2.80 GHz Processor w/ 8GB RAM - Need Help

[Ezenemy]

Alright, now what about my CPU, it doesn't need to be upgraded does it?

 

[sygnus21]

Dude that depends on your wallet. It's easy for us to say yes, replace everything, we're not paying for it.

But to answer the question...I'm not an AMD user. My point... I can't say if that processor is "good" enough or not.

However it's all about the funds.

Good luck.

 

[Fumz]

Alright, now what about my CPU, it doesn't need to be upgraded does it?

:huh:

Until you do what's been asked, we have no way of knowing what's causing your system to be slow. It could be many things, or one or two simple things? However, we can't say until we know exactly what we're dealing with, and as sygnus pointed out, slow is a relative term.

 

[Ezenemy]

Alright, now what about my CPU, it doesn't need to be upgraded does it?

:huh:

Until you do what's been asked, we have no way of knowing what's causing your system to be slow. It could be many things, or one or two simple things? However, we can't say until we know exactly what we're dealing with, and as sygnus pointed out, slow is a relative term.

Alright and sorry for this, but every thing has been really mixed up and you both have been confusing what have I been "asked"?

 

[Fumz]

No problem.

What are the running processes at the time you are gaming?

If you told us all the games you play, or would like to play, we could offer you some solid choices.

What have you got loaded at startup? What are your RAM timings? Download cpu-z, install it and run it, then click the memory tab. CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

Tell us everything that cpuz says, then click the SPD tab, and tell us exactly what sticks of memory you have... I assume they're all the same?

 

[sygnus21]

To summarize the bottom line...

1- List problem games
2- Replace the video card like you said you would
3- Run some benchmark tests as suggested and post results.

Good luck

 

[Ezenemy]

No problem.

What are the running processes at the time you are gaming?

If you told us all the games you play, or would like to play, we could offer you some solid choices.

What have you got loaded at startup? What are your RAM timings? Download cpu-z, install it and run it, then click the memory tab. CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

Tell us everything that cpuz says, then click the SPD tab, and tell us exactly what sticks of memory you have... I assume they're all the same?

Alright, when I game I use a program called "Gamebooster" And with my processor and RAM I don't think having a few programs open is going to effect the speed of the game, I've rendered a video and still run games fine.

Now as to gaming, I'd like to be able to play anything right? I mean if a game comes out in 3 months I want to be able to play it, but specifically. Call of Duty, Diablo 3 when it comes out, The game I mentioned before, Combat Arms, my 4650 can run this game easy so there's no biggie on that. But I mean say the new CoD comes out in November, I want to be able to play that 100+ fps.

Here are the things you asked for.

Yes these are all the same.

 

[Fumz]

The first thing you need to do is uninstall Game Booster; and never again be deceived by "optimization software". You have a quad core and 8GB's of RAM, which is more than adequate. Game Booster isn't doing anything for you, in fact, it may be doing just the opposite.

The next thing you need to do is rid yourself of the notion that, "having a few programs open", despite your cpu and RAM, won't affect performance. It all depends on what programs are open, and what you're asking them to do. Again, if you could stop being stingy with information and just tell us what you have open, this would go a lot easier.

Your RAM is nice and tight, which is perfect for your chipset. However, you are running 2T. A command rate of 1T will make the system much snappier. However, before you adjust this setting, make sure you know how to clear CMOS just in case the board or your RAM doesn't like running at 1T.

Fourth, I would suggest reading two guides: sygnus' gaming guide, linked in his signature, and the Windows 7 Optimization guide in the Tutorials section: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11728-optimize-windows-7-a.html?filter[2]=Performance%20Maintenance

100 fps is meaningless. Your monitor can only display 60. I realize the more fps the better the experience, for a variety of reasons, but instead of focusing on maximum fps, which is again meaningless, instead focus on minimum fps, which is what really makes or breaks the gaming experience. When everything is flying along at 80 fps things are great, it's when fps dips down to the 30's that things begin to suck.

Nobody can say with any certainty what the requirements of Black Ops will be; however, if history is a good indicator, and it usually is, then pretty much any decent modern mid-range to high end card will do. Again, the question is whether you want DX11 or not? There are a lot of good cards out. Pick one. Come back after you've read some reviews and I'm sure there will be no shortage of opinions for you to choose from.

So, to end up, stop running applications when you're gaming; optimize your rig with the guides provided; get a decent graphics card.

 

[Ezenemy]

The first thing you need to do is uninstall Game Booster; and never again be deceived by "optimization software". You have a quad core and 8GB's of RAM, which is more than adequate. Game Booster isn't doing anything for you, in fact, it may be doing just the opposite.

The next thing you need to do is rid yourself of the notion that, "having a few programs open", despite your cpu and RAM, won't affect performance. It all depends on what programs are open, and what you're asking them to do. Again, if you could stop being stingy with information and just tell us what you have open, this would go a lot easier.

