What to Upgrade?!

JohnnyP159

Reputable
May 7, 2017
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4,520
(Short Explanation for those who don't want to read the whole thing: What I should improve in my PC Specs so I could get a 'Good' gameplay? When I say good I mean playing a new game (ex. GTA V, Battlefield 4, Horizon, etc.) on high settings while it's running smoothly without any lags, except for when there's a ton of things like explosions.)


So Hey Guys,
Lately I've been back a bit at gaming and I when I started playing, I remembered I have had and still have a problem with my computer running even the most basic games. I have to run GTA SA (A really old game for those who don't know) on the lowest settings just to get an average gameplay. If there are explosions in the game for example, it would lag a bit. Another example is Minecraft. I know that lately it's been requiring better PC specs, but even in partially old versions, I still have to put it on lowest setting to run it in a modest speed.

I've asked many people what I should improve in my PC Specs so I could get a 'Good' gameplay. When I say good I mean playing a new game (ex. GTA V, Battlefield 4, Horizon, etc.) on high settings while it's running smoothly without any lags, except for when there's a ton of things like explosions. But all the answers I got until now are un-certain and I also got many different answers that each one says something different and some even say opposite things. So I decided to try my luck here to check if I could get a certain answer.

From what I understood I just probably need a GPU or Graphics card or something, but even if I do, I'm not sure which ones I should buy.

I don't understand much about computers that's why I'm asking and this is the all the info I know I could provide of my specs:


DxDiag:
------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 5/7/2017, 20:25:11
Machine name: JOHNNY-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_ldr.170307-1800)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: P55-USB3
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 12288MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 12284MB RAM
Page File: 4448MB used, 20116MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 9400 GT
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0641&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A1
Display Memory: 4071 MB
Dedicated Memory: 487 MB
Shared Memory: 3583 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Acer LCD Monitor X203W
Monitor Model: Acer X203W
Monitor Id: ACR0008
Native Mode: 1680 x 1050(p) (59.883Hz)
Output Type: DVI
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver File Version: 9.18.0013.4144 (English)
Driver Version: 9.18.13.4144
DDI Version: 10
Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 2/20/2015 10:43:24, 17559432 bytes

sbiXfZB.jpg


If there's any need for anything other than this, tell me.
 
Solution
You really need a new graphics card, your i7 and 12gb ram are fine though. Thats what i meant when I said gpu in my first post, gpu = graphical processing unit

Your power supply isnt great. It only has a single 6 pin for graphics cards which really limits your options.

Cheap and cheerful gpu would be a gtx 1050ti which can handle any game at mid to high settings, they start at around $120 and would work with ypur current power supply: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M4KGTNI/?tag=pcpapi-20

If you can stretch the budget then id suggest an rx 480 which costs about 200, you would need to upgrade your power supply as well though for this one (approx 50 bucks for a good one)


Sorry if this seems as a stupid question but what do you mean by my power supply? (Sorry I don't know much about computers) Budget I would rather not go above $200. I'm also wondering if it's possible to fulfill my request with such budget or the request requires things that cost much more, because I've seen many around $450-$500 which are graded as "decent" or "good".


Oh, and how do I overclock my CPU? And isn't it dangerous or something, isn't there a chance it'll damage my comp or something? I read somewhere that you'd rather not overclock it because it's dangerous or something, but I don't know much about it.
 
$200 is plenty. Power supply is the square box in the corner of your tower that the power lead plugs in to. It should have a sticker on the side.

The type of power supply will affect what graphics cards are available to you thats all

Dont worry about overclocking if you're not confident, its not essential.
 


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And can you maybe tell me a bit about overclocking? Just wondering how much it can improve performance. But you don't have to if you don't want to.


Oh and regarding graphics card, I don't need a new one? It's good? Because I compared it on the internet with other graphics cards and it's like... REALLY LOW compared to the newer ones.
 
You really need a new graphics card, your i7 and 12gb ram are fine though. Thats what i meant when I said gpu in my first post, gpu = graphical processing unit

Your power supply isnt great. It only has a single 6 pin for graphics cards which really limits your options.

Cheap and cheerful gpu would be a gtx 1050ti which can handle any game at mid to high settings, they start at around $120 and would work with ypur current power supply: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M4KGTNI/?tag=pcpapi-20

If you can stretch the budget then id suggest an rx 480 which costs about 200, you would need to upgrade your power supply as well though for this one (approx 50 bucks for a good one)
 
Solution
Overclocking: you need to Google two things...

P55-USB3 overclocking

I7 860 overclocking

... To get an idea of how to overclock that cpu on that motherboard. You can overclock a bit using the standard heatsink cooler, but to really push it you would need an aftermarket cooler. There are several decent options at around the $30 mark for this.

I would recommend the raijintek aidos for $20: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/b8h9TW/raijintek-cpu-cooler-0r100009

I previously had a first gen i7 and it hit 4ghz no problem on a $25 cooler just by changing the ratio and BCLK in bios

The main thing to watch is the cpu voltage. As long as you're careful with that its actually very hard to damage your system by overclocking.
 


