How to enhance performance?

[Nikita]

Hi guys!

Lately my main comp has started to go downhill when it comes to performance.

So my question is, should I just buy a whole new rig or upgrade a few pieces in my old computer? And what parts should I be replacing?

Specc:

Interl(R) Core (TM)2 Duo CPU E8200 @ 2.66GHz 2.67GHz

6 GB ram

GeForce 9600 GT

My main goal is to box 4-5 chars on 1 computer, while streaming/frapping stuff.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

What games do you want to box with it?

[Redbeard]

I dont know how Nikita isnt getting trolled with a thread title like this.

Travesty.

Seems like a decent enough machine, the streaming thing might be a killer though.

[ebony]

he 4 box's wow,

A DUAL CORE WOW!!!! u still running one off them? and 8gb would be better then 6

[Nikita]

I dont know how Nikita isnt getting trolled with a thread title like this.

Travesty.

Seems like a decent enough machine, the streaming thing might be a killer though.


Hehe, I noticed now :P lol

[Nikita]

Well, atm I cant have 4 wow windows open at the same time. I run 2 wow windows on my main comp, and 2 on my alt comp. I lag pretty bad when doing LFR, BGs and croweded places like SW. Whats the smartets thing to do? Buy a new computer, or upgrade a few pieces?

[EaTCarbS]

You didn't list your motherboard. It may be possible for you to upgrade to a Core 2 Quad which could help with your lag. A video card upgrade wouldn't hurt either - 9600gt is on the low end. I don't know if you have an SSD, but those are a performance booster as well.

I couldn't 4 box and stream on a core 2 quad a few years ago. Streaming used to tax the hell out of my system. Maybe I was doing it wrong?

I say if you have plenty of cash, upgrade to an i5 or i7.

[ebony]

been helping someone in my guild and if your on tight on cash like him and me then u can pick up a AMDx6 core 8gb ram and motherbord and i run all mine on low on clones and high on main useing half of system (now i fixed a few things with overclock) i got ati 6950 that is over kill for the system u can do this way under 500 pounds with a SSD and probs a 16gb of ram that done u for a long time


BTW i know the intel kids will be here AMD are just as good!!!!!!! for dualboxing dont lisson to the intel fan boys ;)

[Nikita]

Asus P6T Deluxe+OC Palm,X58, Socket-1366
Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz 6GB CL9
Intel Core? i7 Quad Processor i7-940
XFX GeForce GTX 260 896MB PhysX CUDA
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB,
WD Caviar® Black 1TB 3,5", SATA,
Corsair Powersupply 750W Black, ATX Bulk

Price is 1387,95 USD

VS

Cpu(prossesor)- Amd AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
Gpu-(Graffikkort)- 2x XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 875 mhz clockspeed and with 1,2 Gb Dedicated videomemory (Crossfired)
Motherboard- ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
Ram(memory) - 8 Gb corsair 1333mhz
Psu(power) - Corsair HX 750W 80 plus silver
Watercooling for prosessor - Corsair H60 Hydro Series
HDD(Harddisk)- 750GB 6gb/s Sata III
Kabinett- Cooler Master Storm Sniper

Price here is 1561,44 USD

What would be the best buy vs these two?

[ebony]

Asus P6T Deluxe+OC Palm,X58, Socket-1366
Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz 6GB CL9
Intel Core? i7 Quad Processor i7-940
XFX GeForce GTX 260 896MB PhysX CUDA
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB,
WD Caviar® Black 1TB 3,5", SATA,
Corsair Powersupply 750W Black, ATX Bulk

Price is 1387,95 USD

VS

Cpu(prossesor)- Amd AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
Gpu-(Graffikkort)- 2x XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 875 mhz clockspeed and with 1,2 Gb Dedicated videomemory (Crossfired)
Motherboard- ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
Ram(memory) - 8 Gb corsair 1333mhz
Psu(power) - Corsair HX 750W 80 plus silver
Watercooling for prosessor - Corsair H60 Hydro Series
HDD(Harddisk)- 750GB 6gb/s Sata III
Kabinett- Cooler Master Storm Sniper

Price here is 1561,44 USD

What would be the best buy vs these two?


crossfire will make more probs mutiboxing then it gives u as u got a lot of cash i would go i7 maybe 2600k if u can. if u not then go amd. areyou making or buying the system.

[Nikita]

Not building myself since I dont have the knowledge. But isnt these 2 specs very good and very cheap?

