Hi, my rig has servecd me well for last 4-5 years but think things are getting beyond it, and now need some expert opinion on where to go from here. Mainly used for playing games, ARK and minecraft. ARK runs in low mode but takes forever to load and lags like crazy. Minecraft works fine if not many mods installed but once start adding them it soon gets to the point of lagging where struggle to get above 5fps sometimes. Now never overclocked before but just dug out an old issue of custompc (issue 91 Apr 2011) to be exact which explains how to oc my processor. My main question is if the oc doesn't improve things, which route do i take from here. Can i just replace my graphics card with a 1060/1070/1080 and replace/or double my existing RAM to get a fairly decent rig again or do I need to start from scratch with new build altogether.
Do you have a SSD? If not, there's your answer. Also, when was your last reformat and windows reinstall? Another 6gb of ram would help a bit, but probably not with gaming (unless you have a bunch of browser tabs open at the same time). The 570 is still a decent card, so I doubt that is the source of your issues Even a modest OC (3.2-3.5ghz) of a 920 will add new life to it, so I recommend giving it a go. Edit: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2008/11/06/overclocking-intel-core-i7-920/1
9 out of 10 games are GPU bottle-necked. Replacing your GPU will give you an immediate frame rate boost in most games. So, I'd get the GPU first to tide you over, then start thinking about porting everything to a new platform.
Minecraft is cpu and memory limited for the record, if you mod the game you need at least 8gb ram for the flash application to not choke plus a beefy cpu. SSD will fix the load times but not the lag due to mods. Ark is gpu limited and cpu limited and memory limited with your current setup. If you Overclock the cpu and add more memory you fix some of the issues, gpu would solve the fps lags. Ark is a very demanding game, to the point of even a high end setup can still lag.
Ram is really expensive atm. The CPU should be good enough tbh, but will need to be overclocked. Don't rush out and buy a CPU/board now though. As Corky said, wait for Ryzen. I would also wait and see what Vega brings to the table too. Not because you should buy an AMD GPU (you've made it clear you don't want one) but because of what it could do to the 1070 pricing. From what I have heard the new AMD GPU will be a competitor to the 1070, so the price of the 1070 should go from "Take the wee" to "Hmm".
+1 for SSD if you haven't, RAM if you can find some... And hold off on anything more comprehensive than that.
Thanks folks, will try overclock first, if not which ssd drives you recommend as not kept upto date with things. As for sticking with intel Vault-Tec I am not against Amd, just want to try and save on a complete rebuild by utilising parts already got if they are still upto the job. If cpu/motherboard are ok I'll then go more ram and better gpu if things are still compatible.
It depends which matters more to you, capacity or outright speed. But anything will be an improvement over a rust spinner. But whilst also out of the loop a smidge, on the 2.5"/SATA III front your options are - WD/SanDisk - capacity on the cheap... frequently on offer making them even cheaper Samsung - Pricier but towards the top-end performance wise Crucial - typically towards the cheaper [and slower] end, somewhat of a middle ground between the Sandisk and Samsung drives. Intel - Slow [relative to some], pricey [relative to most other 2.5"-ers], but usually bulletproof on the reliability front. Toshiba/OCZ - ??? Corsair - ???
Your priority's should be: 1: SSD 2: SSD 3: SSD 4: SSD 5: SSD 6: SSD 7: SSD 8: Overclock that CPU 9: Another 3 or 6GB of ram 10: New GPU SSD brand doesn't matter (use common sense), but you may want to find one that comes with a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter. It's not critical, though as you can just stick the drive to the bottom of your case with double-sided tape. Most people are fine with a 120GB drive, but the price of 240GB drives have come down a lot in the 2 years. If you have a large steam library or don't want the inconvenience of having to constantly move large files to a mechanical HDD, it might be worth the extra cash.
Speed of the SSD will be largely irrelevant with GandalfDDUK's current MoBo, it only supports SATA II, an SSD will still be a big improvement over spinning rust but any SSD that can reach 300MB/s will do. EDIT: If you do get an SSD make sure you use the Intel controller as the Marvel one sucks, IIRC the Intel ports are white.
Yes but on x58 boards SATA 3 was often [possibly always, can't recall if x58 ever 'officially' supported SATA3] handled by a 3rd-party controller [usually Marvell] and it was invariably rubbish.
Well first overclock not gone to plan somehow, followed instructions from said issue 91 above, bios is showing upto 3.8ghz but just run prime95 and task manager shows max speed as 2.77ghz up from cpu max of 2.66ghz
Ignore what task manager says, it's almost always wrong when the chip is oc'd [and is sometimes wrong even when at stock]. Check your clock speed in something like CPU-Z... If it's still reporting the stock/boost speeds of 2.66/2.7, then something is amiss. Also, and this is something my ASUS X58 board did all the time [even at stock speeds at times]... if the overclock isn't stable some boards will will just go 'nope!' and reset everything back to defaults, sometimes you get a message saying so, sometimes not. Whenever mine did that is it was invariably indicative of not enough Volts. Finally 3.8 is a bit ambitious iirc for a 920, certainly straight off the bat. Mine sat comfortably at 3.2 it's entire life as could most of the 920s I came across, so there is where i'd personally start.
Sequential read speed is only one factor. It's massive IOPS improvement, lack of seek delay, etc that makes the SSD experience so much better than a HDD.
My apologises i didn't spot it was one of the first boards to support SATA III, although having done a bit more research it seems Gigabyte didn't do a great job implementing it, either way mostly any SSD is going to max out both the Marvel and/or Intel controller so I'd go for drive size over speed. @play_boy_2000, Yea i know but i wasn't comparing a HDD to an SSD, i was postulating that using GandalfDDUK current MoBo the difference between a fast and slow SSD probably won't be noticeable. I'd also second what RedFlames said, i ran my 920 @ 3.4 so 3Ghz would be a good starting point for the OC.