Thank you very much. You really helped me with this. I'll probably only buy the GTX 1050 ti because I don't mind playing new high-graphic games at medium-high settings, as long as it runs smoothly. I've watched a couple of comparison videos between the two you suggested, and the rx 480 is tempting, but it costs way much (especially with the power supply I'll need to buy) which'll be around the $130 more and the GTX itself is pretty good from what I saw. But just wondering, if I'd need to buy a power supply, you got any good ones you can suggest for me?
 
Thanks! And two last questions (I promise), what does the 2/4/8 GB mean when they write it on the graphics card? Like "GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Graphic Card" or "AMD Radeon™ RX 480 GTR 8GB"? From what I read somewhere they said "Max RAM" but I still didn't understand it. Does it mean that if I have 12 GB RAM and on the graphics card it says 4GB then it'll only use the 4 GB of RAM?

And what does the DirectX mean on all the graphics cards? Does it really matter which one I have? Whether it'll be DirectX 12, 11 or even 9?
 
Dx is a coding standard for games. Most modern games use dx11 or dx12. The gtx 1050ti is happy to run any dx standard including older ones

The 4gb / 8gb is like your computer ram except its inside the graphics card and is used only by the graphics card. We called it video ram or vRAM for short. It works independently of your system ram.

Most games these days tend to use 2-3gb of VRAM at the highest settings, some are higher but a 4gb card is plenty (i myself am using a 4gb card)
 
Also, glad I could help :)

It's amazing how well the first gen i7s have aged. I mean your CPU is 7.5 years old but can still pull decent FPS in all modern games, it's great.

You will eventually want to overclock that i7, and some time after that even replace it, but right now a new GPU is all you need. Enjoy the 1050ti mate, it's a great card for the money
 
Yeah, although I don't really understand in computers, I'm also amazed because I thought until now I'd have to change everything because it's so old (Except the RAM). I might just overclock my i7 later.

Thank you so much for the help. You were the most informative person that answered my question yet. I learned a ton of new stuff from you and really appreciate it. Thanks again!
 
Just be award that the newer gtx 1000 series & amd rx series don't support analog out signals.

If you happen to have a monitor that is VGA only (& I've taken this assumption because your system is old) then you'll need an active HDMI to VGA adapter which is around $20 .
 


Oh didn't know that. Good to know. But I just checked and my monitor is connected through the DVI-D port, and you said it's fine, so I guess I'm all set! 😀

Thanks for the heads up though! :)
 


Then I guess I shouldn't be worried ^_^ Thanks
Would also be happy to know what you mean by "bios predates Uefi". Didn't understand any of those 3 words 😛
 
BIOS is like your motherboards operating system. Newer motherboards have uefi bios, older pcs have legacy bios. Your motherboard has a legacy bios.

Newer graphics cards are supposed to be compatible with newer uefi bios only, however in the vast majority of cases they work fine even on older systems. It tends to vary on a motherboard by motherboard basis. Seeing someone running a gtx 10 series graphics card with the same motherboard as you tells me that you should be fine with a newer card.
 
Awesome! Thanks for explaining and answering all my questions! It really helped me and I also learned a ton of new stuff!
This is the best computer forums I've seen up to now. (I may have not seen enough to judge, but I bet it's one of the best/top active forums, and so are the people)

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Hey again,
So I saw a similar gpu (gtx 1050ti) with same everything only this one says also WIND FORCE and it says the the boost core clock is 1468 while the one you gave the link for is 1430. The new one I saw is $140 and the one you sent may go down to $120 (I'm guessing that because everyday it's price changes).

I wanted to ask what does it mean by (WINDFORCE), what's the core clock and boots core clock and if the extra boost core clock speed is worth The extra 20 bucks.
 
The extra boost clock isnt worth $20 , the dual fan cooler maybe.
Wind force is just their moniker for that dual fan design.

Generally there will be a max 5fos difference between the slowest & the fastest 1050ti models available.

By the by the performance is the same across all the cards pretty much.
You pay extra for fancy design & cooling systems.

I see that $120 card is now $135 & the wind force is only $2 more.

Shame you missed the $120 deal though. Was a bargain.
 
Sorry for all these questions and I hope you answer them but what do you mean by 5fos? You also said in the beginning the dual fan cooler may be worth the extra $20 but then you said the the performance is pretty much the same between all the cards, so would it actually be worth it? (if you take the fact that it's a $20 difference). Regarding the price I also was bummed on about because it even went down to $115 yesterday but although now it says $135, it's with rebate so it's actually like $125 so it didn't change much, but if the dual fan is worth it, I'll probably buy that, no? My only question is will it fit in my computer? I think I saw some threads throughout the internet which they had problems with it fitting inside because it's too big or something (Don't look at it in a dirty way 😛). It may have been regarding only the fans, but I'm guessing such problem could also occur with the graphics card?

(Oh and regarding that jet price I checked it out and it says on their site $145 😵, then I noticed the 15% first time purchase discount but even with that it's $127 which I can buy the WINDFORCE version with the same price on Amazon. Maybe it's a bug? Or am I not looking at it correctly?)