System bottlenecks

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Turkish81

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I've had my system for a while but recently I've noticed that it doesnt perform as it should I'd go for an upgrade, but first I want to put my machine through her paces so see exactly what it is that i should upgrade.

Does anyone know of any good software programs that can test a setup and indicated bottlenecks or anything out of the ordinary (well mostly from a gaming perspective) she does everyhting else fine but recent games seem to push it a bit.
 
Hello and welcome to Techspot.

According to my crystal ball. Your graphics card, and, or ram are probably your bottleneck lol.

If you`d like to give us your system specs. we will be better informed to advise you.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:
 
oh how nitpicky can you get ..wanting to know the system specs before giving an opinon on it......... :D hehehehe
 
iss said:
oh how nitpicky can you get ..wanting to know the system specs before giving an opinon on it......... :D hehehehe
Click to expand...

I may be nit-picking, but my powers of ESP aren`t working too well today :p

Regards Howard :)
 
I may be nit-picking, but my powers of ESP aren`t working too well today
Click to expand...

ehh.....Wouldnt that be ESFPP? (Extra Sensory Forum Post Perception) well you better get that fixed howard. after all I would say that at least 50% of new poster are expecting that ability from the veteran posters here, which is why they dont bother givng system info when they ask what is wrong with their machine......LOL
 
howard_hopkinso said:
Hello and welcome to Techspot.

According to my crystal ball. Your graphics card, and, or ram are probably your bottleneck lol.

If you`d like to give us your system specs. we will be better informed to advise you.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcome

Well all I wanted was some programs that would tell me what to bottleneck was BUT if you guys are gonna go out of your way to look over my specs how can I complain about that.

Heres my system info:

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3Ghz

Video card: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra

Memory: 3 sticks of 512 MB

Motherboard: Asus P4C800

HDDs:80GB and 160GB both IDE ATA 5400rpm

OS: Windows XP + SP2

So thats the basics, I'm not really looking to REVOLUTIONIZE my system just something thats gonna keep my gaming looking/running good at the lowest cost. I was thinking of totaly upgrading but I'm gonna wait for Windows Vista and DirectX 10 to come along bringing with it all the new video cards meant for the upgrade along with bigger better dual core CPUs coming onto the market and the new optical medias coming along too.

Anyway back to topic at hand, so I'm thinking just getting an upgraded Vid card but would any non PCI express cards cut it? Cause that means new Motherboard and likely new CPU and BLABLABLABLABLAHHH so I'm just looking for cheap fix that'll last until around Q4 2006

Well sorry for the long post and thanks in advance to any help/advice given
 
That board is still very usable and upgradable. Don't worry that you don't have a PCIe video slot, the AGP slots still have some nice options for graphics cards. The AGP slot is not totally dead yet, just on the way there.

But first, you are running 3 sticks of ram. You may notice a performance increase by actually taking out one of your sticks of ram, and dropping to 1Gb instead of 1.5Gb. The reason being, your board supports dual channel memory, but ONLY if you are using two sticks. Three drops you down to single channel, and a huge performance loss. Give it a shot and see if you notice the difference.

But to really increase your gaming performance, I'd say that graphics card needs to be updated a bit. A 6800Gs would be a nice pick at around $200

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143045

But even a 6600GT at $130 would give you a solid performance jump:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130001
 
Yep that is an excelent board, I recently built three systems using that board and have been quite impressed with it.

Don allready zeroed in on the memory issue and Iw ould say he is right for best performance you need matched pairs of memory to run dual channel. what kind of memory is it you are running? Brand, ei;

HDDs:80GB and 160GB both IDE ATA 5400rpm
Click to expand...

you sure about that? thiose should be 7200 rpm.

and I would agreee with Don about the graphics. either a 6800 series or something like a Radeon 850XT would give you a performance boost.

if you are wanting to benchmark there are are a few freeware apps that have some benchmarking capabilities as well as detailed system info.

PC Wizard 2006

http://www.cpuid.org/pcwizard.php
 
DonNagual said:
But first, you are running 3 sticks of ram. You may notice a performance increase by actually taking out one of your sticks of ram, and dropping to 1Gb instead of 1.5Gb. The reason being, your board supports dual channel memory, but ONLY if you are using two sticks. Three drops you down to single channel, and a huge performance loss. Give it a shot and see if you notice the difference.
Click to expand...

LOL are you serious????? and i bought that extra stick to boost performance and your saying i was doing the reverse LOL

should I spring for the exta stick to fill all the slots to have 2GB with dual channel or is 1GB with dual channel going more than enough with a newer video card?
 
iss said:
you sure about that? thiose should be 7200 rpm.
Click to expand...

I can live with longer load times as long as I can keep the costs down on the upgrading (I'll just go to town when i go for the new machine later on)
 
Well I've gone over the Video cards and I've got it down to these 3

Bare with the pricing (I'm in canada)

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1460940&CatId=935

Well its a vanilla 6600 with 256 MB and a good price but the next one ...

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1182887&CatId=880

Is a 6600GT an ok price too BUT its 128 MB hmmmm will that be enough?

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1755110&CatId=935

Then theres this beast 6800 GS at a cost that almost twice that of the other 2 but is this going to be so much of a performance boost that the price is worth it?

sorry for all the questions thanks so far
 
I'd go for the 128mb 6600GT over the 256mb 6600.

And the 6800GS is an amazing mid-range card. Comparing it to the 6600GT would be the difference between running a game at low settings or mid-high settings to get good frame rates.

For a tight budget the 6600GT is a great card. If you have the extra cash, bump yourself up to the 6800. It'll smoke through just about any game at mid-high level settings.
 
Turkish81 said:
LOL are you serious????? and i bought that extra stick to boost performance and your saying i was doing the reverse LOL

should I spring for the exta stick to fill all the slots to have 2GB with dual channel or is 1GB with dual channel going more than enough with a newer video card?
Click to expand...

1Gb is enough for most games. But if you have the cash, why not go to 2Gb?

I have only 1Gb on my system, and have no complaints at all. I'd say with 1Gb of ram and at least a 6600GT, you'll have a system that can run any game out now (sometimes with the settings turned down a bit) with decent frame rates.

If you go to the 6800 line..... zwishhhhhh!!! :hotbounce
 
DonNagual said:
1Gb is enough for most games. But if you have the cash, why not go to 2Gb?

I have only 1Gb on my system, and have no complaints at all. I'd say with 1Gb of ram and at least a 6600GT, you'll have a system that can run any game out now (sometimes with the settings turned down a bit) with decent frame rates.

If you go to the 6800 line..... zwishhhhhh!!! :hotbounce
Click to expand...

hmmmmmm sounds pretty good to me, I think I'll go with the 6800 GS and stay at 1GB memory hopefully that'll keep me up until end of year comes around.
 
One thing you are going to want to confirm before you do this upgrade is whether or not your PSU will be able to handle it.

What make/model is your PSU and how many watts is it rated at?
 
DonNagual said:
One thing you are going to want to confirm before you do this upgrade is whether or not your PSU will be able to handle it.

What make/model is your PSU and how many watts is it rated at?
Click to expand...

Well The power supply is an Enermax Model: EG365P-VE(24P) and the total output is 350W

thanks alot
 
Well even after putting at at 100% and adding extra stuff just incase i still get away with 305 Watts so things should be good.

Thanks alot for the help, Guess I know where to go for Tech help if I ever need it again.
 
SWEEEEET saved me some money, your too good to me, well whenever you come by Toronto give me a call and I'll buy you a beer.
:hotbounce :hotbounce :hotbounce :hotbounce :hotbounce
 
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