[ebony]

there so many pc bits out there i hope someone can edit and help out its a lot of money so i try to get this

Intel Core i7 2600K
16GB of ram
ATI 6950 is a good card (though others might have a better choice (stay out of Crossfire if its only for wow))
a SSD if you can get one added in olny need a 60/120gb and then a 1tb std hdd

then just the other parts that does not really matter to be fair that the shop will add but i tryed to get a setup like that.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Asus P6T Deluxe+OC Palm,X58, Socket-1366
Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz 6GB CL9
Intel Core? i7 Quad Processor i7-940
XFX GeForce GTX 260 896MB PhysX CUDA
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB,
WD Caviar® Black 1TB 3,5", SATA,
Corsair Powersupply 750W Black, ATX Bulk

Price is 1387,95 USD

VS

Cpu(prossesor)- Amd AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
Gpu-(Graffikkort)- 2x XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 875 mhz clockspeed and with 1,2 Gb Dedicated videomemory (Crossfired)
Motherboard- ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
Ram(memory) - 8 Gb corsair 1333mhz
Psu(power) - Corsair HX 750W 80 plus silver
Watercooling for prosessor - Corsair H60 Hydro Series
HDD(Harddisk)- 750GB 6gb/s Sata III
Kabinett- Cooler Master Storm Sniper

Price here is 1561,44 USD

What would be the best buy vs these two?
Personally, I ran an i7-950 X58 with 12GB of RAM and a 9800GT with 2 7200RPM drives in RAID0 and it worked like a champ for my 4 alts. It even worked good for my 4 Rift alts. I would stay away from SLI/Crossfire as it causes more trouble than it's worth. The 940 should do just fine in WoW. Upgrading to 8GB from 6GB is the easiest improvement, then an SSD after that, though it is not really required. Also no need to go with watercooling on an i7 -- just grab a decent copper block heatsink with a 120mm fan and be done with it.

So, personally, I'd go with the i7 system above and put 2 more GB of RAM in it. RAM is cheap right now.

[edit] How close are you to your budget limits at $1500ish?

[MiRai]

Asus P6T Deluxe+OC Palm,X58, Socket-1366
Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz 6GB CL9
Intel Core? i7 Quad Processor i7-940
XFX GeForce GTX 260 896MB PhysX CUDA
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB,
WD Caviar® Black 1TB 3,5", SATA,
Corsair Powersupply 750W Black, ATX Bulk

Price is 1387,95 USD
Albeit better than what you currently have... this system is not worth $1400 -- It is way too outdated.

EDIT: And, if you can afford a little extra money overall... Intel is way better than AMD, past and present.

[Nikita]

I can spend around 1500-2000 om this :)

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Oh hell, in that case RUN, do not walk, and get an i7-2600k system. They're not terribly pricey and it will be plenty of horsepower for boxing all current games.

[Nikita]

Oh hell, in that case RUN, do not walk, and get an i7-2600k system. They're not terribly pricey and it will be plenty of horsepower for boxing all current games.

But what is it? A complete build or just a motherboard?

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Sorry, forgot you aren't a self-builder. Just upgrade the motherboard and CPU to an i7-2600k supported combo. The RAM will need to change to make sure it supports that system as well. The rest of the system (graphics, hard drives, case, PSU) is fine.

[Ualaa]

The i7-2600 has hyperthreading, which is worthwhile if you're going to be streaming and/or doing videos too.
If you're primarily gaming and not doing the other stuff, a i5-2500 is about $100 cheaper, and about the same performance.

The K on the end stands for an unlocked multiplier, meaning you can overclock it fairly easily... just want a decent (read non-stock) cooler on the processor.
I went with a Corsair A-70 which was around $50 Canadian.
If you're not interested in overclocking the CPU, the non-K processors are a bit cheaper and the stock coolers should be fine.

The motherboard, processor and ram will be different... and you'll need to upgrade those together.
You might need to upgrade the power supply too, but not necessarily.
Everything else plugs into the motherboard, and is extremely easy to do (check a few YouTube videos); you can of course have a computer store do it all for you too.

Memory Express (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg) has an IPR program (instant-product-replacement) which is a very nice warranty option... if you buy the parts at whatever store and have that store do the installation, you might have the option of a nice warranty too.
Basically, anything goes wrong with the part and they replace it with a brand new one (had one SSD replaced, and one monitor had dead pixels) not a refurbished product.
Doing it yourself will be cheaper, but a warranty is nice too.

[EaTCarbS]

Not building myself since I dont have the knowledge. But isnt these 2 specs very good and very cheap?

If you took the time to learn (not very long), you could save yourself quite a bit of money.

[Nikita]

http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=622989


619272 (http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=619272) - Intel Core™ i7 Quad Processor i7-2600K 3,4GHz, Socket LGA1155, 8MB, Boxed
626388 (http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=626388) - ASUS Sabertooth P67, Socket-1155 ATX, P67, DDR3, 2xPCIe(2.0)x16, CFX& SLI, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0, FW, BT, EFI
618010 (http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=618010) - Corsair Vengeance™ DDR3 1600MHz 8GB CL9 Kit w/2x 4GB XMS3 modules, CL9-9-9-24, 1.5V, Vengeance Heatspreader, 240 pin
3795,- kr

488,57 EUR


http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=630674#reviews

Crucial m4 SSD 2,5" 64GB

899,- kr

115,74 EUR



http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=618011

Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 16GB CL9

749,- kr

96,43 EUR



So Ive been searching a few sites. And would these parts fit in? Are they decent? Price okay?

Still wondering which video card I should buy. Any advice?

What would be needed to attach 4 screens into 1 computer?

Should I go for 2 video cards then?

[MiRai]

First of all... don't bump a thread that is at the top of the list on the forum.



