Need upgrade advice for playing BF4

[Wekiva]

My sons's computer has the following specs:
Intel Core 2 CPU 6600 @ 2.4GHz with 8 GB Ram
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250

What would be the best thing to spend about $200 on to upgrade...CPU or vid card (I'm assuming vid card is most critical)? The game is playable on low settings...but it would be nice to tweak this system a bit so we can improve framerate visual quality if possible.

 

[lehtv]

Upgrading the CPU is neither possible on this budget (would require new RAM and a new motherboard too) nor would it do any good with only a GTS 250 as video card.

What is the power supply model and the motherboard?

For $200 you could get a Powercolor 7870 $160 AR and an aftermarket cooler for overclocking, provided the motherboard and PSU are capable of that.

If overclocking isn't an option, that 7870 is still pretty much the best deal. A bit over $200 would buy you a 270X but it wouldn't be worth it for two reasons: with a 7870, the CPU is already the bottleneck, and the 270X is actually just and overclocked 7870.

 

[Wekiva]

Thanks lehtv. If the vid card update is more likely (seems to be with your noted cost problems with CPU upgrade) then I'm actually considering putting the vid card from my own system into the boys and buying the new vid card for myself. This would be a Radeon HD 6900 series card.

With the HD 6900 how much improvement will I get...is the CPU such a bottle neck that I'll see minimal improvement? Or will there be a decent amount of improvement until I hit the CPU max capability.

 

[lehtv]

A 6900 series card is a decent and balanced match for a Q6600. The Q6600 shouldn't limit performance in general, although in Battlefield 4 multiplayer it might.

The GTS 250 is, simply put, worthless for gaming by todays standards. To estimate the difference in performance... well, GTS 450 is about 50% faster than GTS 250, and a 6900 series card is roughly twice the speed of GTS 450. So you should expect about a +200% improvement in framerates.

 

[Termie]

It's 3x faster than a GTS250, but it won't be quite that in BF4, due to a serious bottleneck caused by the stock q6600. Some settings won't be playable above low.

You're trying to play the most demanding game on the market on a six year old system, so unfortunately it will never run optimally.

 

[BertolomeoDiaz]

maybe you can overclock the core2 6600?

if your mobo allows it, that will help to somewhat extent
is it core 2 duo or core 2 quad? there is a c2d e6600 and a c2q q6600

guide for c2 duo
http://hexus.net/tech/tech-explained/cpu/9808-intel-core-2-duo-basic-overclocking-guide-beginners/

here is a guide for the quad
http://archive.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=27&t=496

core 2 duo 2,4GHz is exactly whar they put as minimum requirement, if you have that, you might want to get a c2q quad used from ebay or some other market place
BF4 likes to have more than two threads, especially in multiplayer, oc c2q should be ok

should you have the c2d and it shows to be inadequate even with oc, this is about the cheapest possibility to go for something new with pretty good performance mobo+cpu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1519915
or this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1519941
the amd bundle will perform better in BF4 and crysis 3, the intel in other games, like starcraft 2 or anno 2070

this would be a real powerhouse intel quadcore + mobo, flawless performance, but that would crash the budget alone
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1519924

not sure, but you´d probably also need new ram, if you go for new mobo, like
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231740

and get the video card HD7870 or r9 270x, something like that, like they said
and if you have to get the cpu, maybe r9 270 without the x, it´s much closer to 270x than the next downgrade 260x

there are some out there in the 40-50$ range (auctions)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...sor-/191022966398?pt=CPUs&hash=item2c79db267e

edit: what kind of a psu (power supply) do you have?
it might be isufficient for anything more than a hd7750, which doesn´t need a pcie 6pin supply cable
(the r9 270x needs two, r7 270 and r7 260x needs one, r7 250 needs none)
there are adapters and they are usually included with the video card, but it still depend, whther the psu is strong/good enough

edit: as the gts 250 needs 1 pcie supply cable you can use a card that needs one, too:r9 270 (no x), r7 260x, hd7850 or gtx 650ti boost or even gtx 660
(hd 7790 is about the same as r7 260x, should you see a decisively cheaper one)

the r9 270 seems to be the fastes of the cards with need for one pcie cable, followed by gtx 660
(there are 1GB and 2GB versions of some of the cards, get the 2GB if it´s gddr5, don´t get any ddr3, even if that is more)

conclusion:
try oc c2d / c2q (maybe replace c2d, if you find c2q under ~50-60$)
if that´s not good, get a new mobo+cpu

get r9 270
or get
r9 270x/ hd 7870, if your psu has 2 pcie power supply cables, or at least one free molex for use with adapter cable, which is usually included with the r9 270/hd 7870

some amd cards come as a bundle with BF4 at a small charge for example
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150687

edit: i see,you´re already playing the game

anyway, the graphics card will be the bigger uprade, don´t get new mobo+cpu and no new card
get card first, then try or oc cpu then try


edit: just now realized you are gonna put the hd 6900 int your son´s pc, lol (wrote this for like two hours...next time more careful read first)
might still try the oc thing, if you like

for 200$, get the r9 270x or 7870, as the others suggested (edit: for your own pc, then put 6900 into son´s pc)

