Time for a CPU upgrade

[MCUD]

After tackling with what I see as very sub-par game performance with an ATI 6990, and a freshly formatted system, I can only conclude my CPU is too slow for the games I want performance from (Tribes Ascend and BF3).

Currently running a i7 920 and mobo is GA-EX58-UD3R.

Does anyone have any specific high performance recommendations? I did alot of research into this 3 years ago for specific CPU/Mobo combinations last time, and I think it paid off, so hoping someone has some starting points for me.

I'm not buying a $1000+ CPU, but i'm fine with spending $800 or so on the upgrade if it's worth it

- I work from home in software development as well
- i.e. The more cores the better
- DDR3 - I only want to upgrade mobo and CPU
- I need 4 RAM slots & must support at least 16gb RAM, 32gb would be good as I see this as my next upgrade...

[Auld]

Have you run task manager whilst gaming to make sure it is the CPU maxing out @ 100% ?

[lordbollo]

Have you overclocked your cpu.

A good aftermarket cpu cooler would be far lest costly than a new mobo and cpu. If you could get your 920 up to say 3.6ghz or higher you will probably have quite a large and noticeable increase in performance.

[MCUD]

CPU doesn't max out, well at 100%, I haven't watched single core utilisation, but that's not necessarily important, it can simply be latency in how long it takes to process the few things the CPU does need to do.

Overclocking I've never really looked into at all, I've always upgraded rather than overclocking, but maybe I should just OC the hell out of it until it dies? Are there any particular stand outs doing so?

[lordbollo]

I used to upgrade rather than overclock as well but it gets quite expensive to do it that way. Well it did for me as i was always upgrading.
With your cpu running at 2.66ghz you are definitely bottleneck the 6990. (dual gpu card if my memory is correct right).
With a good aftermarket cooler on your cpu you should be able to get at least 3.6ghz out of you cpu and that is more than 30% free cpu performance for a much smaller outlay.
Atm the quad you have is more than enough cores for most games etc just the slower speed is holding you back.

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=177043
This thread will give you a good guide to start overclocking your 920 and will be alot cheaper.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... 207_23_845
Here is pccasegear's range of cpu coolers for you cpu (skt 1366) and depending on you budget and requirements most of these would be good for you.

[MCUD]

Awesome, thanks! I'll look into OCing it before the next step perhaps

[AzzA82]

Definitely worth OC'ing mate, i just got rid of my i7-930 which ran 4.2ghz all day everyday would go a heck of a lot higher but it wasn't really needed to just play games.

I have OC'd every chip i ever had and all of them are still alive and kicking in friends computers still to this day including my q6600 which ran 24/7 4.0ghz ( was one killer chip for OC'ing in its day )

I've never had one die on me yet (touch wood) just dont go over 1.4 volts on the vcore if your not confident and watch your temps.

The I7 i just got rid of was running 4.2ghz 24/7 water and is now in my friends pc running 3.4ghz on air ( i could push it further for him but he is not technically minded so it was a safe oc for him )

My new i7-3820 will bench 5.2ghz but i just run 4.4ghz as its all i need

I am using water cooling but even on air you can get some massive performance gains for very little cost.

Just do your research with coolers as cost doesn't always equal better there are some really killer coolers for under the $40 mark around.

If you go down this road and want help getting a good cooler setup going just sing out.
But if you dont want to spend $1000+ on cpus and i know that exact feeling you can get free upgrades with this "black art" its not really hard just nerve wracking on your first time. But just research research and when you sick of reading about ocing I7's read some more

[MCUD]

So I bought a new Thermaltake V1, indeed looks to have cut 30 degrees or so off my running temperature. So any tips on where to get started to get some quick gains?

[steve_rogers42]

have a quick squizz through the sticky at the top of the forum, 920's make pretty decent hz gain for voltage, but know your heat and know your safe voltages.

X58's are some of the last of the old school, so you will have to deal with more than just multi's but the thread is pretty comprehensive, and i think some of the links are very good to...

[MCUD]

Thanks guys, after a quick attempt at the OC, it's running very happily at 3360Mhz (i.e. just using the initial suggestion in the thread in this forum), and looks to have already made an improvement to my tribes performance

[MCUD]

I've got a very stable overclock at 20x150Mhz (VCore = 1.125V, QPI=1.215V, IOH=1.1V, DRAM=1.5V, RAM @ CAS8) @ ~40 degrees

However I've made some successful overclocks going futher that started up, passed a full stress test (even one as high as 3.36Ghz following http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overcloc ... nners.html . However occasionally on restart, the system will fail to start (Starts 3 times for a few seconds, then the bios reverts the OC). I'm not really sure what setting I should be playing with to try and resolve the issue, the system happily ran all day with the OC yesterday

[Treloar]

When is the last time you cleaned dust dust from your system?

Your bios may be throttling your CPU if your system is running hot, maybe you need fresh paste and a new fan.

What are your temps?

[MCUD]

As posted, 40 degrees (that's under load too!), there's definitely alot of room to move temperature wise, so I'm puzzled in how to get the overclock higher, given it seems to fail any move I make that is even marginally faster

[Treloar]

As posted, 40 degrees (that's under load too!), there's definitely alot of room to move temperature wise, so I'm puzzled in how to get the overclock higher, given it seems to fail any move I make that is even marginally faster

Head on over to the majorgeeks forum and read their Overclocking Guide