View Full Version : Which Upgrade for Battlefield 3?
Hi, last year I purchased the Gladiator Exodus - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products?search=SYI-***-EXODUS) system from you guys (link is dead)
AMD phenom II x2 560 Processor 3.80ghz
Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 Card
4 Gig RAM
1Tb hard disk
After playing the Beta version I decided I need a little extra grunt to play Battlefield 3 on high settings, what would be a good upgrade for this rig?
Would a new card eg Geforce GTX 580 DirectCU II 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express give a huge performance increase over the GTX 460 I have now? Or Would a faster CPU be a more viable upgrade?
I would appreciate any feed back, thanks :)
redrooster303
15-10-11, 00:56
What about another 460 and then sell the board and chip and go sandy bridge, maybe a 2500k. Be nearly the same cost as buying a 580 but it'll have a faster chip and the same if not more GPU power.
Just a suggestion though as I don't know your budget.
If you have enough money get a 580 and the 2500k upgrade.
GothicKiller
15-10-11, 05:08
Why not meet half way? Pop in a quad core/ hex core and add another 460.
Thanks for the info, Im not as upto date with my tech knowledge as I was a few years back as Ive been out of the game for a while lol Whats the 2500k upgrade exactly? Budget is always going to be a issue but tbh if I feel I would get the beeter prerformance out of the 580 then I would save for it but would it be a significant jump from what I have or just a slight jump?
Would another 460 and new chip make as much diff as just sticking in the 580 and if its similar what chip would you recomend?
The 2500k (http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/Intel+Core+i5-2500K+3.30GHz+%28Sandybridge%29+Socket+LGA1155+Pro cessor+-+Retail+?productId=43216) is a new quad cpu that would give you huge improvements as bf really likes quad cores. Ideally you would want to look at a new cpu and another 460 as people have said, a good cpu will be held back a bit by the 460 but a faster gpu would be held back by the x2 you have even more.
Would another 460 and new chip make as much diff as just sticking in the 580 and if its similar what chip would you recomend?
You should get far better performance from a new cpu with another 460 as nothing will be getting held back badly. Here's a comparison (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/314?vs=305) between 2 460s and 1 580 in various applications.
Wow thats really helpful thanks! Does the 460 need to be the exact same make etc as the one I have now?
Wow thats really helpful thanks! Does the 460 need to be the exact same make etc as the one I have now?
Any make will do but if you have a 1gb version you need another 1gb version. Also be careful as there are some 1gb 460se cards that have less shaders or something. But any card with the same specifications will be fine. :thumb:
How do I know if my motherboard will support SLi, I would imagine most do these days right?
MSI 880GMA-E45
Also could you recomend a new CPU thats not to pricey but would perform well with the combo?
How do I know if my motherboard will support SLi, I would imagine most do these days right?
MSI 880GMA-E45
Also could you recomend a new CPU thats not to pricey but would perform well with the combo?
The board only has 1 pci-e x16 slot so you can only fit one graphics card in there anyway. I believe the motherboard you have supports core unlocking on phenom II cpus so it might be worth having a look if your x2 560 can unlock to a stable quad core. The gtx 460s are still good cards and generally overclock really well so tbh if you are able to unlock any more cores on your cpu I would do that and then start saving money for a big upgrade at some point (mobo, cpu and another gpu).
You've been alot of help thanks :)
So all in all with the facts we have im basically screwed lol
So if im after a just bit of a performance increase in games like battlefield 3, Deus ex etc would just a new Quad Cpu help out much, as stated its probably holding back the 460 as it is? What would be a good one if it will help as I dont want to mess too much with overclocking as years ago I had a bad experience.......and some smoke lol
a quad or hex core in that board and a better gpu is the way forward for that system mate. the bf games love a quad core cpu and a better gpu will make all games run smoother.
i have a quad and a 1gb 460 and it tackles most games fine :)
Could you recomend one? Decent power and not to bothered on the price as long as I get a boost :)
Maybe just upgrade GPU and see how performance is, after testing see if you need further upgrades. But for sure need at least a quad core.
Defo go for a quad and look to upgrade your gfx card when u can.
Start with a phenom II quad (you can always upgrade graphics at a later date, and the CPU upgrade will probably give you the most significant performance boost). I'm running the 965 C3 (httpwww.aria.co.ukSuperSpecialsOther+productsAMD+ Phenom+II+X4+Quad+Core+965+Black+Edition+125W+3.40 GHz+C3+%28Socket+AM3%29+Processor+-+Retail+productId=38891) (<-- click it) and it ate the batttlefield 3 beta at high settings, 1920x1080 with a GTX 560Ti (the GPU was a slight bottleneck on Caspian border, but fine on Metro) :p
As you're already running a phenom II, you won't have to worry about upgrading your mobo/RAM as you can just straight swap the dual core out in favour of the quad ;)
Less than £90 for that CPU now as well. I think I paid £160+ when it was released (might have to grab one for the mrs now they're so cheap lol) :p
redrooster303
16-10-11, 14:33
He may be able to unlock his current CPU to a quad yet (as mokey said) thats worth checking first before he spends money on a new quad.:)
Thanks I think i'll do that, is that cpu compatible with my mobo?
MSI 880GMA -45
Ive just unlocked the CPU in the BIOS, it has made a difference as its got rid of any lag spikes I was getting in Deus Ex: HR on full settings. Is there anything I need to monitor to prevent any damage and if so how?
Ive just unlocked the CPU in the BIOS, it has made a difference as its got rid of any lag spikes I was getting in Deus Ex: HR on full settings. Is there anything I need to monitor to prevent any damage and if so how?
Sorry for not replying sooner, managed to miss this thread. Should be fine, I would keep an eye on temperatures with something like hardware monitor or core temp to make sure it isn't heating up too much now it's unlocked but it should be fine. It should be fine but I would look at a better cooler if it's hitting around 65-70c (though it should switch itself off or limit performance before it can cause any damage to itself anyway).
Had a quick look at the system you have on the aria page for it and is this the cooler you have on it now?
http://tech-reviews.co.uk/images/reviews/hardware/vendetta2/small/12.JPG
Loads of people suggesting to go SLI, though I only personally going SLI if your boards PCI-e Run 16x and 16x or 16x and 8x, if its 8x 8x then you wont get much of a performance increase, For BF3 i suggest upgrading your processor to a quad core, and upgrading your graphics card to something in the GTX 500's I wouldnt suggest gong for a 580 with a dual core because that would be bottlenecking, try and balance the two a little :)
Supermoose
26-10-11, 21:45
8x8 is fine i went from 16 x 4 to it and i got atleast 20 fps and less micro stutter. Not many cards will use the full 16 speed.
Loads of people suggesting to go SLI, though I only personally going SLI if your boards PCI-e Run 16x and 16x or 16x and 8x, if its 8x 8x then you wont get much of a performance increase, For BF3 i suggest upgrading your processor to a quad core, and upgrading your graphics card to something in the GTX 500's I wouldnt suggest gong for a 580 with a dual core because that would be bottlenecking, try and balance the two a little :)
There is no noticable difference from 8x and 16x atall. If you go up to a resolution of 1600 or 3 screens then it might be a difference of litrelly 2 fps, but on 1080p there will be no difference.
The current GPU's dont max out an 8x bandwidth.
End point; using CF or SLI on a 8x 8x MOBO compared to a 16x 16x MOBO will be little to no difference atall in performance. So going SLI or CF in 8x 8x you will get the same performance boost as you would in 16x 16x maybe 1 or 2 fps less if anything
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