what do I need to upgrade?

greenberetdelta · 2012-12-12, 06:01 AM

These are my computer specs:
Intel core i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz 2.67GHz
6 GB DDR3 RAM
AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5

I was wondering what needs to be upgraded and a general idea of were my computers at.

If i didnt post something you need to know let me know

ringring · 2012-12-12, 06:10 AM

Originally Posted by greenberetdelta

These are my computer specs:
Intel core i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz 2.67GHz
6 GB DDR3 RAM
AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5

I was wondering what needs to be upgraded and a general idea of were my computers at.

If i didnt post something you need to know let me know

Are you CPU bound or GPU bound?

In game press alt+f ... to the right of the fps it says either [CPU] or [GPU].

If you have CPU showing in areas where there are a lot of people around, your CPU is doing the work. This is the most likely.

e.g. My processor is i7 2600k : 3.4 - I get about 30-40 in large fights and I am CPU bound.

(NB I also have 8Gb memory, I'd say 6 is on a low side. I've also read that 8 is about optimum.)

Bags · 2012-12-12, 06:23 AM

probably the CPU

I got a 10 FPS increase from ~30-40 to ~40 - 50 by OCing mine from 3.3 to 4.3 ghz

Mathematics · 2012-12-12, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by greenberetdelta

These are my computer specs:
Intel core i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz 2.67GHz
6 GB DDR3 RAM
AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5

I was wondering what needs to be upgraded and a general idea of were my computers at.

If i didnt post something you need to know let me know

Overclock that CPU son!

MrBloodworth · 2012-12-12, 10:48 AM

Looks fine to me. If you are having slowdowns or other issues, I would look at your HD speed/capacity, motherboard buss speed and/or other programs running and programs that use net traffic.

I personally do not overclock until near the end of my CPU's life cycle ( IE: Near time to buy a new one ). Overclocking creates computation errors, some games are fine with this, but PS2 does not deal with them well.

greenberetdelta · 2012-12-12, 02:07 PM

I got the CPU at the end of 2008 so I suppose that its time to get a new one.
What should I get ?

ChipMHazard · 2012-12-12, 02:23 PM

A good i5 should be more than enough for the forseeable future. The i5-2550K is a good choice, probably one of the best bang for buck, you might of course also go for the newer 3570K.

greenberetdelta · 2012-12-12, 02:40 PM

isnt the i7 better than the i5?

ChipMHazard · 2012-12-12, 02:48 PM

Not for what you're going to be using it for, which I assume is mainly gaming

The i7 is overall better and more expensive, however I don't think you will end up seeing much of a difference. Hence why I would advice going for the i5.

EVILPIG · 2012-12-12, 02:52 PM

Can you explain CPU and GPU bound? I understand that CPU is putting the load on the CPU, but does that mean your graphics card is doing nothing? And vice versa? Also, how do you change it?

Electrofreak · 2012-12-12, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by EVILPIG

Can you explain CPU and GPU bound? I understand that CPU is putting the load on the CPU, but does that mean your graphics card is doing nothing? And vice versa? Also, how do you change it?

EP, CPU or GPU-bound simply means whichever is your weakest link, or bottleneck. If you get significantly better frames by reducing your graphics settings such as your screen resolution and texture quality, you're GPU-bound, because your GPU is the limiting factor.

If you can significantly better frames by overclocking your CPU or going into an area with less players (which is pretty common in PS2), you are CPU-bound. As Chip mentioned, it could also be that you're memory-bound; a GPU has its memory built-in, but the CPU uses your RAM. If you have slow RAM, your CPU spends clock cycles waiting for data, which slows everything down.

It's also worth pointing that NVIDIA graphics cards can offload some physics processing from the CPU to the GPU, which can improve performance if you're CPU-bound. Both your CPU and GPU work together to run the game, but if one is waiting on the other, your frame rate will only be as good as the slower processor.

EVILPIG · 2012-12-12, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by Electrofreak

EP, CPU or GPU-bound simply means whichever is your weakest link, or bottleneck. If you get significantly better frames by reducing your graphics settings such as your screen resolution and texture quality, you're GPU-bound, because your GPU is the limiting factor.

If you can significantly better frames by overclocking your CPU or going into an area with less players (which is pretty common in PS2), you are CPU-bound. As Chip mentioned, it could also be that you're memory-bound; a GPU has its memory built-in, but the CPU uses your RAM. If you have slow RAM, your CPU spends clock cycles waiting for data, which slows everything down.

It's also worth pointing that NVIDIA graphics cards can offload some physics processing from the CPU to the GPU, which can improve performance if you're CPU-bound. Both your CPU and GPU work together to run the game, but if one is waiting on the other, your frame rate will only be as good as the slower processor.

So, does my computer choose which is best?

ChipMHazard · 2012-12-12, 02:56 PM

When it shows up as CPU bound it might also be your memory bandwidth limiting your performance.

greenberetdelta · 2012-12-12, 04:32 PM

So I very quickly went into a big battle (like for 8 sec) and I got cpu when I spawned but when I got closer to the ground and the battle it switched to gpu. Also on the I7 I5 thing so I5 are better for gaming?

ChipMHazard · 2012-12-12, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by greenberetdelta

Also on the I7 I5 thing so I5 are better for gaming?

Nope, just that you don't need to buy the i7 unless you have money to spare. The i7 is geared more towards heavy use of the hyper-threading.
My advice is geared more towards you saving money, as you almost certainly won't be able to tell the difference performance wise.