Upgrading slightly

[AMD Damo]

Hey guys, I built a PC last year, its specs are:

1GB Radeon 5850
AMD II Athlon X4 630 2.8GHz
4GB DDR3 RAM
Windows 7 x86 Home Premium
1TB Samsung S103J

I've been playing a lot of BF3 and I've noticed I'm starting to get a bit of lag on capsian border, the settings are set to auto and I tend to get some FPS lag dropping into slightly stuttery range every now and again, I'v dropped it to medium with no increase in FPS it seems.

Now, I can pick up a Phenom II X6 1045T cheap and turn that 4GB into 8GB or 16GB RAM fairly easily and get x64 Win 7, would that help fix the issue or should I focus my money on a better graphics card, like a 6970?

Thanks much.

[cjcerny]

CPU is the sore spot, I would think. High end Phenom II X4 would also be a good choice.

[DPete27]

I would focus on the CPU for now as well. Wait until early next year for any GPU upgrades as the new 28nm GPUs from AMD and NVidia will be out at that time.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/graphics/display/20111102232939_Report_AMD_s_Next_Gen_GPU_to_Boost_Performance_by_Two_Times_Will_Be_Delayed.html
take "2x performance increase" with a grain of salt. I personally dont think i can trust any hype that AMD produces since the bulldozer scam, but a substantial performance increase can be expected. Maybe its supposed to read 2x performance per watt, that would be nice, who knows.

[JustAnEngineer]

AU$ 139 AMD Phenom II X4 960T Black Edition
or AU$ 189 AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition
AU$ 0 Existing socket-AM3 motherboard
AU$ 69 2x4 GiB PC3-12800 Corsair Vengeance CML8GX3M2A1600C9 (DDR3-1600, CAS 9, 1.5 V)
+ AU$ 0 2x2 GiB Existing DDR3 memory

or
AU$ 229 Intel Core i5-2500K
AU$ 139 Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3
or AU$ 235 Asus P8Z68-V Gen3
AU$ 69 2x4 GiB PC3-12800 Corsair Vengeance CML8GX3M2A1600C9 (DDR3-1600, CAS 9, 1.5 V)
+ AU$ 0 2x2 GiB Existing DDR3 memory


Hang with your Radeon HD5850 until the 28nm GPUs appear.

[AMD Damo]

Thanks for the reply boys

This is what I have come up with:

Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition $215

Is it worth going the black edition? I seen it has a 3.3GHz clock speed so I thought I'd go for it, or would I be better off with the cheaper $189 one?

RAM: Corsair CML8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) Vengeance DDR3 X2

Links: RAM http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=17729
Processor: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=16268

[JustAnEngineer]

They're both black edition (unlocked multiplier) six-core Thuban processors. One defaults to 3.2 GHz. The other defaults to 3.3 GHz.

Are you certain that your motherboard supports 125-watt TDP processors? Some cheaper boards may only handle up to 95 watts.

[mduncan62]

I have a 1055T 2.81GHz, 8GB of RAM and 2 - 6870's and I ran a monitor last night while playing BF3. I didn't have a core under 60% utilization and both GPU's stayed between 60-90%. This game appears to use everything you can throw at it.

[AMD Damo]

They're both black edition (unlocked multiplier) six-core Thuban processors. One defaults to 3.2 GHz. The other defaults to 3.3 GHz.

Are you certain that your motherboard supports 125-watt TDP processors? Some cheaper boards may only handle up to 95 watts.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... id=3320#sp

Thats the one

[JustAnEngineer]

That motherboard is fine. You may want to upgrade to the latest BIOS before you install the new processor.

[AMD Damo]

Thanks guys I ordered the RAM and the Phenom II 1090T. plus a Bitfenix Collosus case :O

When the new Radeon 7 series comes out next year I'll go for the top single GPU option.