[SOLVED] Worth a final upgrade for HL Alyx?

[GeebaGamer]

Long time reader but new to the forums... just looking for a bit of advice.

Like most I'm a huge Half Life fan and have just purchased HL Alyx after hearing good things (I know its been out ages - but I'm a Dad and get very little free time)

My PC back in the day was OK... but its struggling with Alyx....

Spec.
Asus Z87 board
i5 - 4670K running at 4Ghz
32GB RAM DDR3 Dual Channel (4 x 8GB matched - cant remember brand but half decent in the day)
1080 GTX GFX Card
All SSD storage

Just wondering if it was worth buying the i7 4790K to see if helps or am I at the point I need to change everything?

I thought the 1080 although old would still be ok-ish?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

You would need a platform change but your GPU is more than capable of delivering the oomph. How much do you have to spend towards your upgrade? Make and model of your PSU and it's age? You're likely going to need to add a PSU to the purchase list but the baseline would be CPU, Motherboard and ram for purchase. As for the i7, no, not in 2021 not with HL Alyx, it doesn't meet the minimum system requirements listed on the Steam page.

 

[GeebaGamer]

Hi Lutfij - really appreciate your help.

The PSU from memory is a BeQuiet 650 watt modular - I did spend a fair amount on the PSU and cooling I seem to remember with a matching BeQuiet cpu cooler.

Ah I thought that the i5 was minimum for Alyx? so the i7 would be a small step up.... unfortunately I have very little budget wise as the silicone shortage has made my £200 - £250 free cash look pretty small

 

[Bob.B]

Long time reader but new to the forums... just looking for a bit of advice.

Like most I'm a huge Half Life fan and have just purchased HL Alyx after hearing good things (I know its been out ages - but I'm a Dad and get very little free time)

My PC back in the day was OK... but its struggling with Alyx....

Spec.
Asus Z87 board
i5 - 4670K running at 4Ghz
32GB RAM DDR3 Dual Channel (4 x 8GB matched - cant remember brand but half decent in the day)
1080 GTX GFX Card
All SSD storage

Just wondering if it was worth buying the i7 4790K to see if helps or am I at the point I need to change everything?

I thought the 1080 although old would still be ok-ish?

Run this and post a link to the results page.
PC Benchmark
Let's see if something jumps out.

 

[GeebaGamer]

Run this and post a link to the results page.
PC Benchmark
Let's see if something jumps out.

All looks to be in order... actually says performing above expectations..
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/43735735

Guess thats my lot until I can afford a new CPU/Mem/mainboard combo

 

[Bob.B]

All looks to be in order... actually says performing above expectations..
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/43735735

Guess thats my lot until I can afford a new CPU/Mem/mainboard combo

What does task manager show for you ram speed?
Just guessing it shows 1600.
If so remove the 2 1600 ram sticks and fit the 2 2400 sticks in the proper slots and see if you can bump the speed to 2400.

 

[GeebaGamer]

What does task manager show for you ram speed?
Just guessing it shows 1600.
If so remove the 2 1600 ram sticks and fit the 2 2400 sticks in the proper slots and see if you can bump the speed to 2400.

Could have a problem there... going in to the BIOS shows the RAM speeds as 1333 and 1600 - I thought they were all matched but two are Crucial and Two are Kingston.... would this impact performance that much?
Would it be better running 16Gb of faster memory? or 32Gb at a slower speed?

 

[Bob.B]

Could have a problem there... going in to the BIOS shows the RAM speeds as 1333 and 1600 - I thought they were all matched but two are Crucial and Two are Kingston.... would this impact performance that much?
Would it be better running 16Gb of faster memory? or 32Gb at a slower speed?

Answer my question about task manager and ram speed.

 

[GeebaGamer]

Answer my question about task manager and ram speed.

1333mhz

 

[Bob.B]

1333mhz

Remove the crucial.
Fit the kingston in the proper slots for dual channel.
What does task manager ram speed show?

 

[GeebaGamer]

Remove the crucial.
Fit the kingston in the proper slots for dual channel.
What does task manager ram speed show?

Sorry for the delay... ok... done some testing 3dMark Time Spy

32gb RAM @ 1333 (will absolutely not OC - BSOD everytime) 6221
16Gb @ 1600 (stock Kingston speed) 6237
16Gb @ 2400 (OC seems stable) 6327

Task manager shows speed accordingly - so I guess my question is does that speed gain outweigh the capacity?

 

[Bob.B]

Sorry for the delay... ok... done some testing 3dMark Time Spy

32gb RAM @ 1333 (will absolutely not OC - BSOD everytime) 6221
16Gb @ 1600 (stock Kingston speed) 6237
16Gb @ 2400 (OC seems stable) 6327

Task manager shows speed accordingly - so I guess my question is does that speed gain outweigh the capacity?

Very few games will need more than 16GB of ram.
Leave the ram at 2400.
Reboot and let the machine sit for 5 mins.
Run UBM and post a link to the results.

 

[GeebaGamer]

Very few games will need more than 16GB of ram.
Leave the ram at 2400.
Reboot and let the machine sit for 5 mins.
Run UBM and post a link to the results.

Looks like a reasonable increase! apparently I've gone from a Battleship to a UFO!

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/43744238

Did manage to get the CPU to 4.1Ghz and a small OC on the 1080 - don't want to push the 1080

 

[Bob.B]

Looks like a reasonable increase! apparently I've gone from a Battleship to a UFO!

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/43744238

Did manage to get the CPU to 4.1Ghz and a small OC on the 1080 - don't want to push the 1080

Looks like you got a bump in perf and it was free......doesn't get much better than that.
Now run your alyx game see if it's better.

 

[GeebaGamer]

Looks like you got a bump in perf and it was free......doesn't get much better than that.
Now run your alyx game see if it's better.

Just played half hour of Alyx!! Thats more like it!! I can now play in 'High' settings!! and its waaaaaay smoother than it was on 'low' yesterday!
Theres life in the old rig yet!!! LOL!

Thanks for all your help Bob - much appreciated