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What's My Bottleneck for STO?

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Right now I'm using this setup

XP Pro SP2
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 2.21Ghz
4 GB RAM (3.25 since I'm using XP 32 bit)
NVidia GeForce 8600 GT

I know my video card and processor are out of date, and I'm looking to update them. I'm looking for suggestions as to which is my main bottleneck. Anyone have any ideas?
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    definately the 8600GT. CPU should be adequate for now. Are you using a Socket 939 X2 cpu or the newer AM2? If it's the old 939 you'll need to replace your board and ram to use the newer quad cores
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Sealance wrote: »
    definately the 8600GT

    That's what I was thinking too. Most of Tom's Hardware's charts show newer graphics cards performing 2, 3, or more times better, but the newer CPUs in my price range only seemed to be working about 50% better.
    Sealance wrote: »
    CPU should be adequate for now. Are you using a Socket 939 X2 cpu or the newer AM2? If it's the old 939 you'll need to replace your board and ram to use the newer quad cores

    Socket 939, so it sounds like I'd be better off just going with a new video card for now and replacing the rest a bit later.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Strill wrote: »
    That's what I was thinking too. Most of Tom's Hardware's charts show newer graphics cards performing 2, 3, or more times better, but the newer CPUs in my price range only seemed to be working about 50% better.

    Well, I'm not sure how many cores STO can use, but there's quite a big difference in using a quad today compared to when i first purchased my Q6600 intel cpu. Only game that really struggled with my old 8800GTS 640mb 3d card was age of conan. Now that I use a GTX260 (216) I can play everything out there. (note: i do use a 8800gt for physx).

    Edit: Ah, since you have a 939 system I think it's better to focus on a decent 3d card. My old system was a single core Opteron 146 wich struggled a bit with a 8800GTS, so a GTX260 will be overkill for the system as it is now. If you are looking at DX11 I'd suggest going for the ATI 58xx series but that's pretty expensive right now. If you go the nvidia route you can always use your old card for physx.

    Edit2: My suggested system (if you want to go amd) for SLI+Physx would be
    DFI lanparty (can handle 2x dual slot cards + 1 single slot for physx) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136057&cm_re=dfi_lanparty-_-13-136-057-_-Product
    AMD X3 Black CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103295&cm_re=phenom-_-19-103-295-_-Product
    2x2GB DDR2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227289&cm_re=ddr2-_-20-227-289-_-Product

    Should land you at about 350 bucks + shipping. It's not a top of the line system but offers much better performance than your 939 rig
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Sealance wrote: »
    Edit: Ah, since you have a 939 system I think it's better to focus on a decent 3d card. My old system was a single core Opteron 146 wich struggled a bit with a 8800GTS, so a GTX260 will be overkill for the system as it is now. If you are looking at DX11 I'd suggest going for the ATI 58xx series but that's pretty expensive right now. If you go the nvidia route you can always use your old card for physx.

    Thanks a lot. I'll go with an overkill card for now and upgrade later to a system that can match it.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Strill wrote: »
    Thanks a lot. I'll go with an overkill card for now and upgrade later to a system that can match it.
    You're welcome :)
    Don't forget the powersupply. New cards require a decent psu unfortunately
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