SausageInACan Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 So I have built this PC over a year ago and I am wondering what I can upgrade, I want to upgrade because I have recently started playing a lot of PC games, especially Arma 3. I joined a group on Arma and their modpack is making my PC really work and I am only getting like 20-25 fps. I am including a picture of the system report or whatever its called in this post. What would you guys recommend that I upgrade so I can get better fps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Depends on how much you have to spend but I would say a new graphics card and an SSD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZAZEL Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 ARMA III is notoriously demanding, and not very well optimized at all, so... everything. It's probably more CPU than GPU depending, but you're pretty well settled on that front. Spot of OC'ing of the i5 if you can, and a new graphics card is my best bet. A GTX 970 if your budget allows, or maybe a 960? An SSD won't improve performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SausageInACan Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 A GTX 970 if your budget allows, or maybe a 960? I can afford the 970. Also, whats the difference between the 970 and the 960? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reformed Squid Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 The 970 is much faster than the 960. However, the R9 290 can be found for significantly less ($270 vs $320), is pretty much just as powerful, and actually has 4gb of VRAM (heh). The only disadvantages are that it takes more power and may run a bit hotter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SausageInACan Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 (edited) There are many GTX 970s out there made by different companies. Which one should I go with? EVGA, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI? Edit- I will first try and OC my i5 and see what that does. Edited February 13, 2015 by SausageInACan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flachbau Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 (edited) From Tom's Hardware forum: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4GB - Fastest, coolest GTX970, great reviews. Even tho it has 3 fans it has less noise than EVGA. Good overclocking potential. EVGA EVGA GTX 970 4GB - Should be in the middle, however people have been complaining that it is a bit noisy. Have in mind a case with good airflow should fix this. MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4GB - Best overall, this is what i would take personally. Faster if you overclock it , you get MSI Gaming App with it, just put it on your desktop and overclock the card before getting in a game with like 1 click. http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2304237/gtx-970-version-buy.html Edited February 13, 2015 by android Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Really personal comes down to personal preference based on experience with the brand and the features/specs. I'd suggest go read some reviews on the different cards and go from there. Can't really go wrong with any of them though. Flachbau 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SausageInACan Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 Are you guys sure a new graphics card will improve the fps? I have heard people say that Arma is more cpu intensive. (Sorry for bugging you guys, just making sure. I don't want to blow $300+ and it not help.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugar Free Nos Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Well, like they said, Arma 3 is just a poorly optimized game. I have a rather low/mid range PC and can get 30+ Fps the majority of the time. I know that's still unacceptable for most, but I'd just be glad it runs. What settings are you playing on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Don't expect a new video card to be a be-all, end-all solution to your problem since it's a poorly optimized game, but it's certainly not likely to hurt your performance in any way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SausageInACan Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 Well, like they said, Arma 3 is just a poorly optimized game. I have a rather low/mid range PC and can get 30+ Fps the majority of the time. I know that's still unacceptable for most, but I'd just be glad it runs. What settings are you playing on? Its complicated... I will usually play on standard and get at least 40-45fps, but sometimes it will drop to 10, then I will change it to ultra and I will get 60fps for like 30 minutes then drop to 10. So I just set it back to normal and it is at its normal 40-45. I am fine with these numbers but I recently joined this group and the modpack that they use force me to go to low settings and i will be lucky to get over 30fps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utack Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 What GPU do you have anyways? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sivispacem Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 What GPU do you have anyways? Try reading the first post. AMD Ryzen 5900X (4.65GHz All-Core PBO2) | Gigabye X570S Pro | 32GB G-Skill Trident Z RGB 3600MHz CL16 EK-Quantum Reflection D5 | XSPC D5 PWM | TechN/Heatkiller Blocks | HardwareLabs GTS & GTX 360 Radiators Corsair AX750 | Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic XL | EVGA GeForce RTX2080 XC @2055MHz | Sabrant Rocket Plus 1TB Sabrant Rocket 2TB | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB | 2x ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q | Q Acoustics 2010i | Sabaj A4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinky12 Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Don't get a GTX 960, its true potential is crippled by its puny 128bit memory bus. GTX 970 is a great card, It has 4GB of ram, but unlike GTX 980 with the full single 4GB. GTX 970 is 3.5GB with .5GB. Where the last .5GB has performance issue for games that has wants access to it. It's still a great card, but a lot of users are angry about it and want a refund. For now it's a GTX 980 $500ish or cheapest R9-290 at $250ish and cheapest 290x at $300ish. Don't get a card now, lower your game setting or resolution, wait until the AMD 300 series to arrive before buying a new card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utack Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 What GPU do you have anyways? Try reading the first post. There is more than one model in a "series" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoječ Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 (edited) Well, it could be either HD7850 or HD7870. Why does it even matter? Edited February 13, 2015 by