What can I do to improve my PCs performance?

[frydhamstr]

I have an ASUS CM5570, which came with pretty decent components, which windows rated an average of 6.0, but when it got to the video card... the Intel(R) G45/G43 Express Chipset, which rated a 3.5, i realized i was gonna have problems...

And i did, i can run most games, and they never crash, but the framerate is TERRIBLE! I can hardly get above 10 FPS on Minecraft, and the same thing pretty much goes for ANY other game: Oblivion, countless MMOs, you name it. I'm just tired of clicking "Low" on every game's graphics settings, making the visuals look like I'm playing a game from 1993...

I may have an extensive knowledge of the software side of computers, but i know almost nothing about the hardware, and i wanted to know what can improve my framerate on games. The only thing i thought of was upgrading the video card, since that is my best guess, I thought of something like the NVIDIA - GeForce GTX 550/560 Ti. The whole point of all this is, what can I do to improve my PC's performance?

Here are my specs:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5300 @ 2.60GHz

6.00GB RAM

Intel(R) G45/G43 Express Chipset

Thanks ahead of time.

 

[Stupid Username]

For the games you say those video cards are over kill. And your cpu will bottleneck them and you will have to get a new power supply. Guessing from your specs your power supply is 300-400w and this card should do the job fine for you. I would recommend different brand though. Drivers are hard to find. But your call-http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=602622&SRCCODE=BIZRATE&cm_mmc_o=2mHCjCmtB5ObkkzCjCVqHCjCdwwp&cpncode=27-111255730-2

Try getting a saphhire or ati HD 6670.

 

[frydhamstr]

For the games you say those video cards are over kill. And your cpu will bottleneck them and you will have to get a new power supply. Guessing from your specs your power supply is 300-400w and this card should do the job fine for you. I would recommend different brand though. Drivers are hard to find. But your call-http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=602622&SRCCODE=BIZRATE&cm_mmc_o=2mHCjCmtB5ObkkzCjCVqHCjCdwwp&cpncode=27-111255730-2

Try getting a saphhire or ati HD 6670.

I knew that those were overkill, as I have seen them used on the Alienware Aurora. But once i get an exceptional
PC together, I will be able to sell my Xbox and be able to play on the vast gaming world of the PC. I just didn't know if my motherboard would support it...etc...etc...

But thanks for your suggestion, it seems to have very nice capabilities that is exactly what i'm looking for, and with a modest price tag.

So it IS to video card I should upgrade correct?

 

[ErikTheAndroid]

Yeah definitely upgrade your GPU because the one you have now is pretty damn terrible.

 

[87ninefiveone]

The specs for your PC aren't very specific so it's hard to make good recomendations...

http://www.asus.com/Desktop/Entertainment/Essentio_CM5570/#specifications

According to that you've got a 300W PSU and the aformentioned G43 chipset. Intel's official supported CPU list is pretty decent for that motherboard. See here...

http://ark.intel.com/products/chipsets/36520 and click compatible products.

However, without a specific motherboard model number it would be difficult to judge just how much of that list is actually supported by your motherboard.

Moving to the GPU, the Radeon HD 6670, or Radeon HD 7750 are your best bets as far GPU's that wouldn't require a new PSU. The 6670 starts at around $60 and the 7750 starts around $100. I'd just go for a HD 6670 with GDDR3 memory in your case (Saphire and Asus make good cards). Both cards technically require a 400W PSU, but your CPU and other bits are such low power users that you'd never have an issue anyways.

 

[frydhamstr]

The specs for your PC aren't very specific so it's hard to make good recomendations...

http://www.asus.com/Desktop/Entertainment/Essentio_CM5570/#specifications

According to that you've got a 300W PSU and the aformentioned G43 chipset. Intel's official supported CPU list is pretty decent for that motherboard. See here...

http://ark.intel.com/products/chipsets/36520 and click compatible products.

However, without a specific motherboard model number it would be difficult to judge just how much of that list is actually supported by your motherboard.

Moving to the GPU, the Radeon HD 6670, or Radeon HD 7750 are your best bets as far GPU's that wouldn't require a new PSU. The 6670 starts at around $60 and the 7750 starts around $100. I'd just go for a HD 6670 with GDDR3 memory in your case (Saphire and Asus make good cards). Both cards technically require a 400W PSU, but your CPU and other bits are such low power users that you'd never have an issue anyways.

I was gonna post a link to that page, but for some reason the specs on that PC, despite it being the same model as mine, has what seems like better specs and a different case. So I posted my specs instead for more accuracy.

 

[jasont78]

dont know if that mobo will allow you to overclock but i have built 3 systems with that cpu years ago for friends and the lowest overclock i got was 3.7ghz with minimal overvolting but u definately need a better gpu

 

[frydhamstr]

Best answer selected by frydhamstr.

 

[frydhamstr]

Thanks for all your replies, I now have a MUCH more clear idea of what i need to do.