I mostly use my home PC for gaming (Rift, CoD, Portal 2, Borderlands, etc) and streaming video. I recently purchased a 1920x1080 monitor, and my FPS (especially in Borderlands) are getting quite choppy at the new, higher resolution AND my detail settings aren't up where I would like them.
I am debating if it is worth it to upgrade my GPU to a 560 ti or to go all out and build a new $700-800 (USD) rig (I would only need a new CPU/Mobo/RAM/PSU/GPU/Case). Would it be worth it to see if I can squeeze another 6-8 months or so out of my current rig until the next wave of Intel processors comes out next year?
Here are my current specs (originally built in 2008):
CPU: Intel E8400 at stock 3.0GHz
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer PPCS500 500W
RAM: Corsair XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB)
GPU: SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
From what I have read, the E8400 could become the bottleneck in my setup if I do go for an upgrade. Would it be possible to lessen that bottleneck if I overclock it? I have never tried to overclock before and would possibly be interested in giving it a shot, but I just have the Intel heatsink that came with the processor and I am a bit of a scaredy-cat
Thanks in advance for any input!
I am debating if it is worth it to upgrade my GPU to a 560 ti or to go all out and build a new $700-800 (USD) rig (I would only need a new CPU/Mobo/RAM/PSU/GPU/Case). Would it be worth it to see if I can squeeze another 6-8 months or so out of my current rig until the next wave of Intel processors comes out next year?
Here are my current specs (originally built in 2008):
CPU: Intel E8400 at stock 3.0GHz
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer PPCS500 500W
RAM: Corsair XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB)
GPU: SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
From what I have read, the E8400 could become the bottleneck in my setup if I do go for an upgrade. Would it be possible to lessen that bottleneck if I overclock it? I have never tried to overclock before and would possibly be interested in giving it a shot, but I just have the Intel heatsink that came with the processor and I am a bit of a scaredy-cat
Thanks in advance for any input!