Another N00b Help Me/Advice Topic

[trancelikestate]

Hello all! Fantastic site! My desire for higher frame rates on more modern games like Batman Arkham City and GTA IV has lead me here. I'm new obviously and I do a lot of software tinkering but this is very confusing to me especially due to the presence of math. I did take a look around first in an attempt to help myself including this thread:

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=515316

Because I have a dual core intel with a 775 socket. However i'm still very confused and I don't want to start randomly changing settings in the bios. I was hoping one of you kind people could simply view my specs and tell me whether overclocking would be a good thing for higher frame rates/and or offer advice on my exact gear as I did not see this chip (E5800) in the list on the guide thread. It's not a bad rig as yet but can you tell me, can I get more? I'm sorry for posting such a generic common and annoying thread, but when I see posts like this for things I instantly know about, it's much easier to have help so I do. Yes this was a budget build Because I am poor. I need very specific instructions as most noobs do. Thanks so much, you guys rick the hiizzouse.

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5800 3.2GHz 800MHz 2MB Cache Processor
INTEL STANDARD PROCESSOR COOLING FAN
Foxconn G41MXE-V LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel
500GB 7200 RPM 16MB CACHE SATA 3.0Gb/s
22X DUAL LAYER DVD-RW W/LIGHTSCRIBE
nVidia GeForce GT520 2GB DDR3 DVI/VGA HDMI PCI-EXP Video Card
REALTEK 6-CHANNEL DIGITAL SOUND ONBOARD
REALTEK 10/100/1000 Gigabit Network Card (onboard)
BCC VOYAGER MID-TOWER ATX
(2X) 120mm HIGH-PERFORMANCE CASE FANS
hec X ORION 585 WATT POWER SUPPLY

 

[ASUS ROG]

To OCF, enjoy your stay

First thing first, what are you going to do with your pc(working pc or gaming pc)

Second, if you're intend to oc your CPU, you will need a better CPU cooler, your stock CPU cooler can not handle the heat when you oc the CPU, an aftermarket CPU cooler is a must when oc the CPU.
Cooler Master 212+ should be good enough, it's also cheap too, cost around $25 to $30

Another thing is, if you want to improve fram rate, you'll need a better GPU, the GT 520 is old and outdated, any Radeon HD 7790 will cost around $150 but you also got 3 free very good game so it make the card only cost around $90
If you're don't like AMD card, go with NVIDIA GTX 650, also cost around $150

 

[Theocnoob]

To OCF, enjoy your stay

First thing first, what are you going to do with your pc(working pc or gaming pc)

He said "My desire for higher frame rates on more modern games like Batman Arkham City and GTA IV has lead me here."

Trancelikestate, the CPU you have in your system and the GPU you have in your system aren't fast enough to get a decent frame rate on modern games. If you upgrade the GPU it'll help but your CPU will still be holding you back somewhat. Even if you overclock it.

So look at overclocking more as a just for fun thing than a visible performance increase thing, if you do decide to do it.

 

[ASUS ROG]

He said "My desire for higher frame rates on more modern games like Batman Arkham City and GTA IV has lead me here."

sorry, i miss that part

 

[trancelikestate]

Thanks for the quick reply's guys! And thanks! I've always been behind the times when it comes to my hardware and when I bought this rig 6 months ago it was only $450. I admit my knowledge of hardware was way worse then than it is now and it's still not great. And here I thought my GPU was at least halfway decent and I wondered if upgrading to a quad core would help anymore. Perhaps a new GPU is in order. Or a new system altogether? I made a few discoveries playing around in my BIOS.


This is my CPU menu. I up the CPU frequency setting and the GHZ and FSB increase, but increasing the PCI express clock is bad and when increased to 110 made BIOS load defaults and when increased to 103 windows started but wanted to format drive A.


When the CPU frequency is increased you can see the GHZ is 3.37 and FSB is 840.


This is the amount of voltage going to the CPU and I have no option to change it?

This is the power management screen:


I have not stress tested anything, Would this slight increase in the CPU frequency be enough to test it? I believe you are right though, at best I get a few frame rates higher, and I don't want to damage my cheap system. Oh to finally own a modern HIGH performance computer. Thanks for the info guys. Any further advice it totally awesome.

 

[trancelikestate]

Sorry for the double post, I have upgraded this machine.Would overclocking benefit me much now?


Intel Core2 Quad Q9300 2.5 GHz / 6M / 1333 MHz socket 775 CPU processor

And I took your advice and got the nvidia gtx 650. Very nice!

 

[trancelikestate]

Another bump for me here.

Still rolling with the q9300. I have a q9650 on the way (which is apparently the most powerful my board can handle).

The GPU is now a gtx 770 and the PSU is a 750w EVGA bronze.

My framerates are pretty damn good with this GPU but I feel the CPU is holding it back still. I was playing around with overclocking this q9300 before I get rid of it. Increasing the fsb from 333 to 400 gives a warning message saying the cpu overclock will cause system instability and will only reload bios or use defaults instead. I tryed changing the memory divider, the only two options are auto and 800mhz. That wouldn't even POST and I had to reset the board. Just wanted to see if I'd get a few more FPS before the q9650 arrived. Trying to get it from 2.5ghz to 3.0ghz

And once it arrives, would you guys recommend overclocking it on this system? Enough to warrant a new heatsink?

Or is most of this in vain and I should just order a new cpu/mobo/ram combo? Is that a tough upgrade? I know it would be best eventually. Please discuss this with me guys.

Please keep in ming my knowledge and understanding are still very basic at this point. I can provide screenshots or info. Any help is very greatly appreciated.

 

[Carlitos714]

If i remember those cpus can be easily clocked to 4.0 ghz. I dont think you motherboard will be able to do that though. That mobo doesnt have any heatsinks on the vrms does it?

You have two choices, get a better mobo to get the most out of that cpu or get a new gen combo. Even a g3250 pentium will get better results. If you have a microcenter nearby take advantage

 

[trancelikestate]

Sorry, whats the vrms? There is a large heat sink in the middle of the mobo.

I figured. This one doesn't seem to let me change the FSB at all. I coulda swore it did on one of my old processors though. If I upgrade the mobo, it'll be a next gen upgrade. Until then, it's running GTA IV with max settings and iceNhancer 3.0 at about 25-30 fps average. This is what the performance looked like right when I exited the game.



Guess I'll live with it for now till I can research replacing the mobo more, as I have never done this. Also, I'd want a decent upgrade. Not cheap either. I see a few cpu combos on eBay.

 

[Nebulous]

The VRM's are voltage regulator modules. They're little black square things with 3 prongs on them. They regulate the voltage to the cpu.

On the left side of the cpu socket you have 4. On top of the socket area you have another 2. They're all next to the copper coils. Those get really hot, thus is why high end boards have them covered with ornate heatsinks.


No there are no sinks on those which means your board will not be able to clock high. You might be able to get away with a minimal overclock tho, but I doubt anything more as that board is not designed to be an overclocker.

*Edit*

Going by this pic:

 

[trancelikestate]

Thank you so much guys. You guys rule. So, I'm assuming that mobo's are a fairly universal component. Could anyone suggest one that supports 16 gb's of RAM and is next gen obviously? I use both the PCI slots on this G41MXE. I read around a bit and I'm hoping that worst case scenario you just have to revalidate windows and some games/programs?