Rookie looking for advice

I'm running a rather old rig, and only recently have I found preformance a bit lacking. A rather old Crosshair IV Formula with a 1090t processor, with a mixed RAM loadout that confounds some fellows (Two dual channel sets, x2 4gb, x2 2GB w/ a 8-8-8-20 clock) Stock cooling all the way around, she hardy ever let me down, even with the middling Radeon HD 7870 1GB backing it.

Alas, she's getting on in years and showing a bit of age. What can I safely get away with for a preformance boost? I've attempted to look this all up on my own, but when I'm confronted with "Just change the NB Voltage and Frequency" and the options given to me by the BIOS include not one, but three different mentions of NB voltage...

But, the question remains; what can I safely get away with for some gains? I'm having issues where the core and GPU are both showing low useage (30-60%), but I'm getting rather rough FPS (30-50) so something is bottlenecking me; I'm tempted to pull the 2GB ram chips and see what happens, but I'm doubtful of the impact they'd make.

Any other suggestions?

(PS, why will your fourm not let me left click and use autocorrect?)

I would remove the 2 gig sticks of ram, 8 gigs is plenty for game.
I would look for a used 280x gpu, they are cheap right now.

If you're wanting to overclock the processor you'll need better CPU cooling.
What is the RAM speed?
What resolution are you running?

The right click autocorrect works for me, what web browser are you using?

First off we need the exact specs of everything.

Then what exactly are you looking for? Overclocking? Upgrades? Or just wondering where your bottle neck is at?

Copy paste from Speccy for you, Friend. If you need more, yell loudly and I shall deliver.

Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1

CPU
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 31 °C

RAM
12.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 535MHz (8-8-8-20)

Motherboard
ASUSTeK Computer INC. Crosshair IV Formula (AM3) 26 °C

Graphics
SAMSUNG (1920x1080@60Hz)
1024MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series (XFX Pine Group) 40 °C

Storage
931GB Western Digital WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device (SATA) 30 °C

Optical Drives
ATAPI iHAS324 Y ATA Device

Audio
AMD High Definition Audio Device


Memory
Type DDR3
Size 12288 MBytes
Channels # Dual
DRAM Frequency 535.1 MHz
CAS# Latency (CL) 8 clocks
RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD) 8 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 8 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS) 20 clocks
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 27 clocks
Command Rate (CR) 1T


Priority is find the bottle neck and see if I can sneak anything extra out of it with the stock coolers; I remember someone got the 1090t up to 3.8 ghz with stock fans...

There's the issue, 535MHz RAM.
That corresponds to 1066MHz effective.

You should get a kit that's at least 1600MHz, but 1866MHz would be even better.
Keep the CAS Latency to 9 or lower.

ATMINSIDE said:

There's the issue, 535MHz RAM.
That corresponds to 1066MHz effective.

You should get a kit that's at least 1600MHz, but 1866MHz would be even better.
Keep the CAS Latency to 9 or lower.

Click to expand...

^ This. Also if you are wanting to overclock look into picking up at least a CM 212 EVO for cooling.

In which case it might be the x2 2 GB chips; The 4Gb have a clock for 667MHz, but are throttled to the lower ones speed.

Good to know, and this is what happens when you trust the man behind the counter; you get sold the wrong things, 9/10 times.

After i bought the "Quiet" fans that where loud as hell, I should have caught on...

That still only 1333Mhz. Go for at least 8gb of 1600 or 1866 with a CAS latency of 9 or lower like ATM had said.

I'm pretty sure 1600 is the limit for the CPU/mobo combination. Pretty sure a few reps have stated it had, uh, issues with 1600 at times as well, so I'll pull the other sticks and hopefully it should iron it out a bit, I will sit on the suggestion of 1600 though. Might have some free cash to experiment with after Christmas.

Other than that, I've heard a few folk saying the best thing to change to get some more power is NB settings. Not sure how much it could help, especially if holes are getting poked in my hardware choices, haha.

What games do you play? And on all stock cooling I wouldn't suggest raising any voltages. What case do you have and how much airflow do you have in your case?

rayraysfunhouse said:

What games do you play? And on all stock cooling I wouldn't suggest raising any voltages. What case do you have and how much airflow do you have in your case?

Click to expand...

MWO, which is one of the single most unoptimized Cryengine games ever produced, DayZ, a smattering of Steam titles... Was thinking about Picking up Dragon Age Inquisition at some point.

The case is... pretty friggen bad, I've popped some holes in some places already (Hard drive bay, mostly.) Cooler Master elite 310. Got 120mm Aerocool Sharkfins in it, pulling in from the side and front, whatever the case came with at the back venting, and the fan from the PSU (Corsair TX750). Was debating if it'd be better to get a new case, or to just pop a top vent in and hope for the best.

Just tidy up some cables works some cable management and hold off on a case. A lot of games are really starting to use more than. 1gb or vram now. I would say your gpu is your limiting factor right now gaming. Take those two odd sticks of ram out and run your 8gb.

New card it is.

If there's still low framerate with low utilization, I will resume picking your brains, until then, any good sources, as I'd still like to learn?

Well if you could also pick up a 212 evo CPU cooler they are usually only about $25 you could OC your CPU and that would help out as well.

if your going for it, get the cooler mentioned.
your board and 1090t are a very good combo, a little clocking, 1600 ram with the 1090t, new gpu and your hammering along.

Mothballs said:

. . . and the options given to me by the BIOS include not one...

Click to expand...

That motherboard was a flagship Asus enthusiast product in it's day. It should have plenty of OC options. But if you're overclocking mode is set to "Auto" many or most will be hidden. That CPU typically will overclock to 4.0 ghz, maybe even a little more with top notch cooling. But as someone else already said, we need more info concerning your components, esp. the case. The really good air coolers are tall and won't fit in just any case. And if the case also has poor ventilation then the addition of a good air cooler will be largely negated. What is the make and model of your case.

My guess would be the first investment you need to make is in a better video card, as others have said.

If you get to that point, we'll walk you through the overclock process.