upgrade question

[chaotic_russ]

what upgrade would benefit my system the most , it is used mainly for gaming with a little benchmarking and web browsing .
specs below :

phemom II 955 @ stock
Gigabyte MA790X-UD3P
Kingston hyperX1066 2x2gb
2x Sapphire HD5770 cf-X
CM Silent Pro M1000W
Deskstar 7K1000.C 1TB x2
barracuda 500gb
Coolermaster cm690
acer V243HLBMD (1920x1080)
windows 7 x64

in farcry2 if i add any AA i get a lot of stutter although the fps is well over 70fps most of the time , in all the stalker based games i get stutter and it pauses for a few seconds in any settings apart from static lighting.
i think i would like a single gfx card but would say getting a 5850/5870 or even a gtx470 help ? , what upgrade would help the most to play these games with a smooth feel while gaming .
also sc2 dips to 19 fps in heavy combat/lots of units on screen , this upgrade would need to last me around 2 years .
advice welcome please

[KowShak]

what upgrade would benefit my system the most , it is used mainly for gaming with a little benchmarking and web browsing .
specs below :

phemom II 955 @ stock
Gigabyte MA790X-UD3P
Kingston hyperX1066 2x2gb
2x Sapphire HD5770 cf-X
CM Silent Pro M1000W
Deskstar 7K1000.C 1TB x2
barracuda 500gb
Coolermaster cm690
acer V243HLBMD (1920x1080)
windows 7 x64

in farcry2 if i add any AA i get a lot of stutter although the fps is well over 70fps most of the time , in all the stalker based games i get stutter and it pauses for a few seconds in any settings apart from static lighting.
i think i would like a single gfx card but would say getting a 5850/5870 or even a gtx470 help ? , what upgrade would help the most to play these games with a smooth feel while gaming .
also sc2 dips to 19 fps in heavy combat/lots of units on screen , this upgrade would need to last me around 2 years .
advice welcome please

The system seems fairly fast and modern already, unless you're going to spend quite a bit of cash on something like an i7, I'd recommend waiting to see what the next generation of ATI cards can offer and if they're significantly faster upgrade then.

[chaotic_russ]

so going for ddr3 and new mobo would not be worth it ?

[chaotic_russ]

here is the farcry2 average bench results without AA

Average Framerate: 90.13
Max. Framerate: 177.34
Min. Framerate: 57.16

and here is the bench results with 4xAA

Average Framerate: 62.87
Max. Framerate: 118.79
Min. Framerate: 30.80

it seems that 50% of the time the stutter may be due to the hard drive is loading thigs while benchmarking , it does not explain the other 50% though and i have tried every driver since 9.12

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The system the OP has looks quite TBH and DDR3 would not add much performance IMHO!

Perhaps defragmenting the hard drive,deleting any old files which are not needed and also un-installing software which is not need will help speed up the system a bit. I would also scan the system to check for any spyware and viruses too.

Also, a faster system disc such as SSD may also improve the responsiveness of the system although SSDs are still pricey IMHO.

[chaotic_russ]

The system the OP has looks quite TBH and DDR3 would not add much performance IMHO!

Perhaps defragmenting the hard drive,deleting any old files which are not needed and also un-installing software which is not need will help speed up the system a bit. I would also scan the system to check for any spyware and viruses too.

Also, a faster system disc such as SSD may also improve the responsiveness of the system although SSDs are still pricey IMHO.

my system looks like what ? , would the OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB be fast enough ?

or the below ssd ?
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/60GB-...-to-35-bracket

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

my system looks like what ? ,

good.

would the OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB be fast enough ?

I am not an expert on SSDs although the Vertex 2 seems to get good reviews.

[marktime]

Although an SSD will speed up your whole system generally it's really not going to make your games run any faster, just load quicker. I doubt if the stuttering issue is really down to the HDD being too slow to load textures, as long as it isn't badly defragmented.

I'm surprised tbh you're having these issues as I would have thought CF 5770s with 1024 mb each would be more than adequate to run most stuff at that resolution at high quality settings without stuttering (other than Crysis, of course).

Then again it's all down to minimum frame rates, I suppose, and I think this is where the high end cards start to show their muscle. I know quite a few people atm have been arguing that the GTX470s have better minimum frame rates v the 5870, even if the ATI beats it overall on average fps.

Have you tried disabling CF and just running one card? If it improves the stuttering it might point to a CF issue.

[chaotic_russ]

yes i have tried without crossfire running , still get the same .

where is the cheapest place to get either the 5850 or the gtx470 ?

[marktime]

OC-UK are doing a cracking deal on the MSI 470 at the moment, Under £224. There are a few around for slightly cheaper but the MSI looks like a quality card. You can also get the Zotac for a fiver more from the same place with a 5 year warranty. Some one else could probably advise you on ATI.

Out of interest, I was reading a thread over on their forum recently where quite a few people were complaining about similar problems, seemed to be driver-related with quite a few dropping back to the 10.4 drivers waiting for ATI to get it sorted out. As I haven't got or ever had a ATI 5 series card I can't add to this but might be worth considering if you haven't tried this solution yet.

[Edit] Just seen the XFX5850 on OC-UK for just over £193 Today Only. Would be inclined to go for the 470 myself, though.

[chaotic_russ]

OC-UK are doing a cracking deal on the MSI 470 at the moment, Under £224. There are a few around for slightly cheaper but the MSI looks like a quality card. You can also get the Zotac for a fiver more from the same place with a 5 year warranty. Some one else could probably advise you on ATI.

Out of interest, I was reading a thread over on their forum recently where quite a few people were complaining about similar problems, seemed to be driver-related with quite a few dropping back to the 10.4 drivers waiting for ATI to get it sorted out. As I haven't got or ever had a ATI 5 series card I can't add to this but might be worth considering if you haven't tried this solution yet.

[Edit] Just seen the XFX5850 on OC-UK for just over £193 Today Only. Would be inclined to go for the 470 myself, though.

the msi gtx470's have gone back up now , the xfx5850 is plus shipping and it seems that an error with this price is present

[marktime]

Yeah, unfortunately the TO deals there are mostly plus shipping. I see Scan have the MSI 470 for a very good price but not in stock.

[Edit] I notice that XFX 5850 has now gone onto This Week Only for the same price (strange). So you would qualify for free shipping if you were a forum member.

[Edit 2] Just realised you are almost certainly chaotic_uk so you'd be well aware of the deals at OC-UK.