Hello , I'm new to this forum so I would like to apologise in advance if this question is in the wrong section or if it has been asked before, anyway here goes... About two years ago I purchased the following machine: - 8800gt with 512MB VRAM - Core 2 Quad Q6600 - 2x, 1GB sticks of RAM - CM2X1024-6400 , 5-5-5-18 - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB - ABIT IP35-E motherboard - Windows Vista 32-bit ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anyway, the problem is stuttering in games, most notably crysis warhead and fallout 3 -For example in crysis warhead I can't run the game with high textures at 1680x1050, because it stutters, which is a shame as crysis looks so nice -Also in fallout 3 high textures + AA = bad stuttering. Anyway I'm hoping to upgrade this Christmas to eliminate the stuttering, and I would like your advice on whether or not I should upgrade my Ram, Hard disk (maybe the SSD route perhaps) or anything else you could think may be bottlenecking my system and causing stuttering. Any advice would be most appreciated, many thanks GingerBunny
More RAM and a better GPU will definitely make things much better for you - 4 GB of RAM (total) + a decent graphics card - either an nVidia GTX 260 or ATI 4870 1GB (or better if it'll fit your budget). Just make sure your PSU will be able to support a graphics card update in terms of power and connectors.
Thanks for the advice I think I'll purchase 4GB ram, would you recommend I upgrade to windows 7 64-bit?
Also, I don't think a GTX260 will cut the mustard in terms of upgrades, unless the game's JUST unplayable at the selected res/settings (and, to be honest, if it's stuttering that bad, it's not JUST unplayable - it's very unplayable!). Radeon 4890, GTX275, a 5800-series card, or wait for Fermi - those are the contenders. Personally, I'd get money for Christmas if I were you.
2Gb of RAM equates to stuttering and your framerate hitting the floor after 20 minutes. Definitely get another 2Gb kit aswell as a 5850 ( It will run nicely on the high Dx10 settings ).
Thanks for your replies, I think i'll definitely be getting an extra 4gb ram and windows 7 64-bit, but do you think it is worth upgrading my Hard drive?
Nope. 500GB should be plenty, as long as you're not putting a media library on it. Upgrading to a faster hard drive (ie the Samsung Spinpoint F3) would probs only shave a couple of seconds off loading times for things, and an SSD is only worth considering once you've got the rest of your rig sorted. To clarify - your hard drive is NOT bottlenecking you. Loading times are completely irrelevant if you can't play the games anyway.
HD 4890 + 4GB of RAM + a Spinpoint F3/Caviar Black should pull your rig up to date, maybe a new heatsink and some overclocking too + Windows 7 is awesome
Graphics card is the most important thing you need to upgrade, then RAM. IMO anyway. On my rig (see sig) I can only just run Crysis at 1680x1050 at high with no AA. Anything more than that and the fps becomes too low, event at those settings above it still gets a bit dodgy in large fire fights. You can't expect an 8800GT to be able to play Crysis at 1680x1050 with everything on high IMO. With a GTX260 you should be able to get around 25fps at 1680x1050 at high with 2xAA IIRC from one of CPC's graphics card tests. However, you'll also need 4GiB of RAM and probably OC your CPU up to around 3GHz. And you may not be able to play the 64bit version of Crysis on Win7. It seems there are problems, I've not been able to play the 64bit version as it just randomly causes the graphics drivers to crash and hence crashes the game. Running 32bit Crysis gets rid of this problem.
There really isn't any point in buying the GTX 260 when the HD4890 costs very slightly more and smatters it to a silicone pulp
Yeah, ok, I hadn't realised the 4890s had dropped that much in price. I suppose also, the GTX260s have risen in price recently. Also, the nvidia cards were better in crysis, but now it seems the ATi cards have caught up. I don't think the 4890 is that much better than a GTX260 though, from what I've seen from a quick google, its only 2-4fps faster than the 260.
