Need to Update my System

[Fencer51]

Cheers Lads,

Looks like I need to update my system to get the best frame rates.

I have the following system..

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System Information
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Time of this report: 4/4/2012, 20:27:26
   Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.101209-1647)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
       System Model: System Product Name
               BIOS: BIOS Date: 08/18/08 Ver: 08.00.14
          Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5400+,  MMX,  3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.8GHz (Black Edition)
             Memory: 3072MB RAM
          Page File: 747MB used, 4204MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode
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Display Devices
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        Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250
     Manufacturer: NVIDIA
        Chip type: GeForce GTS 250
         DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0615&SUBSYS_0593196E&REV_A2
   Display Memory: 1024.0 MB
     Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
  Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
      Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
   Driver Version: 6.14.0011.8208 (English)
      DDI Version: 9 (or higher)


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Sound Devices
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            Description: SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio [E800]
 
Motherboard - ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD

1000 watts power supply..

What can I do to this system to upgrade it to run AH better?  I used to be able to run full out, but with the new graphics updates I cannot any longer.

Thanks!

[MaSonZ]

Had a similar processor in my Laptop (got it three years ago). You could do a video card, but then unless you OC the processor you would have a bottleneck there. Assuming your supply is still good, 1,000 watts is not going to be any issue. if your looking for speed, I would look Intel. I had an AMD Phenom II X6 1055 running at 2.8 ghz I believe, Under load it did better then my i7, but same amount of cores and my i7 is .4 ghz faster. nothing amazing, but under load I would rather my AMD. I havent used nVidia cards so I cant comment there, but if you swap to Radeon a 6850 or 6870 should do you just fine.

[Masherbrum]

I believe the # of Memory Slots being used Fencer, might be sapping some speed from your system and not running in "Dual Channel Mode".

[Denniss]

Your graphics card is very limited and the CPu is not the fastest.
I'd start with the graphics card ,Nvidia GTX460/560 or Ati 6850/6870 should be fine
With a Bios update your motherboard is able to handle even the most recent Phenom II six-core.
Another bottleneck may be a small/slow or fragmented hard drive.


Why the hell do you have a 1000w PSU in this computer - ever heard of low efficiency at low PSU loads, system should barely require more than 250W max to run ?

[Fencer51]

I believe the # of Memory Slots being used Fencer, might be sapping some speed from your system and not running in "Dual Channel Mode".

Karaya, could you explain what I can do to fix that?

[Masherbrum]

Karaya, could you explain what I can do to fix that?

What model Motherboard do you have bro?

Found it.

ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe.    My guess is you have 3x1GB Ram sticks.   The problem with some MB's, is by using 3 of 4 slots, you are running Single Channel.   Whereas, using 2x1GB sticks in your Gold/Yellow Slots, you'd be running Dual Channel.

[Changeup]

Your graphics card is very limited and the CPu is not the fastest.
I'd start with the graphics card ,Nvidia GTX460/560 or Ati 6850/6870 should be fine
With a Bios update your motherboard is able to handle even the most recent Phenom II six-core.
Another bottleneck may be a small/slow or fragmented hard drive.


Why the hell do you have a 1000w PSU in this computer - ever heard of low efficiency at low PSU loads, system should barely require more than 250W max to run ?

A 460 wont help with this processor.  I had the same one before my new build with a 460 and the 250 performed better because of the bottlenecked CPU.  I'd just do a rebuild.

[cattb]

Make sure the MB you have will support  125 watt Phenom and you could stick a black edition Phenom and a 460,560 or 6850,6870 as mentioned before. As long as MB bios will support you could goto the 6 core.  The update as mentioned above will give your board some longer life, probably around 275 to 300 cost.

I don't know the use of your puter or how long you intend to use it if you upgrade. If you did go this route with this MB it would be the last upgrade because you are at the end of the road.

I also have 790 AMD board like yours, but a gigabyte. I upgraded my PSU and GPU over winter with christmas sales.Sometime in the next year or two I will upgrade the rest with new board, cpu, and memory. My computer fits my needs for now and don't see any hurry in upgrading the rest of the computer at this time or anytime soon.

[TequilaChaser]

Fencer,

you could gain a good bit of performance by cleaning up your processes/services being used

your pagefile numbers are:  Page File: 747MB used, 4204MB available

a good clean / tweaked windowsXP system should be around  200 MB used or less    and at startup & sitting idle you should have around 18 to 21 processes running

Karaya also had a good point on either removing 1 of the 3 1 GB sticks or adding a 4th 1 GB stick of Memory, so you could run in Dual Channel mode.....

