragon age origins worth *** just chops out everywhere even on low settings, Brink i find is unplayable on my computer on any settings frames are in the 20-40s which i find very low. Pretty much all bethesda published games dont work on my computer(FPSwise). Most older games aswell are unplayable on my computer. Ive tested arround 50 recent demos on steam and less them half will run properly, and i spent far over 1000$ on this setup.

^tested all resolutions from 1280x720 - 1920x1080 with similar results.^

Although some common titles like MW2, Just Cause 2, Crysis 2, Battlefield3 beta, dirt 3, run as they should.im kindoff a performance freak and want evrything to be able to run smooth

 

[Rizlla]

if your going to get a different motherboard you may aswell switch to an intel socket 1555 platform and an i5 2500k cpu. Its much better for gaming. What problem are you currently having? that rig should handle anything with good fps. faster ram and an am3 board wont help. Id say if anything is the problem its the 6850's in crossfire. Often a faster single card yields more consistent performance and won't be affected by microstuttering. But please, tell us what problem your having, there may be a better solution than just randomly swapping what seem to be perfectly good parts.
"You were spot on about the motherboard and RAM. Upgrade ASAP" < and what the hell is that going to fix????

+1, How full is your HDD?

 

[pmct132]

not full at all, fresh OS, fresh HDD

 

[Rizlla]

1 more thing. Do you have an Anti Virus installed? I had a similar problem to this before. It ended up being my AV that was blocking some of the games and it was causing the problem.

 

[pmct132]

Microsoft Security Essentials, ever herd anything to do with that?

 

[Rizlla]

Yes i was running it before. It is a good AV for the Windows user. Just go through the list of blocked programs and see if it is blocked. Also have a look in you Windows firewall options for blocked applications.

 

[HugoStiglitz]

sorry can you run 3d mark 11, not vantage.


what settings are these games on?

super hi with AF and AI as high as they go?

im running 3d mark on mine to compare.

 

[cats_Paw]

For me sounds like a bad driver from the gpu. have latest drivers installed?

Im not sure but i belive some games have problems with dual core gpus... haveyou asked on the AMD/ATI forums about this issue?

 

[cats_Paw]

Also, try without the oc.

 

[HugoStiglitz]

my 3d mark 11 is

P7580 (CPU only overclocked)

you should be right around

5500-6500 i would imagine.

 

[pmct132]

thanks for all the replies, yeah i get arround 5800-6000, so i guess its running like similar systems, this is on the 3dmark 11 free default benchmark.

so since its running how it should and im still not happy with it what would you recommend nxt i got my eyes on a am3+ board and some gskill ddr3.

Anyone got any other suggestions, (im not on a tight budget but do have cost in mind.)

 

[HugoStiglitz]

Mine is the free version on default also.

Yes upgrading ur MOBO + RAM will give a small gain but i dont think it will be what your after.

if ur looking for something to run everything on UBER HIGH AWESOME WTFBBQ settings then ur going to have to shoot pretty high.

Crossfire'd 6970's or dual 6990's
SLI 580's or Dual 590's

Take a look at the charts below and see where you currently are vs where you would like to be and see if the wallet will handle it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2011-gaming-graphics-charts/3DMark11-Gamer,2659.html

 

[HugoStiglitz]

NOTE :
Crossfire 6990's (2x)
SLI 590's (2x)

DO NOT APPEAR on that list. (they sit above it)

Tripple and Quad
6970's and 580's will sit above those again.

once you start getting into these leagues your in danger of getting a bottlekneck with ur CPU.

all depends on how unhappy you are.

i would start with the graphics cards.
get two 6970's........if ur still not happy
I7 2600k + 8gb DDR3 RAM + MOBO..........still not happy
throw in another two 6970's

if ur not happy then. well im sorry but nothing on this earth currently is going to help. haha

 

[pmct132]

haha alright thanks got some ideas

 

[HugoStiglitz]

cool, glad we could all help.