Upgrade suggestions

[Mandolista]

I built my current PC a couple of years ago. Some of the most recent games i've bought haven't run well at max graphics settings, so i'm looking to upgrade (Borderlands 2, Black Ops 2). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

My current build:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1GB
RAM: Corsair DDR3 1600MHz 4Gb 2x240 pin DIMM
Mobo: ASRock 870 Extreme3
HDD: Seagate 250gb ST3250820AS
PSU: Corsair 650w

Not sure of budget yet, say £500 but i'd be happy to hear suggestions for more or less than that.

 

[Deemo13]

I would just upgrade the graphics card. Something like a Radeon HD7950 or 7870 should suffice.

 

[Mandolista]

Thanks, that's encouraging. I was expecting a lot of "you need a core-i7"!

My memory usage runs up to about 80% quite frequently, so i'm thinking of getting another 4gb RAM. Is it best to get an identical set to what i currently have (2x2gb kit) or would it work just as well to plug a 4gb unit in?

 

[bloodmage7]

You need to upgrade your graphics card.
At what resolution you play? I think it might be 1920 by 1080 as 6850 is not able to run it at max settings.
In case you you want to upgrade your RAM you can plug a new 4GB kit if you spare slots.
I would also suggest you to consider your Hard disk as an upgrade option. Is it 7200rpm?

 

[Mandolista]

You're correct my res is 1920x1880. A GPU upgrade is definitely on the cards.

The hard disk is quite old and i don't have too much info on it. As far as i can tell from searching the model number it is 7200rpm. I have been thinking about an SSD - do you think one would give a significant improvement?

Thanks for the replies.

 

[jessterman21]

You're correct my res is 1920x1880. A GPU upgrade is definitely on the cards.

The hard disk is quite old and i don't have too much info on it. As far as i can tell from searching the model number it is 7200rpm. I have been thinking about an SSD - do you think one would give a significant improvement?

Thanks for the replies.

Your CPU is good - might as well bump the speed up to 3.8 or so - whatever your HSF can handle.

An HD 7870 would rock for 1080p gaming.

And a 2x2GB kit of RAM would be a great idea - 1x4GB stick would drop you to single-channel mode and reduce performance.

An SSD does make a big difference. It's the difference between no waiting at all (feels the way a fast PC should feel), and waiting 5-10 seconds for programs to load, 60+ seconds for your machine to boot, 20+ seconds to move files or load thumbnails. Your system will boot in 25 seconds or less, and all the other things will take 1-2 seconds at the most. Unless you're moving GBs of files...

If you'd rather not reinstall Windows and all of your games and apps, I recommend a cache-SSD. You can pop it in, DL the software, install the software, reboot, and away you go. It intelligently moves your most-used apps and files to the SSD, up to its capacity. So after your first run of the program, it will bring performance up to SSD-speed from then on. I recommend this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226336 <--- ignore the bad reviews, those people didn't know what they were buying. I love my 50GB version of this drive, but I wish it had more capacity and speed. The 100GB version is faster and will cache twice as much data.

If you don't mind doing a fresh install of W7, then get a regular SSD - This is a great one for cheap: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227827

 

[Mandolista]

Thanks, that's really helpful.

Turns out i can get a decent 2x4gb kit for the same price as another of the 2x2gb that i have, so i'll probably go for that.

HD7870 looks good. Would i get a significant improvement from a 7950?

 

[jessterman21]

Thanks, that's really helpful.

Turns out i can get a decent 2x4gb kit for the same price as another of the 2x2gb that i have, so i'll probably go for that.

HD7870 looks good. Would i get a significant improvement from a 7950?

Not a ton of improvement, but definitely more longevity with the wide memory bus, the 30-40% of OC headroom, and the 3GB VRAM.

 

[Mandolista]

Thanks very much for all the help. I found a good deal for the hd 7950 so i'm going for that.

Last question (i hope!) - the new RAM i am buying is dual channel and 1600mhz the same as my current RAM, so i am assuming i can run them together to give me 12gb if i want to. is that correct? and do i need to install them in a particular order (i.e. largest chips first)?