Overclocking

[mux]

Thread Resurrected!

@HebburnMackem

The HD 7870 is mint but now I want more! My main question is this...
My motherboard supports PCIE 2.0 - does that mean I cannot use a PCI 3.0 graphics card? And if I can will it affect performance significantly?

I'm looking to upgrade to a really decent new graphics card, something that will give me ultra setting capability on the likes of Fallout 4 and Witcher 3. Any recommendations are welcomed.

 

[PTR]

What are your framerates when you set things to ultra now?

Overclocking might be the answer this time....

 

[mux]

What are your framerates when you set things to ultra now?

Overclocking might be the answer this time....

I'm already overclocking slightly - just the GPU - by somewhere between 5 and 10 percent.

I'll have a look tonight and get some framerates. How can I display framerates for, say, Fallout 4 in game?

 

[Sima]

If you are running in Steam you can enable an FPS counter by going to settings/in game on the Steam dashboard.

 

[HebburnMackem]

Thread Resurrected!

@HebburnMackem

The HD 7870 is mint but now I want more! My main question is this...
My motherboard supports PCIE 2.0 - does that mean I cannot use a PCI 3.0 graphics card? And if I can will it affect performance significantly?

I'm looking to upgrade to a really decent new graphics card, something that will give me ultra setting capability on the likes of Fallout 4 and Witcher 3. Any recommendations are welcomed.

You can use a PCIe 3 card and often you can get away with using the card's full power in certain situations like when it has a lot of onboard VRAM and there's little to no texture swapping and/or the card itself is not super fast. On top of that there are different sub-versions of PCIe busses like 2.1 etc, and on top of that again there's different number of PCIe lanes used by those busses so it gets complicated quite easily

You are in the same boat I was in a few months ago. Effectively you are now looking at upgrading your whole system unless you want one last very marginal speed increase at a more costly price than you paid before.

Your other option is to go with dual cards, but again you'd have to look at how many PCIe lanes you have and how many the cards use. I'd avoid this route and just get a new system.

If you are looking for a "really decent upgrade" you without doubt need a new system.

UPDATE:
One thing to remember about buying a new system is that CPU socket architecture changes every 1-3 years on average. So don't go out of your way financially to "future proof" yourself as you'll often be forced to replace most of the system anyway.

I know people who jumped onto the Skylake architecture early and got system that was less powerful than preceding architecture CPUs, cost 40% more and when they come to upgrade in 3-4 years will have to replace the whole system as the CPU upgrades will not be enough.

 

[mux]

You can use a PCIe 3 card and often you can get away with using the card's full power in certain situations like when it has a lot of onboard VRAM and there's little to no texture swapping and/or the card itself is not super fast. On top of that there are different sub-versions of PCIe busses like 2.1 etc, and on top of that again there's different number of PCIe lanes used by those busses so it gets complicated quite easily

You are in the same boat I was in a few months ago. Effectively you are now looking at upgrading your whole system unless you want one last very marginal speed increase at a more costly price than you paid before.

Your other option is to go with dual cards, but again you'd have to look at how many PCIe lanes you have and how many the cards use. I'd avoid this route and just get a new system.

If you are looking for a "really decent upgrade" you without doubt need a new system.

UPDATE:
One thing to remember about buying a new system is that CPU socket architecture changes every 1-3 years on average. So don't go out of your way financially to "future proof" yourself as you'll often be forced to replace most of the system anyway.

I know people who jumped onto the Skylake architecture early and got system that was less powerful than preceding architecture CPUs, cost 40% more and when they come to upgrade in 3-4 years will have to replace the whole system as the CPU upgrades will not be enough.

Right then, looks like it's going to cost a few quid.

Now I've just shelled out on that decent PSU so is it worth me buying a whole new system because I don't want that to be a waste!

 

[HebburnMackem]

Right then, looks like it's going to cost a few quid.

Now I've just shelled out on that decent PSU so is it worth me buying a whole new system because I don't want that to be a waste!

Just the parts that need upgrading; A MB, CPU, RAM, GFX and possibly SSD.. so 95%

 

[Sima]

Upgrading a PC is a snowballing effect I find.

you upgrade the PSU then you start thinking you want to get the best out of every component (is my system being bottlenecked anywhere?)

Before you know it, you've lashed out £1500. Well, I did anyway.

