I need PC help!

[Waaldo]

I know very little about computers, but I do a lot of PC gaming, so I'm starting to make some computer upgrades. I just bought a new graphics card, and I'm wondering if maybe my other PC specs are bottlenecking the card. It is definitely a massive upgrade from my other video card, but I don't think it is working to its full potential. I used to run BF3 with a GTX 550ti and was getting ~20 fps with all of the settings on low, and I would get random drops down to 3-4 fps. Now, with the new card, I'm getting ~45 and during really graphic intensive parts it will drop down to high 20s/low 30s with everything on ultra. Lowering some of the graphics makes very little difference FPS wise which is why I think the card is being held back.


Processor: AMD Phenom 9750 quad-core processor 2.41GHz
Ram: 4GB DDR2
Power supply: I don't know the name but it's a 550 wat
Video card: Geforce GTX 670 (just bought it a few days ago)

If you need any more info let me know. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Deleted]

A 670 should prefom far better than that. I get 60+ fps on bf3 on ultra with no drops. Your ram is quite bad and I dont know much about AMD processors.

My Setup
CPU: Intel I5 3570k
GPU: EVGA 670 FTW Sig 2
RAM: 8GB Kingston HyperX 1600Mhz DDR3
Case: NZXT Phantom 410
PSU: Corsair TX750 Gold

[Toffie]

You need a need CPU, that is why you are seeing low frames at times.

Whats your budget?

[Waaldo]

You need a need CPU, that is why you are seeing low frames at times.

Whats your budget?

Yeah that's what I thought. I don't really have a specific budget, I'm really just looking for the most cost effective things I can get. I wan't something that will run games at 60fps, but I'm not looking to go all out with liquid cooling and all that jazz.

[Toffie]

With a slight 4.2-4.4 GHz overclock on the CPU, you will never see your frames go under 60.

Final parts/price assuming you have microcenter available, which doesn't look like the case in Florida.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Pro3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $387.96
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-24 13:00 EDT-0400)

[Waaldo]

With a slight 4.2-4.4 GHz overclock on the CPU, you will never see your frames go under 60.

Final parts/price assuming you have microcenter available, which doesn't look like the case in Florida.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Pro3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $387.96
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-24 13:00 EDT-0400)

I have no idea how to overclock, do you know any good websites to learn how?
And thanks for the info, I don't have any microcenters near me so I guess I will have to get it off of amazon.

[Shamypriest]

I have no idea how to overclock, do you know any good websites to learn how?
And thanks for the info, I don't have any microcenters near me so I guess I will have to get it off of amazon.

There are a bunch of solid tutorials over at overclock.net. There was one that was really good, I'll see if I can find the link. In practice, overclocking is pretty easy now. It pretty much consists of increasing a core multiplier that multiplies the base clock, and incrementing VCore (Vcore is voltage supplied to the processor) by small amounts until the system is stable. You can gauge how stable the system is by booting into it normally and running Prime95 and RealTemp to keep an eye on temperature. Recommendations vary on how long you should run Prime95, but if it runs for several hours then you probably have a stable setup. If it crashes or bluescreens, you go back into the BIOS and decrement the core multiplier or increment the Vcore. All of this is done while trying to keep reasonable temperatures, which, for me atleast, at 100% load 70C is a pretty good target. The temperature ceiling will vary based on what processor you get; I have an i7 2700k which runs a little bit hotter than its i5 brothers.

So, as an example, let's say your base core is 100 Mhz, and by default your core multiplier is x36 with a Vcore of 1.1V (all of these numbers are pretty much arbitrary), this would yield a 3.6 GhZ clock speed (100 Mhz * 36). It wouldn't be much trouble at all to bump the multiplier up to x40, yielding a 4.0 Ghz overclock. The big change is you want to increment the Vcore until the system is stable, but you don't want to increment it too high because more voltage = more heat, and heat can damage your processor. For this reason, people go with aftermarket heatsinks when overclocking because stock coolers are really only good enough to keep the processor cool at its stock settings.

Edit: I can't seem to find that link. In any event, I strongly recommend overclock.net as a resource and a place to ask for suggestions/advice if you are serious about wanting to overclock. The folks over there are always real helpful. If overclocking isn't something you are comfortable with, then you can always go for a 3470 which is basically the same as a 3570k but it doesn't have an unlocked core multiplier.

[Toffie]

Above have very good points. If you want a reliable video guide then this is the best.
http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F

[Deleted]

Above have very good points. If you want a reliable video guide then this is the best.
http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F

I think we need a different link

[Waaldo]

There are a bunch of solid tutorials over at overclock.net. There was one that was really good, I'll see if I can find the link. In practice, overclocking is pretty easy now. It pretty much consists of increasing a core multiplier that multiplies the base clock, and incrementing VCore (Vcore is voltage supplied to the processor) by small amounts until the system is stable. You can gauge how stable the system is by booting into it normally and running Prime95 and RealTemp to keep an eye on temperature. Recommendations vary on how long you should run Prime95, but if it runs for several hours then you probably have a stable setup. If it crashes or bluescreens, you go back into the BIOS and decrement the core multiplier or increment the Vcore. All of this is done while trying to keep reasonable temperatures, which, for me atleast, at 100% load 70C is a pretty good target. The temperature ceiling will vary based on what processor you get; I have an i7 2700k which runs a little bit hotter than its i5 brothers.

So, as an example, let's say your base core is 100 Mhz, and by default your core multiplier is x36 with a Vcore of 1.1V (all of these numbers are pretty much arbitrary), this would yield a 3.6 GhZ clock speed (100 Mhz * 36). It wouldn't be much trouble at all to bump the multiplier up to x40, yielding a 4.0 Ghz overclock. The big change is you want to increment the Vcore until the system is stable, but you don't want to increment it too high because more voltage = more heat, and heat can damage your processor. For this reason, people go with aftermarket heatsinks when overclocking because stock coolers are really only good enough to keep the processor cool at its stock settings.

Edit: I can't seem to find that link. In any event, I strongly recommend overclock.net as a resource and a place to ask for suggestions/advice if you are serious about wanting to overclock. The folks over there are always real helpful. If overclocking isn't something you are comfortable with, then you can always go for a 3470 which is basically the same as a 3570k but it doesn't have an unlocked core multiplier.

Thank you so much for all the info, it helps tremendously! I'll being doing a lot of reading on overclocking because I have heard that if you mess up you can damage your components, so if I get comfortable with thinking about overclocking I'll definitely do it. In the example you gave of 3.6GHz to 4.0GHz, how much of a difference, performance wise, does that make?

[Toffie]

I think we need a different link

I'm such a derp xD

Here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CHs5_TdpXE