I recently  threw together an AMD system that had an ASUS AMD board with the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6400+,  3.2GHz (Black Edition)

and 4 GB of memory  running an ATI HD3870  with 750 watt PSU........ it could damn near run the game maxed out using hirez pkg  screen res was 1280x1024 and texture shadows was 2048

but I used Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate for the OS  ( most of the parts were used....... just bought a new MB so the person could upgrade to an AMD AM3  processor if they ever wanted to


so either clean up and tweak the windowsXP  and work out the RAM issue   and possible upgrade your video card............. and just going from experience, I would use an ATI videocard since both your northbridge & southbridge are AMD/ATI chipsets....  instead of nvidia(nforce) bridge chipsets.......  you might gain some performance there as well.....


and you might could gain even more if you upgrade the OS to Win 7  Pro 64 bit ( just my personal preference but I would not use the home/home premium versions......... I always recommend the Pro if not the Ultimate 64 bit, for the RAM allowed/accepted  quantity gets a significant increase  going from the home version to the Pro or better  Win 7 OS'es )

I did tests  back then when I first was testing Windows 7 64 bit  over WindowsXP Pro 32 bit  on a similar build as I posted above...  the windows 7 outperformed the windowsXPPRO by 15 to 20 fps.......  and I had my processes tweaked to 18 on the winxp os ( the system was setup for dual boot )  think I even posted about it here in this hardware forum....... back in 2009

edit:  your monitor settings look strange to me:

Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
  Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200

current says you running at 1920x1080   but Monitor Max Res says it should only be 1600 x 1200.........   if you are "forcing" either the monitor or the video that could cause you some performance possibly........ just assuming here......

hope this helps...... best of luck to ya

TC

[guncrasher]

TC 18 to 21 processes is for people who are pretty knowledgeable in windows and can pretty much fix anything that goes with it.  for the rest of us who know nothing about windows having that few processes will basically kill our system sooner or later as we need windows to trouble shoot and fix most minor problems basically because we cant do it or dont know how.

I once tweaked my system down to 25 processes and lost connection to the internet.  I was basically screwed as I didnt know how to fixed it as I always had relied on windows troubleshooting it for me.  and that process was disabled.  for two days i couldnt figure out how to connect.

around 35 processes in windows xp is good for those of us who dont know crap and even if we google we still dont know what other processes may be affected by whatever we disable.

I have relied on blackvipers website to help decide which processes i totally understand I dont need.   http://www.blackviper.com/

a pagefile of around 700 isnt too bad either for us who know nothing about nothing.

 

semp

[Denniss]

A lot of combinations may result in a display of 3GB of memory, even if 4GB is installed but only 3GB usable.
The page file value shown is a combination of both usable RAM + the actual page file. A fragmented page file of variable size has often been a source of some system slowdowns, it was always best to disable the page file and reinstall it with a fixed size (min = max size) after reboot.
And yes, the monitor/display information is a bit irritating unless it's some kind of virtual desktop mode.

[Denniss]

I recently  threw together an AMD system that had an ASUS AMD board with the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6400+,  3.2GHz (Black Edition)
and 4 GB of memory  running an ATI HD3870  with 750 watt PSU........ it could damn near run the game maxed out using hirez pkg  screen res was 1280x1024 and texture shadows was 2048

Why did you use a 750W PSU into this system - a quality/brand 450W PSU is more than enough for this system and has even reserves for a stronger graphics requiring more power. Especially if this 750W PSU is one of these dirt cheap ones only claiming to deliver 750W but already desintegrating/exploding at 500W or less.

[Fencer51]

I have dual monitors.

[Masherbrum]

When I used XP Pro, I kept my machine to SP1 and had 14 processes running, including AH.    SP2 brought it up to 23.   

[TequilaChaser]

Why did you use a 750W PSU into this system - a quality/brand 450W PSU is more than enough for this system and has even reserves for a stronger graphics requiring more power. Especially if this 750W PSU is one of these dirt cheap ones only claiming to deliver 750W but already desintegrating/exploding at 500W or less.

it was an old PC Power & Cooling PSU........ and I used it because it worked good and I had it laying around........ I built the PC for a friend and gave it to them ( the original MB had (4) HD3870's  AMD spider system ,  which back then was still overkill for AH, also a beoch to make work properly........ so hardly used it for anything )

understand regarding dual monitors, Fencer

I agree, I have always set a maximum and minimum  pagefile size when using windows98  or WindowsXP so it stayed in a dedicated location on the Hard Drive , caused less fragmenting, etc.....

I simply disagree that 700 MB used in the pagefile is acceptable for playing Aces high using the WindowsXP   OS..... it is 3.5 times to high......... a clean system will be 200 MB used or less

I disagree that "The page file value shown is a combination of both usable RAM + the actual page file"  in Windows XP ...... it is a swapfile location on the HardDrive, that is used once the Physical Memory (DIMMS) are in full use, to where WindowsXP has to use the pagefile system

hope this helps

TC