Upgrade Help ASUS P6X58D PREMIUM

[SteelMage]

I'm looking to upgrade my RAM and Vid Card so I can run Games like Wither 3 and Fallout 4.
My current setup is getting to slow to run some of the newer games.
I need some recommendations for a Vid card will these questions and maybe some recommendations and triple channel RAM.
1. Can I use a PCI 3 card in the PCI 2 slot and still expect it to be stable. Need Vid card Recommendations.
2.I want to replace the RAM and go from my current 6G to 12G or more. Most of the RAM shown on the ASUS QVL is obsolete and there is no mention of using 8G sticks. Need some help and recommendations. This mobo proved difficult to get the triple channel RAM to work when I built this system.
3. I've overclocked by adjusting the BCLK to 155, PCIE to 100, CPU Ratio to 22 and disabled the Intel Speed Step. This brought the i7 930 from 2.8 base to 3.4. It seems stable and Prime 95 tested it for one hour with max Temp stabilizing at 69c. What difference does disabling the Intel Speed Step do? and should I have disabled it? Is 69c Ok or should I back off the speed a bit.

Current System configuration:
Windows 7 64 Pro
Mobo P6X58D PREMIUM
CPU i7 930
RAM 6 Gig Kingston
Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B CPU Cooler with 2 120mm fans setup as push pull thru cooler tower.
CORSAIR CMPSU-850HX
WD Caviar Black Hard Drive - 1TB ( 2 of them)
XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Case
CD DRIVES ( 2 of them)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[PumbaCat]

I have a similar system as yours which I built in Jan. 2010 and is still running great. I also would like to make sure my system can run Fallout 4 and newer games at decent settings with good frame rates.

I plan on upgrading the memory to 12GB or more with perhaps Corsair Vengeance.

You should be able to run a PCI 3 card in the PCI 2 slot as they are suppose to be backward compatible. Not sure which card to suggest yet as I may try my current graphics card first with Fallout 4. I don't want to put too much money into upgrades, rather just migrate this system to my kids and build a new one for myself.
My system is not OC, so my temps run cool and max out in the mid 50c range, but only 39c at idle with room temp of 77F. 69c is not bad for your OC speeds.

Have you made any upgrades yet?

Antec Twelve Hundred Case
ASUS P6X58D Premium
Intel Core i7-920
OCZ XMP Ready Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5970 2GB 512-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16
Western Digital RE3 WD1002FBYS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb [4 in RAID 10]
CORSAIR CMPSU-850HX 850W Power Supply
COOLER MASTER V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

 

[SteelMage]

I got my CPU OC'ed to 3.4Ghz and it seems stable but I am concerned as I literally just changed the BCLK to get the speed up to 3.4Ghz and didn't change any of the voltage or other settings. After doing some research I have pretty much decided to get the following Video Card and RAM. So for about $235.00 I should have a pretty decent system for the next 2 years. I hoping to be able to order the parts before Xmas. After that it time for a major rebuild however I am expecting to be able to reuse a lot of what I have to bring my rebuild down to a new CPU, Mobo, RAM, Vid card and an SSD Drive. In two years however who knows where the PC industry will be at hardware wise.

Memory:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231358

Video Card:
EVGA GeForce GTX 950 02G-P4-2957-KR 2GB SSC GAMING, Silent Cooling Gaming Graphics Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487158

 

[PumbaCat]

Since my last post, I have upgraded my memory to 12GB, added a Samsung SSD, and OC to 3.6Ghz. I am amazed at the increase in overall system performance with the new SSD. Startup/shutdown is fast, general programs load super fast and have no lag, and gaming is faster without lagging between scenes. I do not have Fallout 4 yet, but instead decided to continue playing the last 2 Borderlands series which will take most of the year to complete.

Corsair Vengeance 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (CMZ12GX3M3A1600C9) $73.99

Samsung 850 EVO 500GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-75E500B/AM) $148.00 (got it on sale, price match)

I used the included Samsung software to transfer my C drive partition to the new SSD and it worked perfectly.

If you are interested in my OC settings, let me know and I can post them or pm to you. I have been running at 3.6 for over a month without a single problem.

Check out https://pcpartpicker.com/ for prices and options for your GPU upgrade. Just found this site this morning while I was looking at options for your GPU upgrade. You may want to go with a 4GB graphics card instead of the 2GB card. Then you could transfer the GPU and your new SSD (get one now, you won’t regret it) to your new build in a couple years.

 

[SteelMage]

Since my last post, I have upgraded my memory to 12GB, added a Samsung SSD, and OC to 3.6Ghz. I am amazed at the increase in overall system performance with the new SSD. Startup/shutdown is fast, general programs load super fast and have no lag, and gaming is faster without lagging between scenes. I do not have Fallout 4 yet, but instead decided to continue playing the last 2 Borderlands series which will take most of the year to complete.

Corsair Vengeance 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (CMZ12GX3M3A1600C9) $73.99

Samsung 850 EVO 500GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-75E500B/AM) $148.00 (got it on sale, price match)

I used the included Samsung software to transfer my C drive partition to the new SSD and it worked perfectly.

If you are interested in my OC settings, let me know and I can post them or pm to you. I have been running at 3.6 for over a month without a single problem.

Check out https://pcpartpicker.com/ for prices and options for your GPU upgrade. Just found this site this morning while I was looking at options for your GPU upgrade. You may want to go with a 4GB graphics card instead of the 2GB card. Then you could transfer the GPU and your new SSD (get one now, you won’t regret it) to your new build in a couple years.

 

[SteelMage]

Thanks for the feedback and Tips:
My Upgrade went REALLY well. I change out my existing 6g of RAM for G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL and I upgraded my old XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB video card to a new EVGA GeForce GTX 950 02G-P4-2957-KR 2GB SSC video card. Both installed great. Getting this old P6X58D PREMIUM MOBO to recognize new RAM was worrying me but it recognized it right off without even touching the BIOS Settings. G SKILL recommends that the BIOS have XMP enable, so I may be going in and doing that later but for now I'm just enjoying the moment that the upgrade went so easy. Thanks for the Tips and help. I may go in and push the clock up to 3.8ghz. Over all I'm really please with the performance boost and for less than $240.00 I'm back to having a pretty good gaming system that will run the latest games.

 

[PumbaCat]

Good job with the upgrade on a budget. Come back in a few weeks and post what games you able to play with your new graphic card. I am especially interested if you are able to play Fallout 4 with this new upgrade and what setting you selected in the game setup.

Long Live the P6X58D...