yojo2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMcSame Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 There are many GTX 970s out there made by different companies. Which one should I go with? EVGA, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI? Depends what you want out the card really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZAZEL Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Don't get a GTX 960, its true potential is crippled by its puny 128bit memory bus. Maybe at higher resolutions, but if he's just going to be gaming at 1080p, it'll do just fine. The 960's nearest competitor is the R9 285, and they're on par performance-wise, despite the R9's 256-bit memory bus. The 960 is also more compact, and more energy efficient, and they're priced very similarly. I know what I'd go for. Of course, the 970 is beastier, but it's also a lot more expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K20 Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 only changes you can do is like others said, graphics card. and maybe an SSD to get things loading a little quicker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SausageInACan Posted February 14, 2015 Author Share Posted February 14, 2015 I will probably get a GTX 970 sometime in the near future. And one more question. Should I get a sound card? I will probably only be willing to spend like $50 on one though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinky12 Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Don't get a GTX 960, its true potential is crippled by its puny 128bit memory bus. Maybe at higher resolutions, but if he's just going to be gaming at 1080p, it'll do just fine. The 960's nearest competitor is the R9 285, and they're on par performance-wise, despite the R9's 256-bit memory bus. The 960 is also more compact, and more energy efficient, and they're priced very similarly. I know what I'd go for. Of course, the 970 is beastier, but it's also a lot more expensive. I heard there will be a 960Ti that will have a 256bit bus. http://wccftech.com/gtx-960-ti-benchmarks-specs-revealed/ I will probably get a GTX 970 sometime in the near future. And one more question. Should I get a sound card? I will probably only be willing to spend like $50 on one though. At $50 dollars, just use onboard. Add in audio card, them good ones are like $130ish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sivispacem Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 You're better of buying a $50 USB DAC, assuming your speakers are half decent. Even expensive PCI-E sound cards are a bit poo from a fidelity perspective. AMD Ryzen 5900X (4.65GHz All-Core PBO2) | Gigabye X570S Pro | 32GB G-Skill Trident Z RGB 3600MHz CL16 EK-Quantum Reflection D5 | XSPC D5 PWM | TechN/Heatkiller Blocks | HardwareLabs GTS & GTX 360 Radiators Corsair AX750 | Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic XL | EVGA GeForce RTX2080 XC @2055MHz | Sabrant Rocket Plus 1TB Sabrant Rocket 2TB | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB | 2x ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q | Q Acoustics 2010i | Sabaj A4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMcSame Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 I will probably get a GTX 970 sometime in the near future. And one more question. Should I get a sound card? I will probably only be willing to spend like $50 on one though. Nah, there's not really any need for a sound card, the onboard audio is pretty decent on motherboards as it is. Not to mention most cheap sound cards use the old PCI standard meaning you wouldn't be able to use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SausageInACan Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 One more question. How hard is it to set up an SSD to boot up my pc from it and to move windows 7 on to it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sivispacem Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 You have to have a fresh Windows install to get the boot partition in the right place. I actually had some difficulty with Windows trying to write parts of the boot partition to my secondary HDD, to the point that I disconnected the SATA cables for everything but my SSD when I installed Windows. AMD Ryzen 5900X (4.65GHz All-Core PBO2) | Gigabye X570S Pro | 32GB G-Skill Trident Z RGB 3600MHz CL16 EK-Quantum Reflection D5 | XSPC D5 PWM | TechN/Heatkiller Blocks | HardwareLabs GTS & GTX 360 Radiators Corsair AX750 | Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic XL | EVGA GeForce RTX2080 XC @2055MHz | Sabrant Rocket Plus 1TB Sabrant Rocket 2TB | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB | 2x ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q | Q Acoustics 2010i | Sabaj A4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMcSame Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 One more question. How hard is it to set up an SSD to boot up my pc from it and to move windows 7 on to it? A lot of companies usually have some sort of migration software on the driver disk or on their website which will make it easier. You don't need to do a fresh install but you should, migrating the OS can cause problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utack Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 (edited) One more question. How hard is it to set up an SSD to boot up my pc from it and to move windows 7 on to it? Depends on experience, but if you boot in bios/legacy mode copying it over works, if your windows partition can be resized to fit the SSD. It sounds like a bad idea and takes as long as a new setup, so just set it up fresh maybe. Edit: besides I don't know if Windows will properly enable TRIM support when moving it to SSD later. Edited February 15, 2015 by utack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sivispacem Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 It's possible to do, but it tends to fragment things like the boot partition and you'll sometimes end up with bits of it on other drives, which rather defeats the object of having an SSD in the first place. AMD Ryzen 5900X (4.65GHz All-Core PBO2) | Gigabye X570S Pro | 32GB G-Skill Trident Z RGB 3600MHz CL16 EK-Quantum Reflection D5 | XSPC D5 PWM | TechN/Heatkiller Blocks | HardwareLabs GTS & GTX 360 Radiators Corsair AX750 | Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic XL | EVGA GeForce RTX2080 XC @2055MHz | Sabrant Rocket Plus 1TB Sabrant Rocket 2TB | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB | 2x ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q | Q Acoustics 2010i | Sabaj A4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZAZEL Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 At the end of the day, the easiest way is to just boot from your Windows disc, format the old C:\, create a fresh partition on the SSD, install, and done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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