Help with gaming system upgrade. (Video and PSU)

[RyanW2050]

Current Machine:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX
RAM: 4 x 2GB (8GB) G.SKILL 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
VIDEO: EVGA 512-P3-N802-A1 GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
PSU(DEAD): PC Power and Cooling S61EPS 610W



I'd been playing Skyrim on this machine and was left wanting for more performance, then my PSU blew up. I am considering buying a new video card along with the replacement PSU.

Will I see substantial improvement from a video card upgrade alone? Or should I hold off. I do not have the funds to rebuild completely.

Thanks!

 

[lehtv]

PCP&C usually offer a pretty long warranty... you sure you can't still RMA your blown up unit?

You would benefit from a video card upgrade, yes. You could be easily bottlenecked with that CPU though. What kind of budget do you have and where are you buying from?

 

[RyanW2050]

PCP&C usually offer a pretty long warranty... you sure you can't still RMA your blown up unit?

What kind of budget do you have and where are you buying from?

It does, however years back when I bought the PSU, I modded the fan to a quieter one and voided the warranty.

Budget: It would be nice if I could get both components under $250. But i'm really wondering if the CPU/mobo/ram is too much of a bottleneck to even warrant the effort.

Buying from amazon/newegg would be nice.

 

[lehtv]

Forgot to ask - your monitor resolution?

 

[RyanW2050]

Forgot to ask - your monitor resolution?

1680x1050

 

[lehtv]

OK. I think your Core 2 Duo would just about handle a 6870. 6850 is a good choice too. PSU: XFX 650W $50 AR. I know it's not from newegg or amazon, but after rebate it costs the same as 500W units. High quality and actually more powerful than you need, won't need a new PSU in 5+ years.

These would carry over when you upgrade the mobo/cpu etc. Aim for Ivy Bridge in Q2 '12.

 

[mfenn]

OK. I think your Core 2 Duo would just about handle a 6870. 6850 is a good choice too. PSU: XFX 650W $50 AR. I know it's not from newegg or amazon, but after rebate it costs the same as 500W units. High quality and actually more powerful than you need, won't need a new PSU in 5+ years.

These would carry over when you upgrade the mobo/cpu etc. Aim for Ivy Bridge in Q2 '12.

:thumbsup: Looks good. The OP's GPU has definitely not aged as well as his CPU. That being said, Skyrim is pretty CPU-intensive, so I don't think that he'll be able to use the 6870 to its full potential.

 

[RyanW2050]

Went ahead with the HD 6870 and a PC P&C Mk III 600w. I'm going to work on OCing my C2D once they get here. I'm hoping for a pretty significant gain in Skyrim eye candy + FPS, or i'll probably just return the card and hold off for a few months.


Thanks for the help!

 

[lehtv]

Went ahead with the HD 6870 and a PC P&C Mk III 600w. I'm going to work on OCing my C2D once they get here. I'm hoping for a pretty significant gain in Skyrim eye candy + FPS, or i'll probably just return the card and hold off for a few months.

:thumbsup: though not sure why you went with PCP&C, it's more expensive and less powerful / with less PCIe connectors than the XFX. You're basically paying for it being a new arrival and modular.

Tell us what sort of increase in FPS you get at the same image quality settings as before, it'd be interesting to know. Another thing that'd be nice to know - check GPU usage with MSI afterburner to see how much it's held back by the CPU or if it's actually used 100% (with VSync off or settings that stay below 60fps). If you can be bothered, of course

 

[fastamdman]

Not sure what that post was about lawrence875.

Ryan - what are you doing with the dead psu? If you still have it I would be interested in it

PS: If I were you I would have bought a 560 ti and a corsair cx430. 560 ti's are pretty beastly. Either way though you should have a big jump in performance.
PSS: What psu fans these days aren't quiet, roffle. Over regular house noise and or case fan noise, a psu shouldn't be heard lol.

 

[RyanW2050]

Swapped last minute to a Seasonic X-460 Fanless PSU and bought an extra scythe case fan for the psu chamber. Also planning on transplanting my accelero s1 rev2 onto the new 6870 with 2 100mm fans.

I had originally went with the PCP&C back in '08 because they were the quietest quality PSUs around but it seems that's not really the case anymore.

I really enjoy my pc being silent.


Also: sorry, I tossed my old PSU the other day.

 

[lehtv]

PS: If I were you I would have bought a 560 ti and a corsair cx430

CX430 has only one PCIe connector...

 

[mfenn]

Swapped last minute to a Seasonic X-460 Fanless PSU and bought an extra scythe case fan for the psu chamber. Also planning on transplanting my accelero s1 rev2 onto the new 6870 with 2 100mm fans.

Eh, I don't think you would have be able to hear an XFX 650W anyway. Dunno about the Silencer Mk III.

 

[RyanW2050]

I guess it depends on what you call quiet. It's not uncommon for quality PSUs to break 40 dBA under load. Everything in my case runs under 11.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs

 

[fastamdman]

Wow, didn't think a psu would hit anywhere near that. Hell I though CPU fans and or case fans did 40dba when pushing high cfm lol.

Not sure why people are so concerned about silence? I would rather have stability and sufficient airflow over silence. But then again if you can have both, why not.

 

[RyanW2050]

Parts arrived and they're all set up.

I haven't been able to OC my processor yet, but i've gained a ton by getting the card. I'm now running "high" settings with a ton of AA and AF, where i before was running "low". The biggest difference in gameplay is the view distance. Turns out skyrim isn't permanently foggy.

The performance is great everywhere except in towns, where it drops down to 15-30 fps. I checked the GPU usage and it's only at around 40% in those situations. I'm definitely CPU bottlenecked in object dense areas.

I'm hoping to find an old keyboard soon so I can bump my CPU from 2.6 to 3.2 ghz. (my keyboard won't work in my bios )

 

[RyanW2050]

Parts arrived and they're all set up.

I haven't been able to OC my processor yet, but i've gained a ton by getting the card. I'm now running "high" settings with a ton of AA and AF, where i before was running "low". The biggest difference in gameplay is the view distance. Turns out skyrim isn't permanently foggy.

The performance is great everywhere except in towns, where it drops down to 15-30 fps. I checked the GPU usage and it's only at around 40% in those situations. I'm definitely CPU bottlenecked in object dense areas.

I'm hoping to find an old keyboard soon so I can bump my CPU from 2.6 to 3.2 ghz. (my keyboard won't work in my bios )

Running at 3.2ghz now. Wow everything really smoothed out, sits at around 40fps now and rarely dips below 30. Running "high" settings in skyrim, and everything in Catalyst is maxed, except i'm running "adaptive multi-sample" instead of super-sample AA. If I enable super-sample the fps really dives.

res 1680x1050

 

[mfenn]

Running at 3.2ghz now. Wow everything really smoothed out, sits at around 40fps now and rarely dips below 30. Running "high" settings in skyrim, and everything in Catalyst is maxed, except i'm running "adaptive multi-sample" instead of super-sample AA. If I enable super-sample the fps really dives.

res 1680x1050

Yeah, SSAA is really punishing. You would be hard pressed to tell a visual difference between it an adaptive anyway.

Glad you like your new parts!