Looking for general advice

[jzodda]

I just updated my signature rig below with a new E8400 which I am running @ 4.1 Ghz stable. What I feared would happen, happened though and I now have the upgrade bug. I was looking to just sit back now and add a new GTX280 or a 4870x2 when I can find one cheap (scan hot deals for a month or two)

What I realized in testing the CPU is that this E0 stepping is a golden sample. It broke 4Ghz at stock Vcore and I feel what limits me now is the older P965 chipset and the PC2 1000 memory. I was thinking of adding PC2 1100 and a P45 MB like the Asus P5Q Pro. Sure it starts out cheap but I always mod the board with 3rd party coolers for the NB and PWM's.

By the end of this I am looking at probably $300 more than I wanted to spend.

I use this system for gaming mostly and the question I put to you guys is will the updates I mention make the system run much faster than the rig in my sig+ the 8400 and a new vid card like a 4870x2?

Do I really need a new MB and Mem for the games coming out over the next 6 or so months? Or am I fine where I am with just the 8400+ new vid card? Would love to hear thoughts of others.

 

[Nenu]

Your current board might be ok, its worth checking.
Find what max FSB you can get, then see how fast your memory will go.
This will give you the theoretical max FSB speed you can run the CPU at and you will then know if the CPU, motherboard or memory is causing the limit.

 

[jzodda]

Your current board might be ok, its worth checking.
Find what max FSB you can get, then see how fast your memory will go.
This will give you the theoretical max FSB speed you can run the CPU at and you will then know if the CPU, motherboard or memory is causing the limit.

Max FSB with 2x1GB DDR2 with this mb is 504-506 FSB, with 2x2GB it drops to 480 FSB. With this board I can get into windows vista64 at 4.3Ghz (478x9) but in testing I get bluescreen memory errors. I have been running at 4.1Ghz because I can do it at a low 1.31Vcore. 4.2Ghz puts me at 1.39Vcore

All things being equal I wonder what % performance increase I would get in the most stressful game I can throw at the system coming out over the next few months with lets say a 4870x2 video card and 4.3Ghz over 4.1 Ghz for CPU (assuming I can do that in the new board, nothing is ever certain), PC2 1100 over PC2 1000, and the newer chipset-P45 vs P965 and with that Pcie 2.0 vs Pcie 1.0

Would it be a 20% speed increase, 15%, 10%, 5%? I wonder? If its low like 10% or somthing its probably not worth the extra cash. If its 20% and over then maybe its worth it.

 

[Nenu]

I doubt you will see a decent benefit from a faster CPU for a while yet with a 4870 x2.
Current games get near max framerates at 3.2GHz with a small increase at 3.6GHz.
The FPS flatlines at about 3.6GHz or less for most games, depending on the game.
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=770&p=2

Graphics card reviews demonstrate that most games become GPU limited at high res with the quality options on max.
The other games that continue get higher framerates with a faster CPU are already high enough framerate for it not to matter anyway.


A scenario that may need more CPU horsepower is if a game makes good use of PhysX and there is no PhysX accelerator in the system.
As you have an 8800 series card to accelerate PhysX, your CPU wont be the bottleneck so it shouldnt be an issue for you.

I think what you have with any new fast gfx card will be great.

 

[jzodda]

Wow thanks for the link to the article, thats very interesting!

And thanks for the advice That article confirmed my gut instincts but when I get this bug to play with new hardware its hard to fight.

I am considering either the 4870x2 or the new version 280GTX and then will move my 8800GTX to the other Pcie slot and use it for PhysX. I was thinking either setup will hold me over nice till nehalem.