Optimizing My Rig

Jun 28, 2018
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Hi Guys,

I made a thread here about a month ago thinking of upgrading my system, I appreciate those of you who had made your inputs.

I have decided that I will need to wait to rebuild it to the specifications I want so in the meantime I am hoping to optimize my system as much as possible. I am very new when it comes to computers so I appreciate your patience and detailed input very much.

My current specs are as follow:
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
CPU: Intel Core i5 3470 @ 3.20GHz
Ram: 16 Gb Dual Channel DD3@799MHz
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-GD65 (MS-7751)
Graphics: Asus VP239 (1920x1080@59Hz)
2047MB NVIDEA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
Storage: 298GB Seagate ST932032 5AS SCSI Disk Device (SATA)
PSU: EVGA 650W Gold Certified
Asus VG248QE 144hz Monitor

I know my CPU and MOBO are pretty outdated & I do plan on eventually upgrading everything but I am hopeful to maybe "tweak" my current system to boost over all system speed and performance.

The computer is mainly used for gaming (CSGO, Sims, WoW, etc) & web browsing.

For some reason my computer feels slower in the last month or so, I was having an error before where my computer would randomly restart while gaming and when I got my new (current) PSU that has fixed the error.

I will randomly get a screen stutter/lag while playing CSGO and it is very annoying to me.

Do you feel that overclocking my GPU or CPU is a good idea to try, or maybe would a fresh reinstall of windows help? I've noticed my ram is only 799 MHz as well, could this be an issue?

Any tips on softwares to use or approaches to take are greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!
 
Solution
I'm not sure what utility you used to check the RAM speed, but often RAM will be reported as half its actual data rate. The bus may be clocked at 800MHz, but since DDR memory operates at a "double date rate", the effective speed would be twice that. So, you're RAM is likely already DDR3-1600.

If you get stutter in a less-demanding game like CS:GO, you might check the temperatures of your CPU and GPU while gaming to make sure they are not overheating, and throttling performance. Various things could cause a CPU to overheat, such as a failed fan or a loose cooler.
At idle, your machine will slow down; use something like HWMonitor which keeps track of minimum and maximum speeds on RAM and CPU to see if your RAM is stuck at 800MHz. Also check in your BIOS to make sure it is set to run at its rated speed, e.g. DDR3-1600.
It will not increase your FPS, but a SSD will make your system feel a lot more snappy in many other areas. If you get one, temporarily remove your primary hard drive then do a fresh Windows install onto the SSD. Install your programs and drivers, then re-install the old drive as a data drive.

That's a really nice motherboard btw; I got to review it for Newegg some years ago, and if I weren't building a mATX rig, I would have used it for my primary PC at the time.
 
Jun 28, 2018
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Ok thanks so much for your input, I guess my question is if I do decide to spend a little bit of money is it worth upgrading my ram to let's say 1600 MHz instead of the 799 I currently have? Sorry for my noobyness lol I don't truly even trust myself messing with BIOS.

PS: I do currently have an SSD but no additional HDD as I believe it failed (OS and everything is on the one SSD)
 
I'm not sure what utility you used to check the RAM speed, but often RAM will be reported as half its actual data rate. The bus may be clocked at 800MHz, but since DDR memory operates at a "double date rate", the effective speed would be twice that. So, you're RAM is likely already DDR3-1600.

If you get stutter in a less-demanding game like CS:GO, you might check the temperatures of your CPU and GPU while gaming to make sure they are not overheating, and throttling performance. Various things could cause a CPU to overheat, such as a failed fan or a loose cooler.
 
Solution