Your RAM is nice and tight, which is perfect for your chipset. However, you are running 2T. A command rate of 1T will make the system much snappier. However, before you adjust this setting, make sure you know how to clear CMOS just in case the board or your RAM doesn't like running at 1T.

Fourth, I would suggest reading two guides: sygnus' gaming guide, linked in his signature, and the Windows 7 Optimization guide in the Tutorials section: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11728-optimize-windows-7-a.html?filter[2]=Performance%20Maintenance

100 fps is meaningless. Your monitor can only display 60. I realize the more fps the better the experience, for a variety of reasons, but instead of focusing on maximum fps, which is again meaningless, instead focus on minimum fps, which is what really makes or breaks the gaming experience. When everything is flying along at 80 fps things are great, it's when fps dips down to the 30's that things begin to suck.

Nobody can say with any certainty what the requirements of Black Ops will be; however, if history is a good indicator, and it usually is, then pretty much any decent modern mid-range to high end card will do. Again, the question is whether you want DX11 or not? There are a lot of good cards out. Pick one. Come back after you've read some reviews and I'm sure there will be no shortage of opinions for you to choose from.

So, to end up, stop running applications when you're gaming; optimize your rig with the guides provided; get a decent graphics card.

I think I'm going to buy the 5770. But with that being said, this is my PSU and I have been told I'm going to need a new one.



Now as to what I usually have open: Skype, my Anti Virus, sometimes Steam or XFire. That's about it.


"Your RAM is nice and tight, which is perfect for your chipset. However, you are running 2T. A command rate of 1T will make the system much snappier. However, before you adjust this setting, make sure you know how to clear CMOS just in case the board or your RAM doesn't like running at 1T."

^^ I'm not really sure what you're telling me to do here.

 

[sygnus21]

I think we're chasing ghosts here. CPU-Z isn't really going to tell us much of anything other than RAM and processor speed. Again, he needs to run some other benchmarking tools to see how the system is performing.

And for what its worth, I game without closing down anything. I've also got Windows pretty much running at default settings and things run fine for me. The only thing I used to close down when gaming was my AV (Kaspersky, Norton), but since moving to Microsoft Security Essentials, I don't don't even close that down now.

My two cents.

PS... If you're really really concerned about your gaming experience, than you might want to look at a new system. Seeing how you're concerned about various components of your system. Seeing that you have a 300 watt power supply and the rest of your system, "slow" may be appropiate for the system. Sorry. I'm not one to tell anyone to upgrade, but I mention it here because you did.

Peace

 

[Fumz]

Cpuid tells us his ram isn't running at some really high latency, like 9, which would have an effect on overall system performance, making it "seem" slow... but I agree other benchmarks are necessary to get a better picture. One step at a time though, right?

AV's and gaming... I keep mine open, but I have it configured for gaming. Some AV's are better at this than others. It's good to hear MSE is one of them, so is ESET's Nod32, when configured properly. Bit Defender however, really sucked when it came to games. Even in game mode (which they're still having issues with) there was a marked decrease in performance whenever it decided to not work... and even when it did work, which was usually about 1/4 of the time, it still bogged down my games. Thus, the uninstall and move to Nod.

Xfire, Steam, all fine. Skype won't have an effect unless you're talking to someone. Not in terms of cpu cycles, but in terms of bandwidth.

If you get a new card, you will need a new PSU. The one you have has 19 amps on the +12 volt rail. Look for one with 34 or more.

As for 1T. That's a bios setting. Basically it's just a setting to get your RAM to run faster... or I should say tighter. 2T is fine though. First get the card, worry about 1T later... or not at all if you're happy with the new parts.

 

[Wishmaster]

Why do you want to be able to render 100+ FPS?

Sure it sounds good , but your monitor can only display as many FPS as its refresh.

If you are drawing 150FPs, and the monitor has a 60refresh, its only displaying 60FPS.
This is where image tearing comes in, and IMO, poor image quality.

Having the power to render 100+ FPS is nice, as it gives headroom to lock the frames w/Vsyc and tripple buffer, then turn up the AA and AF.

The picture quality will be leaps better and gameplay smoother.

 

[ickymay]

I think everyone has said it really get a decent PSU pref branded 500W and if you have to buy a card get a 5770 which gives you max bang for your buck

If you look at my system spec i use the HD5770 on a dual core and have no problems with any games

 

[sygnus21]

Alright, so I noticed that I was dropping A LOT of frames in an online FPS game.
Wait let me tell you my specs so you know what's going on.

