Update my PC?

[maximilian_benke]

Hello,

My PC Specs are the following:

Nvidia Geforce 1080
16 GB RAM
AMD FX-8350
ASRock 970 Extreme4

I have the following issue / question:

Many games, when I play them on very high settings, have a solid fps of over 60 for a while, and then the games suddenly begin to shutter, some games more, some games less, always for a few seconds, and then it's stutter free for 1, 2 minutes before it begins anew.

This problem happens especially / mostly with games with a lot of stuff going on in the environment of the game, for example: Assassin's Creed Origins, Kingdom Come Deliverance, No Man's Sky.

Googleing my CPU Graphics Card Combo, I read that I might have to upgrade my CPU or Mainboard. However, I have almost no knowledge of anything hardware related.

So my questions are:

1. Could my CPU or Mainboard be the problem? If so, should I upgrade either or both of them, and to what would you recommend?

2. Could there be another problem that causes it? If so, do you have any idea what the problem could be?

If anyone could help, it would be awesome!

 

[Darkbreeze]

1. Yes, it could, but first I'd do a clean install of your graphics drivers to make sure that's not the issue.

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2767677/perform-clean-install-video-card-drivers.html

2. Yes, see answer to question one, plus, if it's been a LONG time, or never, since you did a clean install of Windows, especially if you've had multiple fall and spring Windows 10 updates and never did a clean install, then I'd also try doing a clean install of Windows as well.

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-3567655/clean-installation-windows.html


Also, check to see that all 16GB of RAM are recognized and are running at the correct speed, in DUAL channel, by downloading CPU-Z and checking the memory and SPD tabs. You'll have to select the slots your memory is in to see the details of each module on the SPD tab.

Do you have a HDD or SSD and what is the model number of the primary drive?

Also, power delivery is a frequent problem, and tends to happen more after a few minutes or even longer under load conditions. What is the model number and brand of your power supply?

This IS most likely a CPU bottleneck issue, but eliminating those other potential issues makes condemning the hardware a lot easier to swallow than to just go there right from the get go.

 

[superninja12]

1) defenetly.
2 well...


its just even 5 years ago that was a below average cpu, its so weak it would hold a gtx 1060/970 back.

so....

you want something like an i5 8400 or better or for ryzen 2600 or better. + motherboard + 16 gb ddr4 ram.

 

[maximilian_benke]

Thanks for the answers!

@darkbreeze

1. I already did a clean install of the drivers for an unrelated problem not too long ago, so that's not the issue.

2. Sorry, I should have mentioned I have win7. I already looked to upgrade to Win10, but I have several issues with that. Where to best buy it, the high price, the constant updates, privacy issues.

All the ram is working fine. Though I don't know what speed is the correct amount. I also have DDR3 instead of DDR4, does that impact farmerate in a huge way?

I have a small SSD with windows installed on it (so sadly only one game fits on it) and a bigger HDD. While the 2 games I did play while installed on the SSD had less fps issues, they still were there.

About the Power supply, I don't know, I cannot see any infos on it itself. But it's the same one that was delivered with the PC when I bought it, so I am sure I should definitely upgrade it as well.

So all in all, What exactly would you recommend I upgrade and to what? CPU, Mainboard and Power Supply?

 

[Darkbreeze]

And memory. You can't upgrade to anything even remotely recent, like, released in the last four years, without also purchasing DDR4. DDR3 won't work with newer systems and DDR4 won't work on anything after FX series for AMD or Haswell Refresh for Intel. Both of those platforms are very old at this point.

What kind of budget might you be looking at for an upgrade?

 

[maximilian_benke]

Hm, most likely Mid-Budget, but I always like to see the best option first before moving down to something more affordable for me.

So if you don't mind, could you recommend both Mid-Budget and High-Budget options? In the end, it's not something I need to have done immediately, so I could always save up money first if it is too much for right now (and I'll get a christmas bonus this year 😉 ).

 

[Darkbreeze]

Your mid budget and my mid budget are almost certainly not the same, so knowing what your actual budget is would be a good way to start.

If you say, I can spend a medium amount, I and others have no idea what that means in your mind.

If you say, I can spend 400 bucks, or 600 bucks, or 275 bucks, then we know exactly what we are working with and can try to find the best parts within that price range, or tell you that you'll need to increase the budget to get what you want to get, if that becomes a truthful factor.

Also, if this is something you won't be doing until months down the road, then it's almost a pointless endeavor because even from week to week, sometimes day to day, the prices of hardware change so much that what you can build for X amount of dollars today using x,y,z parts, might be completely different tomorrow when the cost of z goes up by 25 bucks or next week when the prices on x and y drop by 50 bucks.

For right now, this might be a good place to start and work around the idea.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($165.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec - Earthwatts Gold Pro 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $420.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-02 12:01 EDT-0400

 

[maximilian_benke]

Yeah, sorry, I actually thought that I probably should add a number, I just wasn't sure and thought maybe there is a standard expectation for what is mid-budget.

Actually, given that I saved quite a bit money, have a good, stable financial situation, good a raise recently and can look forward to that Christmas bonus, I actually think that I could afford something up to 1000€, though I would prefer if it wouldn't cost more than 700€. And I don't mind paying that much immediately, if you say that would be better / necessary.

 

[Darkbreeze]

And which components do you actually want to upgrade. I know CPU, motherboard, memory and power supply, but are there others, like case, cooling fans, CPU cooler, etc?, which will need to be included as well?

 

[maximilian_benke]

Hm, good question. I'd say only what is necessary, but everything that is necessary.

The case I suppose only if I need to, if there is not enough room for everything. I have already a rather powerful cooling fan built in when I had some heat problems 2 years ago. But I don't know if it is build in the best direction. It's a big one at the upper back of the PC blowing horizontal. Would it help if I made a picture of my PC (inside and outside) and upload it somewhere so you can see it?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Not really, what would help would be knowing the model number of your case, CPU cooler and any current case fans, but if that is not possible, then you can post pictures here of the inside and outside of the case, preferably from several angles. Front, back, top and sides on the outside, and on the inside, would help to identify some of the existing components if you are unsure.

You can post pics here as follows:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2580030/detailed-instructions-posting-images-tom-hardware.html