Upgrading CPU or GPU?
#1
So I'm looking to upgrade my CPU or GPU before the end of march. The problem is I won't be getting any kind of hardware upgrade until I graduate from college which is about 3 years give or take. I am currently using a motherboard that supports only supports socket LGA775 so no other CPU's besides C2D will be my best bet for this socket.

ATM I am using an 8800GTS GPU and C2D E6400 CPU @ 2.13GHz

So I'll ask you guys whether I should upgrade the CPU or GPU to get better FPS for the PSCX2. I also use the PS3 Media Server to watch 720p to 1080p Blu-ray HD content, but it seems the transcoding for it is a bit too much for my computer to handle; thus it stutters while doing so. If the hardware upgrade helps with that too, then it is a plus for me.

So I'm thinking about getting a C2D E8600, but at the same time, I don't know if I'm making the right choice. What do you think?
Reply

Sponsored links

#2
For PCSX2, that 8800GTS is more than enough for all games, so your only and true bottleneck is CPU speed. If you asked me, I'd say first try overclocking your current processor to as high as you can. If you succeed and get a nice OC, you will possibly not need a new CPU (or at least not as badly). If you don't want to fiddle with it, which imo you should since you will be changing it in any other case, get the fastest dual core you can buy. The E8600 will do nicely indeed.
[Image: newsig.jpg]
Reply
#3
Yeah I agree with Bositman.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Reply
#4
Through trial and error on my first time overclocking today... I managed to get it to 2.66GHz. But I am unsure if 65C for the CPU being idle is ok. It seems to hit 75C under full load and where there are a lot of stuff to render while playing using the PSCX2. Should I just buy a new HSF and keep this CPU for the time being?

But I can already tell there is a bit of a difference in FPS. I probably gained about 5-7% more.
Reply
#5
65C idle is VERY high. Too high, in fact. Especially for a dual core.
Either the voltage for the CPU is too high or your current cooler is not doing a very good job.
Or both.
‾\(˚~˚)/‾
Nappa: Vegeta! What does the scouter say about his power level?
Vegeta: It's...one thousand and six.
Nappa: Wh-...really?
Vegeta: Yeah! Beat him up Nappa!
Nappa: Yay!
Reply
#6
75ºc in load is a bit high, 65ºc in idle is definitely too much too... are you sure this is only from the overclock? 500mhz isn't really much of an overclock to make temperatures that high unless something else got changed like the voltage, some motherboards do raise the voltage automatically on any overclock though.
Core i5 3570k -- Geforce GTX 670  --  Windows 7 x64
Reply
#7
The other change I made was the Memory time settings 5-5-5-15 (PC2 5300) which I got from using CPU-z. I didn't mess with the voltages or anything of the sort.

And after reading what you guys posted about the temperature being too high, I restarted Windows 7 and it couldn't boot for some reason. I had to reset the CMOS again. I'll try again I suppose, but I am going nuts.



Update: I've looked around some more and it seems to boot fine now @ 2.65GHz. I'm highly convinced it is my HSF that is causing these high temperatures. It is now sitting around 56C idle and 75C under full load. I may have to upgrade the RAM (DDR2-667 ATM) and switch the HSF to a more quieter one that's well known for OCing. It sounds like a mini jet-engine right now. I will play around with the PSCX2 to see the differences tomorrow after my classes. Thanks for the comments. I'll try this again later.
Reply
#8
I know when I built my desktop, and then installed the xigamatek dark knight (I believe thats what its called) as opposed to the default cooler for the phenom ii 550, and applied arctic silver, by idle dropped from 42-45 to 32-35...and it maintains that after I bumped it to 4 cores at 3.4ghz. So definitely look into a non stock cooler and see how good of a stable OC you can get with what you have before you get a new cpu. I know I had mine at 3.5ghz, but with the cpu and the video card overclocked, I think it was a little too much for my 700 w psu. Oh well.
Laptop
Intel Core 2 Duo PM8600 @ 2.4 GHz
4 GB DDR3 1066 RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670 512 MB

Desktop
AMD Phenom II x2 550 (unlocked to 4)@ 3.5ghz
4 GB DDR3 1600 RAM
Sapphire 5770 1GB
Reply
#9
(02-25-2010, 08:32 AM)felix66 Wrote: I know when I built my desktop, and then installed the xigamatek dark knight (I believe thats what its called) as opposed to the default cooler for the phenom ii 550, and applied arctic silver, by idle dropped from 42-45 to 32-35...and it maintains that after I bumped it to 4 cores at 3.4ghz. So definitely look into a non stock cooler and see how good of a stable OC you can get with what you have before you get a new cpu. I know I had mine at 3.5ghz, but with the cpu and the video card overclocked, I think it was a little too much for my 700 w psu. Oh well.

not even close to 700w unless you have like 10 hard disk
AMD Athlon II 245 @ 3.55ghz, 9600GT @730mhz 1115mhz, vista sp2 32bit
Reply
#10
If your motherboard supports it, why not get a Core 2 Duo E8400 + aftermarket cooler and overclock? I've seen several people running it at 4GHz with a decent air cooler. The E8400 is just $160 after coupon code right now from Newegg as opposed to $270 for the E8600. While the 65nm Conroes are pretty nice and are fairly good overclockers, the 45nm Wolfdales are just nicer and run cooler.
Reply




Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)