So Ive been searching a few sites. And would these parts fit in? Are they decent? Price okay?
I don't know if the prices are good compared to USD but; yes, the parts will fit. I don't know why you have
8GB of RAM listed and then 16GB of RAM listed after that.


Still wondering which video card I should buy. Any advice?
nVidia 3GB GTX 580 gets my vote.


What would be needed to attach 4 screens into 1 computer?
Multiple nVidia video cards or an ATi Eyefinity setup.


Should I go for 2 video cards then?
The only reason to use multiple video cards is if you play more games than WoW and need SLI/Crossfire to
get super high quality graphics or, in nVidia's case, you want to run more than 2 monitors.

[Nikita]

Ahh, didnt notice that the i7 2600k package came with 8 Gig ram. Should I just buy an extra 8 Gig ram then?

Been doing some searching online. Lets say I wanted 4 screens on 1 computer, would nVidia 3GB GTX 580 be needed? Could I go for 2 other video cards with close to the same performance as the 580?

[MiRai]

Ahh, didnt notice that the i7 2600k package came with 8 Gig ram. Should I just buy an extra 8 Gig ram then?
If you've got the money it wouldn't hurt.


Been doing some searching online. Lets say I wanted 4 screens on 1 computer, would nVidia 3GB GTX 580 be needed? Could I go for 2 other video cards with close to the same performance as the 580?[/FONT]
As I said in my previous post, you will need multiple nVidia cards to run 4 monitors or an ATi Eyefinity setup.
For multiboxing, I recommend a single card setup versus any SLI setups. With that being said, you can still
install 2 video cards into your system but, don't use SLI while multiboxing.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Ahh, didnt notice that the i7 2600k package came with 8 Gig ram. Should I just buy an extra 8 Gig ram then?Just be sure you read the memory package and your motherboard specs. If your first 8GB is 4x2GB and your motherboard only has 6 slots, you won't be able to use but half of another 4x2GB package. It looks like yours is 2x4GB so most motherboards should work with the 4 sticks. If it's a triple-channel system, it probably will need more setup work to make things happy.

[Nikita]

Why exactly do you recommend only 1 video card? Wouldnt 2 cards help on the performance? Lets say I open 2 WoW windows on each card.

So the list is as followed:

619272 (http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=619272) - Intel Core™ i7 Quad Processor i7-2600K 3,4GHz, Socket LGA1155, 8MB, Boxed
626388 (http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=626388) - ASUS Sabertooth P67, Socket-1155 ATX, P67, DDR3, 2xPCIe(2.0)x16, CFX& SLI, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0, FW, BT, EFI
618010 (http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=618010) - Corsair Vengeance™ DDR3 1600MHz 8GB CL9 Kit w/2x 4GB XMS3 modules, CL9-9-9-24, 1.5V, Vengeance Heatspreader, 240 pin

Crucial m4 SSD 2,5" 64GB

Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 8GB CL9

2 x Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB or 2 x Gainward GeForce GTX 560Ti 1GB
VS
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 3072MB PhysX



Why exactly do you recommend only 1 video card? Wouldnt 2 cards help on the performance? Lets say I open 2 WoW windows on each card. Wouldnt WoW run smoother on each client? And if so, should I go for the 570? or go for the 560?

Another question, what will a SSD bring to the table? Im only looking for a smoother gameplay in crowded areas, less laggy arenas etc.

[MiRai]

Why exactly do you recommend only 1 video card? Wouldnt 2 cards help on the performance? Lets say I open 2 WoW windows on each card. Wouldnt WoW run smoother on each client? And if so, should I go for the 570? or go for the 560?This is a choice that's entirely up to you. If you want to deal with setting up multiple GPUs for each character set/game
client in World of Warcraft then go with two video cards. While the games might be smoother (all depends on which
settings you want to use), more components in the mix means more things that can go wrong and people who do use
multiple GPUs to split the load usually have lower end hardware or are running a ridiculous amount of game clients. In
my testing (and some other people as well), splitting the load in World of Warcraft between multiple GPUs could only
be done using DX9 and not DX11. So, immediately you're forced to play on dumbed down settings with your new shiny
video cards.

Also, what if you want to play a single player game or multibox another game that doesn't support splitting the load
between multiple GPUs? Now, what do you do? You're stuck with a much more inferior single card setup with less than
half of the memory of the GTX 580.


Another question, what will a SSD bring to the table? Im only looking for a smoother gameplay in crowded areas, less laggy arenas etc.
An SSD will only lessen loading times. Your FPS is still dependent on your CPU/GPU.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Why exactly do you recommend only 1 video card? Wouldnt 2 cards help on the performance? Lets say I open 2 WoW windows on each card.
No, 2 cards generally won't help performance. The full list of reasons why is beyond the scope of this forum. Suffice it to say there are so many caveats and quality issues using SLI or Crossfire or just multiple single cards that it really just isn't worth it to run two. Just get the 3GB card and be done with it. There's another thread around here that talks about the performance difference between the 2GB and 3GB cards and some of the details, but you'll have to do some searching for it.

The only exception is if you want to run more than 2-3 monitors.