Upgrade Advice

[mrmonkey]

I want to be able to play the latest games at the highest settings (BF3, Skyrim, etc). Here's my system:

Radeon 6870
4GB RAM
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L
Intel Q6600 2.4GHz oc'd to 3GHz

Im guessing the weak thing I need to upgrade here is my processor and in turn my motherboard. Is there an economical/budget-friendly way to make my system better? Or is it fine as it is still for now? I haven't used it in a long time and I don't know how it fares in today's world but I'm going to start using it again for games next week and I want it to be up to par.

 

[tiang]

Your computer spec for the time being still quite good in term of gaming. No many games utilize up to 4 cores as the time being. If you want yourself a better performance machine, you may considering to add in more RAM or CF your 6870!

 

[zooted]

You cpu can hold its own, as can your gpu. Battlefield 3 is really gpu dependent, but a 6870 is pretty much the bare minimum for 1080p(with lowered detail) If I were you I would give it a shot with the system as is to see how well it holds up and then see where you can go from there.

 

[mrmonkey]

Your computer spec for the time being still quite good in term of gaming. No many games utilize up to 4 cores as the time being. If you want yourself a better performance machine, you may considering to add in more RAM or CF your 6870!

What exactly does "CF your 6870" mean?

 

[teaser]

It Means Cross-fire,using two video cards together

 

[Emelth]

First check to make sure your Motherboard is SLI/CF capable (2 PCI slots on the same type)

Make sure your PSU can handle another GPU (let us know what yours is so we can tell you)

Then buy card put it in and there you go a CF'ed 6870

 

[mrmonkey]

First check to make sure your Motherboard is SLI/CF capable (2 PCI slots on the same type)

Make sure your PSU can handle another GPU (let us know what yours is so we can tell you)

Then buy card put it in and there you go a CF'ed 6870

I don't think the motherboard I listed supports CrossFire...
But here's my PSU anyways: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

 

[nordlead]

A 550 with 12V@41A is cutting it extremely close for crossfire 6870's. I'm probably going to try it myself with a 600W with 12V@40A and we'll see how that goes, but there is no guarantee that the PSU won't just shut off on you.

 

[zooted]

You could try to sell it on ebay and get a beefier card.

 

[mrmonkey]

You could try to sell it on ebay and get a beefier card.

What about a mobo/processor upgrade, anyone? If I were to upgrade that.
And what card do you recommend?

 

[zooted]

As far as a mobo processor I think every one would recommend a 2500k/z68 motherboard. This would also mean that you would have to upgrade to ddr3, which is ok because ram is dirt cheap right now.

As far as video cards, in order to get a significant upgrade over the 6870 you want to go at least 2-3 tiers up, so a 6970/gtx 570 at the very least.

That's if you want to stay with the single card solution. If you decide to go with the processor/mobo upgrade you could just pick up another 6870 and crossfire them (which is the bare minimum I would crossfire with in order to avoid microstuttering)