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 CyberPower : Pre-sales Queries & Buying Advice : Build & Compatibility Questions |
 Topic: Comparing my old PC to a possible new one? |
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Andayle
Awaiting Construction 
Joined: 28/Jul/2012 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2 |
   Topic: Comparing my old PC to a possible new one?Posted: 28/Jul/2012 at 20:08 |
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Hi all,
Never used Cyberpower before and a friend recommended you to me. I'm so out of touch of what is good hardware these days that my mind boggles at all the GFX card numbers and CPU numbers that I really have no idea what is good for a certain system. My current system is: Intel i3 530 overclocked @ 4.20 4 gig RAM ATI 5850 It's done me very well for a few years but with games such as Guildwars 2 and the DayZ mod that I play daily is really is starting to struggle. In both those games I'm averaging around 30 to 40 FPS and I notice it a lot with the mouse feeling laggy with the screen. Would I see a big improvement from a complete new system like an i5 overclocked with a better graphics card? or is the i3 still ok for games and I would only really need a new GFX card? I would have around £800 to £900 for a new system, only would need the base unit as I have keyboard, mouse and monitor. The PC would be for gaming 95% of the time and 5% for very little video editing and encoding for Youtube etc. Anyone give me some advice? Would I be wasting money with a new system? would upgrading only my GFX card make my current i3 be the bottleneck? many thanks in advance guys. |
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licenced
Moderator Group 
Joined: 16/Jan/2008 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 7937 |
Posted: 28/Jul/2012 at 20:19 |
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Hi there,
You have a reasonable overclock on the CPU so I don't think it will be much of a bottle-neck until you spend loads on dual graphics cards or similar. I have an overclocked i5 750 (so half a generation or so behind you) with a 5870 and that's still going strong. So, I reckon you just want to upgrade your GPU. You haven't mentioned what resolution you are playing at, but if its 1080 or higher and you add in some AA in the graphics settings then you want a card with more VRAM as well as being quicker. Bear in mind that you may have to upgrade your PSU at the same time, depending on what you have at the moment. Dave |
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Andayle
Awaiting Construction
Joined: 28/Jul/2012 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2 |
Posted: 28/Jul/2012 at 20:58 |
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Oh.. I never realised the i3 is of a newer generation. I thought the i5 would be newer. So I should be good with the current CPU? I run all my games in 1680x1050 as that is my default monitor res. I also run most games with 4xAA and 8AF. I have a 450 Watt PSU so I'm guessing that would need an upgrade. Any suggestions on what GFX card would be best? I have no preference to either ATI or Nvidia.
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Moderator Group
Joined: 16/Jan/2008 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 7937 |
Posted: 29/Jul/2012 at 18:29 |
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At that resolution your current card should be able to run most games fine if you just dial the AA back to 2x or even off.
A reasonable upgrade from the 5850 would be the 7870 - they're relatively cheap now (compared to when they were first released, and would give you a 30-50% speed increase depending on the game. If you want to upgrade even further then the GTX670 is probably top of the pounds vs. performance pile at the moment - you can get faster, but not for a lot more money. They can be had for about £300 and would be another 30-40% faster again than the 7870. A 450W PSU is definitely a bit worrying in an overclocked PC with a half decent graphics card. Get a decent, branded 600W+ PSU and it will last you multiple upgrade cycles before you need to think about replacing it. Don't skimp out on this component - its the most important thing that drives the entire rest of the PC and a bad one can kill components. Dave |
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