Upgrading

Vengeance0058

Vengeance0058

Registered User
Joined
Nov 27, 2010
Messages
954
I'm looking to upgrade one of my computer components to the point that I can run Fraps alongside BF with minimum frame loss. (or at least less)

At high, not running fraps, average fps is 50ish.....average fps with fraps recording is anywhere from 30-38 fps.

Current specs:

Amd Phenom II Quad Core 3.2 Ghz
4 GB Dual Channel DDR2
Nvidia GTX 560 TI
Seagate 1 TB HDD

I'm trying to figure out if getting a better processor or memory would help. Thoughts?
 
an 8gig memory & intel motherboards never do bad.
 
more ram would probably do the trick, im not pc pro or anything but we have the same gpu, i have 8gb of ram and i72600k cpu and have no problem playing ultra with fraps or playclaw running.
 
A better cpu would definitely help as well as more RAM. BF3 is cpu intensive and it runs better on a 64bit system-hence more memory would be better since Win7 64 needs 1gb just to run the OS. If you're looking to upgrade, the AMD FX 8120 is a good option and for the same price the Intel I-5 3550 is a good option too-or better yet, imo, the intel I-5 2500. They'll all give you good frame rates in BF3 and are comparable in price and performance. T
 
The AMD 8-core is cheaper.....but googling shows it has slightly lower performance that the intel equivalent...
 
Vengeance0058 said:
The AMD 8-core is cheaper.....but googling shows it has slightly lower performance that the intel equivalent...
Click to expand...

The 8 Thread, short of actually having 8 full core AMD is somewhere between an i5 and an i7 the original top end model was beat by the i5-2500K and i7-2600K in one or the other kind of tests. AMD had a good concept but it didn't exactly work out for them.

As far as FRAPS goes have you tried digging up a second drive to record to? That right there is the biggest thing for most people. You do need some headroom as far as CPU goes and 4GB of ram is pretty slim. 8 is fine for BF3. I do alot of video editing etc I can use 8 in the push of a button.
 
The 8 Thread, short of actually having 8 full core AMD is somewhere between an i5 and an i7 the original top end model was beat by the i5-2500K and i7-2600K in one or the other kind of tests. AMD had a good concept but it didn't exactly work out for them.
Click to expand...

I was thinking if he wants to stick with AMD it's at least comparable for gaming, not much of a difference for BF3 certainly but for everything else...I'd still go with the I-5 2500 or 2600. Micro Center has them for cheap too. The 2500k is $169 at Micro Center and you can't beat that price for a processor that kicks that much ass.
 
Six i hadn't even noticed that you suggested it to him. Its a valid cpu and at least it has an upgrade path.

Sadly ivy bridge due to cooling concernsis not much of an upgrade path atm.
 
sixer9682 said:
I was thinking if he wants to stick with AMD it's at least comparable for gaming, not much of a difference for BF3 certainly but for everything else...I'd still go with the I-5 2500 or 2600. Micro Center has them for cheap too. The 2500k is $169 at Micro Center and you can't beat that price for a processor that kicks that much ass.
Click to expand...

Downside to switching to Intel is that it will require me to upgrade the motherboard.
 
RainMotorsports said:
The 8 Thread, short of actually having 8 full core AMD is somewhere between an i5 and an i7 the original top end model was beat by the i5-2500K and i7-2600K in one or the other kind of tests. AMD had a good concept but it didn't exactly work out for them.

As far as FRAPS goes have you tried digging up a second drive to record to? That right there is the biggest thing for most people. You do need some headroom as far as CPU goes and 4GB of ram is pretty slim. 8 is fine for BF3. I do alot of video editing etc I can use 8 in the push of a button.
Click to expand...

So how would a 2nd drive fix the frame issues. I'm a noob. :p
 
Vengeance0058 said:
So how would a 2nd drive fix the frame issues. I'm a noob. :p
Click to expand...

FRAPS is particularly demanding on a drive since it uses very very light compression (1500 Mbps or 187.5 MB/s max data rate). I find 1080P 60 fps is around 68 MB/s average for me (4GB per minute). That's actually pretty tough to do continuously for a mechanical drive and if your on lower settings well of course it a better situation. But add in the fact your current drive is reading/writing to page filing (virtual memory), loading textures, all sort of rather light tasks that rape its ability to continuously write.

Its always recommended to use a decent secondrive. I personally have a pair of 320 GB 7200 rpm laptop drives in RAID 0 which synthetic bench a continuous 170 MB/s as my record array. Many decent drives out there just about any 500 GB 7200 rpm or better maybe? My 2TB 5900 RPM synthetic benches 120 MB/s and I have tested it to over 80 FPS in 1080P running Portal 2 as it was the only game on good settings I could get to 100 fps (fraps max) to test.

I dunno if FRAPS stalls the gpu from updating frames until they have written or what but best of my knowledge when the drive becomes a bottleneck it is not just the recording that suffers. But your machine needs a little more than just that anyhow.
 
Processor would cost as much / little less as a drive / memory / motherboard combined...might as well upgrade those first....sadly my current motherboard only has one SATA port...
 
Dude.... one SATA... my pentium 4 hp that shipped with an IDE drive had 2.... fuck

i5-2500k a decent board and 8gb ram come out around 350-400. Huge leap on the phenom there on par with amds latest in bf3. If you dont live near a microcenter some of us do we can hook you up.

That phenom is eh maybe okay in bf3 if u want to get a new am3+ board then get a fx series later might work out ok.
 
I sadly don't have a micro Center....only one in VA is in fairfax. I'm up there maybe every 5 months or so...lolz....
The local computer shop we got is nice....but really expensive...

I'd have to wait till I get payed in order to see exactly how much I got lol.....so I'm thinking Intel over AMD right now...
 
It might be worth a trip or see if someone near a MicroCenter will purchase it for you. It's $169 for the 2500k at Microcenter and $219 at Newegg. As far as Motherboards go, this Gigabyte Z68 would do fine for $119 Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
8 gb Crucial 1866 DDR3-$58.00

All said and done=$347-387.00 depending on where you get the cpu from and it would make a world of difference. Rain had a good estimate. If you want to throw in a 120gb SSD-which would improve gaming and non-gaming pc activities immensely then that's another $94.00 Newegg.com - ADATA S510 Series AS510S3-120GM-O 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Internal SSD
 
Bumping because I found I had a wee bit more money than I thought, enough to upgrade all components. I found a spare 500 GB WD Hard Drive I can install as soon as I get a MB with more ports lol.

These are the memory sticks I think I've chosen - Vengeance? Lol namesake ftw.
 
Yeah I run 2 sets of those myself. Good stuff. Should be okay on AMD but Intel systems like those can't go too wrong with em.
 
I would skip the 1 TB HD, grab an SSD and boost your RAM to 16GB. your performance will sky rocket.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top