 

[lehtv]

Even with overclock on the Q6600, I think the 6950 is a better match than a new 7870

@OP you never answered about the power supply and motherboard

 

[Wekiva]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll crack the case tomorrow and check mobo and power.

 

[MrA79]

Sell the CPU and build a newer bare-bones system IMO. Your upgrade path on that socket and mobo is practically nonexistant.

 

[BertolomeoDiaz]

i meant 7870/r9 270 for the other pc, then 6950 to the core 2 pc

is ist even c2q? or is it c2d? there is a 6600 @ 2.4GHz for both

 

[Termie]

i meant 7870 for the other pc, then 6950 to the core 2 pc

is ist even c2q? or is it c2d? there is a 6600 @ 2.4GHz for both

Wow, I hadn't even considered that he might be referring to a dual core e6600. That chip seriously has zero value for gaming at this point, so if that's what the OP has, I would recommend not putting additional money into the system.

 

[lehtv]

Good catch, haha... the E6600 does need upgrading if any BF4 is to be played.

 

[Wekiva]

Motherboard is Intel. It says LGA775 on the board and DQ965GF under system info
PS is LSP Ultra 650 ATX (I'm remembering that I upgraded that a year or two ago)
As for processor - it does say 2 core, 2 logical processors - not sure if that answers the c2q vs c2d question

 

[Termie]

Motherboard is Intel. It says LGA775 on the board and DQ965GF under system info
PS is LSP Ultra 650 ATX (I'm remembering that I upgraded that a year or two ago)
As for processor - it does say 2 core, 2 logical processors - not sure if that answers the c2q vs c2d question

OK, it looks like you have a Core 2 Duo E6600, which was released in August 2006.

My opinion is that the system as currently configured is about as optimal as it can be. The CPU really won't be able to support a video card much faster than what you have already.

Assuming you aren't ready to buy a whole new system for BF4, you may simply need to stick with low settings. In fact, that's not too bad for a system of that level of performance.

 

[Wekiva]

What about swapping out processor for the c2q q6600? Seems that can be done for under $50.

BertolomeoDiaz - I really appreciate all the time you put into that post above. Sorry you didn't catch the vid card switch in the earlier post.

 

[Termie]

What about swapping out processor for the c2q q6600? Seems that can be done for under $50.

...

Yes, a Q6600 would improve performance a lot, but you're still talking about a chip that will be significantly out-performed by a modern-day $110 Intel dual-core, which is why it's not a particularly good investment even at $50. You do get to salvage the motherboard and RAM (of which you have a lot at 8GB), but I'd rather see you go with a Core i3-4130, an H81 motherboard, and 4GB of DDR3 for an all-in cost of $200-$220, rather than spending $50 on a used, 5-year-old CPU. Many of those Q6600s have been pretty seriously overclocked, and there's no guarantee that they have a lot of lifespan left.

Just my two cents - obviously you have to decide what it's worth to get BF4 running on that system.

 

[lehtv]

Do you happen to have access to a Microcenter?

 

[BertolomeoDiaz]

thx for the appreciation and no problem about the video card thing
i don´t really know, whether you can get the c2q for ~50$
those were running auctions, some with the highest bid at 30$, some more in the 50$ region,
you´d have to try
i´m kind of a collector´s soul and try to keep things running, as i am very much emotionally attached to my prior gaming systems
i also keep an old pc with win xp on it, for older games that won´t run with vista or win 7 or 8
never use it, but i like to think i could
matching the hd6900 with an oc c2d 6600 would make it a very decent system of 2010/2007
i think it´s worth a shot, but you still might have to upgrade next year or when another desirable game comes, that won´t run properly on the hd6900 or the c2q

 

[Wekiva]

For now I've put the hd6900 in the e6600 system and so far it's running pretty good. Boys are happy...dad is happy. I'm getting a new card in my system...all is well for now.

 

[BertolomeoDiaz]

nice