I'm currently thinking about buying another 980Ti to SLI ffs but I'll probably need a bigger PSU so that's another £150+ on top.

 

[mux]

Just the parts that need upgrading; A MB, CPU, RAM, GFX and possibly SSD.. so 95%

Shit!

Here man it's your fault I started on this upgrading malarkey in the first place.... you couldn't just let me overclock could you!!!

Haway then recommend me a new system!

 

[Sima]

How much do you want to spend?
What resolution will you be running at?

 

[mux]

How much do you want to spend?
What resolution will you be running at?

As little as possible! Was only looking at investing about £200 on a new GPU to be honest.

In all honesty I can't afford a new system

Resolution I'm happy with 1080

 

[HebburnMackem]

Shit!

Here man it's your fault I started on this upgrading malarkey in the first place.... you couldn't just let me overclock could you!!!

Haway then recommend me a new system!

Is that a thank you?
Building a new system and research is time consuming. The devil is very much in the details. A MB without Dolby Live is make or break.

As little as possible! Was only looking at investing about £200 on a new GPU to be honest.

In all honesty I can't afford a new system

Resolution I'm happy with 1080

You can't. Your system is maxed. save for a new one

Upgrading a PC is a snowballing effect I find.

you upgrade the PSU then you start thinking you want to get the best out of every component (is my system being bottlenecked anywhere?)

Before you know it, you've lashed out £1500. Well, I did anyway.

I'm currently thinking about buying another 980Ti to SLI ffs but I'll probably need a bigger PSU so that's another £150+ on top.

Wrong analogy. a good PSU will last you 10 years.. so will a good solid case.

 

[PTR]

You've got an i7. Processor wise, that's PLENTY enough, I don't care which generation i7 is.

2nd hand graphics cards are possibly a good way to go for you here?

Did you get your FPS yet to see if you even have a problem?

 

[Sima]

Is that a thank you?
Building a new system and research is time consuming. The devil is very much in the details. A MB without Dolby Live is make or break.


You can't. Your system is maxed. save for a new one


Wrong analogy. a good PSU will last you 10 years.. so will a good solid case.

Depends, I thought my 750W would be enough for while but 850W is needed if I go through with 980Ti in SLI. Agree on case though but agin mine looks dated now, might go for a Fractal Design.

 

[HebburnMackem]

Depends, I thought my 750W would be enough for while but 850W is needed if I go through with 980Ti in SLI. Agree on case though but agin mine looks dated now, might go for a Fractal Design.

I was talking about brand/model quality not wattage.

 

[mux]

You can't. Your system is maxed. save for a new one

Okay - I did! I've just bought this...

- CPU: AMD Piledriver FX-8 8350 @ 4.2GHz Eight Core
- Motherboard: Gigabyte 990X-Gaming SLI AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
- RAM: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel

Bought as a bundle from Overclockers... link - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gren....2ghz-eight-core-gaming-bundle-bu-169-oe.html

Now I still have the PSU I bought last year which you said was fantastic (EVGA 650W G2 GOLD 80+) and the HD Radeon 7870 graphics card - I'm assuming I can just fit both of those parts to my new system and I'll be fully upgraded.

What are your thoughts?

PS: Also invested in a 240gb SSD!

 

[PTR]

Okay - I did! I've just bought this...

- CPU: AMD Piledriver FX-8 8350 @ 4.2GHz Eight Core
- Motherboard: Gigabyte 990X-Gaming SLI AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
- RAM: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel

Bought as a bundle from Overclockers... link - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gren....2ghz-eight-core-gaming-bundle-bu-169-oe.html

Now I still have the PSU I bought last year which you said was fantastic (EVGA 650W G2 GOLD 80+) and the HD Radeon 7870 graphics card - I'm assuming I can just fit both of those parts to my new system and I'll be fully upgraded.

What are your thoughts?

PS: Also invested in a 240gb SSD!

Yup. Very similar spec to me.

 

[mux]

Yup. Very similar spec to me.

Does it handle most of the stuff you throw at it?

In fairness I don't even own any games from the last couple of years so I'm assuming all the ones I've got I should be almost able to max out using the new system.

 

[Sima]

AMD = AIDS.

 

[PTR]

Does it handle most of the stuff you throw at it?

In fairness I don't even own any games from the last couple of years so I'm assuming all the ones I've got I should be almost able to max out using the new system.

I haven't had a problem but then i also haven't played a new game in over a year.