ATI Radeon 4650 HD
AMD Phenom II X4 925 2.80 Processor
8 GB RAM

Anyways as I was saying I play this game on a 1280x960 Resolution at HIGH settings and I easily get 150+ frames at any given time. Now it started going under 100 even at a 1280x720 on LOW settings, I was a bit worried to this so after it continued I reformatted my PC. Now this is when I started realizing that the overall speed of the PC is pretty slow. So I updated all the drivers on my video card, and updated windows because I just reformatted it. Now when I say 'slow' I mean I spent $1200 dollars on this computer, and I never expected that it would take a long time to get past the welcome screen, and even in Sony Vegas which is an editing program like it was so slow I can't even use it, the same with Photoshop it is extremely slow. Then I thought to when I was playing a game earlier that day and it was like four on four and I was running my usual settings 1280x960 and the frames we're pretty normal. It was then when about 8 more people joined it went back to it's rut which is like under 60 FPS. Then I thought that maybe it's not my Radeon that is acting up, but my processor, everything acts fine with say eight people, but when sixteen join it has to "process" more, hence the processor being slow.

Now this is just a theory, but I got a friend who is extremely smart with computers and I told him and he replied with this "As for your theory, an overheating processor could throttle down to lower the temperature so it's a possibility."

I don't really know what that means, but I spent a lot of money on this PC, and even though I plan to upgrade my Radeon in a bit, I never thought I would have to get a new processor this soon, I bought the computer early November 09, and the computer has been great.

I REALLY appreciate the help..

P.S: My OP is Win7.

Before we get side tracked

 

[mpcrsc562]

Bottom line, the 5770 is a good card. Take into consideration the native resolution of you monitor before you actually decide to purchase one though. For me, I have a 5750 Crossfired also with a 3 monitor Eyefinity. For the games that can use the setup, it is awesome. But I do have 3 19" monitors. If a 3 monitor Eyefinity is something you want to do for yourself, I would not try it with 3 1920x1080 monitors and a 5770... You might be disappointed big time. For a desktop resolution that big (5760x,1080) go for at least the 5850.

For your processor, running processes during gaming should not be a problem. Having said that, though, I wouldn't be trying to stream an HD movie on your home network at the same time you're trying to play Combat Arms either. Also, if you are having poor performance in online games like Combat Arms, are you having problems with other applications that are internet connected? Have you looked at your ethernet drivers or maybe a possible firmware upgrade for your router? (obviously, if needed)

 

[NTFS]

Have you cracked open the case, ensured all cables are securely connected, and cleaned out any dust? As for the 5770, its an average mid-range card, a 5850 is a better choice. The 128-bit bus will start to choke when Crysis 2 is unleashed. I would recommend a 650w PSU for your setup, taking into account that PSU's run efficient @ 50-60%, so a Seasonic X-650 Gold certified, Enermax Modu 87+, Corsair HX-650, or Antec TP-650 in that order of choice.

 

[Ezenemy]

I think we're chasing ghosts here. CPU-Z isn't really going to tell us much of anything other than RAM and processor speed. Again, he needs to run some other benchmarking tools to see how the system is performing.

And for what its worth, I game without closing down anything. I've also got Windows pretty much running at default settings and things run fine for me. The only thing I used to close down when gaming was my AV (Kaspersky, Norton), but since moving to Microsoft Security Essentials, I don't don't even close that down now.

My two cents.

PS... If you're really really concerned about your gaming experience, than you might want to look at a new system. Seeing how you're concerned about various components of your system. Seeing that you have a 300 watt power supply and the rest of your system, "slow" may be appropiate for the system. Sorry. I'm not one to tell anyone to upgrade, but I mention it here because you did.

Peace

I bought my PC for $1300 in NOVEMBER, I didn't think I'd have to BUY a new PC for at least some several years?

 

[Fumz]

You don't have to buy a new PC; however, if you want to play modern games at 1920x1080 you are going to need a much better graphics card and a power supply that can provide sufficient amperage. It's unfortunate you were persuaded into buying a budget htpc card instead of a real gaming card. Aside from those two things, you have a very nice machine.

 

[Ezenemy]

You don't have to buy a new PC; however, if you want to play modern games at 1920x1080 you are going to need a much better graphics card and a power supply that can provide sufficient amperage. It's unfortunate you were persuaded into buying a budget htpc card instead of a real gaming card. Aside from those two things, you have a very nice machine.

Okay, so I'm going to buy the ATI 5770 but could you give me a name brand 500 or 650 power supply like under 150, could I get a good PSU for under 150?

If you were in my position and had a $300 limit what would you do? The radeon is selling for like 189

 

[wickedout]

You don't have to buy a new PC; however, if you want to play modern games at 1920x1080 you are going to need a much better graphics card and a power supply that can provide sufficient amperage. It's unfortunate you were persuaded into buying a budget htpc card instead of a real gaming card. Aside from those two things, you have a very nice machine.

Okay, so I'm going to buy the ATI 5770 but could you give me a name brand 500 or 650 power supply like under 150, could I get a good PSU for under 150?

If you were in my position and had a $300 limit what would you do? The radeon is selling for like 189

Has for a new PSU for your current set up I'd really look at theses 3 all under $150.

Number 1
Number 2
Number 3

Those are my picks. Even though I have Antec EA750 Earthwatts. I'm very happy with Antec stuff.