System Upgrades for Gaming

[MJ01118]

Alright so here is the low down i plan on playing Final Fantasy 14 its a graphics rich game as most of you know and well my graphics card handles it alright but the frame rate dips very low all the time especially with in populated city's. I'm wondering if its the graphics card or if its the processor or what. I also play Warcraft and TES:Skyrim both have no problem on high and ultra settings.

Here is my system:
Intel Core 2 Duo e6300 @1.86
Intel Mobo DQ965GF
4GB of Crucial DDR2
Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 Overclocked with 1GB VRAM
Thermaltake - V9 Black Edition Mid-Tower Case
Thermaltake - 850-Watt TR2 RX Power Supply
Windows 7 Home Premium x86 have the disks for Win 7 Ultimate x64 never had a need to upgrade yet

Its not a high end system but i wanna know if i can get anymore out of it before i have to replace the mobo and Processor.
Like i said the graphics aren't bad its just not optimal for Final Fantasy 14 I have no issues with Skyrim or WoW but I'm assuming id see night and day with upgrades.

I'd really appreciate some advice I've been scouring forums and well quite frankly got myself lost i thought i knew what i was going to do now I'm just confused lol...

 

[MJ01118]

Also on the thought of CPU bottlenecking my CPU is at about 75 to 80% on FF14 when it most demanding, also i understand that on low setting it usually takes more of a toll on the cpu the the gpu

 

[MJ01118]

then the gpu*

 

[cbrunnem]

ok lets start from the beginning. im assuming you have low resolution and that you consider 20 fps playable. i say that because that cpu can play skyrim at ultra. its just not good enough. a sandy bridge cpu at 3.0 isnt strong enough to play it at ultra at max frame rates the gpu can handle.

so heres the deal. wow and skyrim are extremely cpu dependent and really any gpu will do but most games need a strong gpu. so you could upgrade your gpu but you prolly will not see any improvement because your cpu will hold you back....

i really think you should consider a new system. you would need ram, mobo, cpu, and a gpu.

if you went with an i5 + 6850 you could get that at around 450 to 500 dollars.

whats your resolution and define able to play at high and ultra. my system cant even play skyrim at ultra.

 

[MJ01118]

Im runing 1080 and 30 fps is what I consider playable nvr really seen anything over that tbh

 

[MJ01118]

What would you suggest for a new build unfortunatly im a college student and my budget for a new build would be around 600 that was my concern

 

[cbrunnem]

6950 - 240
i5 - 220
mobo 100
ram 40
total 600

this would be a great setup. those are approximate figures.

check out this website http://pcpartpicker.com/

haha if you say so about skyrim. i know i cant do it with a 6950 and i7 but

 

[MJ01118]

Thanks ill have to check that out didnt think it would be in my budget

 

[lothdk]

If you are currently happy with the performance in the other games you play, and the only issue is the "lag" when around many players or in town when playing FFXIV, the best upgrade you can make is getting a SSD.

The current engine SE use for FFXIV is horribly coded when it comes to streaming, and the only way to get rid of it is with a SSD.
We can only hope that with v2.0 and the new engine this issue has been resolved, but that is still far in the future.

 

[mike789]

Having at least an i5 on a good board its a start.. then at least 200 bucks euros whatever on a GPU and there u are.. Of course it depends on what seems good for you.. personally I like to have at least 50 fps in all games.. there is a differnce believe me than have it ~30

 

[cbrunnem]

If you are currently happy with the performance in the other games you play, and the only issue is the "lag" when around many players or in town when playing FFXIV, the best upgrade you can make is getting a SSD.

The current engine SE use for FFXIV is horribly coded when it comes to streaming, and the only way to get rid of it is with a SSD.
We can only hope that with v2.0 and the new engine this issue has been resolved, but that is still far in the future.

while that may be true for that game, that is untrue for every game except that game. a ssd will not effect fps in any games.

 

[lothdk]

while that may be true for that game, that is untrue for every game except that game. a ssd will not effect fps in any games.

I am fully aware of the impact of an SSD on gaming (and MMOs especially) which is I why I worded my reply as I did.

Nowhere did I imply that an upgrade to SSD would impact any other game but FFXIV, which is one of the three games the OP currently care about, and the only one which he feels suffers and was the reason for his post about what he could do to improve performance.

If you knew about FFXIV and had followed the game and the forums, you would know that all but those with SSDs have serious stuttering while in towns and momentarily when getting near a camp with a lot of players due to an inefficiently coded engine.

 

[MJ01118]

Thanks Everyone for the posts i looked into my budget right now and i can afford about $1000 in upgrades id like to keep it under if i can here are the parts that i found

Intel I5-2500k Sandy Bridge 3.3k Quad $230 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

ASUS Maximus IV Mobo $180 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131806

G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB $60 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231460

MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III PE/OC Radeon HD 6950 2GB $300 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127575

And i was gunna run a SSD for OS and the game's program files with my SATA drive for storage

SanDisk Ultra 120GB SATA II(SSD) $140 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171545

All together itll be around 900 so there is a little room for improvement. I would be using my existing case and psu.

What do you guys think yes or no on this build im not in to much of a hurry i wanna get a solid plan before i start buying, plus all of you have give great advice,

Thanks again and i very much appreciate all the suggestions.

 

[MJ01118]

Also i was wondering on the comparison of Nvidia to AMD on graphics card i currently use and nvidia so im partial to it, but the 2GBs on the AMD seems better for frame buffering at a higher res? will that affect frame rate also i don't use physx so i don't know if I'd even bother with Nvidia and if i did need it the mobo would support both cards and i could use my old card for physx possibly?

 

[lothdk]

Looks like a solid build, not sure about the SanDisk, have to read up on that one, but otherwise looks good, though I would have gone with an ATX motherboard and not a mATX.

If, as you say, you are not in a hurry, you might want to pick up which ever SSD you decide on, and use that in your current build, waiting for the full line of the new Radeon cards to come out, and see if there is any truth to the rumor of Nvidia pushing up their schedule for release of their new cards, so that you have more to choose from.

 

[monu_08]

i think you nice pc mate you should use cooler master smps 600 watt to quiet run your games i have upgrade my psu to 700 watt zeb
my req
c2d 2.93 oc 3.00ghz
4gb ram
gt430 2gb ddr3
700 watt psu zeb
asus nvidia 9400 mobo