Please advice Re:Upgrades/Performance Issues

Toasterlulz · July 1, 2016

Hi all,

I'm looking to tweak my PC just a little as its not working as well as I'd like and I'm pretty new to this so I'll just stick to the basic stuffs.

Processor: Intel Core i7-2600 @ 3.4 GHz

RAM: 16GB DDR3 @ 1600 MHz

Graphics Card: NVIDIA Geforce GT545 3GB

Storage: TOSHIBA DT01ACA200 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

To test my PC performance I ran Company of Heroes 2 which has the following recommended specs

CPU: 3Ghz Intel i5 quad core or equivalent
RAM: 4 GB
OS: 64bit Windows 7
Video Card: 1024 MB Direct3D 11 capable video card (GeForce GTX 470 or Radeon HD 5850)
Free Disk Space: 30 GB

Please correct me if I'm wrong but It seems like I should be having no problems at all on maxed out settings but I'm experiencing slight but noticeable frame rate issues and lag. According to task manager, I'm using around 20% CPU when running the game. And according to GPU-Z, my GPU load goes up all the way to 100% and averages 65 degrees celsius.

Also when playing CS:GO on maxed out settings I get around 30 FPS (If I remember correctly). And even when on minimum settings, entering a smoke grenade can cause FPS to drop to single digits.

Questions:

Is the graphics card the main/only problem?

How much of an improvement in performance am I looking at by upgrading to a GTX 970?

Is there anything else I could do to improve performance?

Thank you for reading and PLEASE HELP!

P.S. A little layman explanation would be really appreciated!!!

P.P.S. Its a pre-built PC

Jack Kaye Pc Gamer · July 1, 2016

I would recommend upgrading your gpu as the 500 series is very old at this point

LabRat · July 1, 2016

your cpu is lacking ( speed ) but csgo should be faster. how full is your hard drive?. I see 30? there's no place for the information to flow. and I bet it doesn't defrag..??............ disable pagefiling and run a game or two.

970 is overkill for your system. I think a 960/380 would be overkill for your system.

Toasterlulz · July 2, 2016

11 hours ago, Jack Kaye Pc Gamer said:

I would recommend upgrading your gpu as the 500 series is very old at this point

Alright thank you! And thanks for the info!

Toasterlulz · July 2, 2016

10 hours ago, LabRat said:

your cpu is lacking ( speed ) but csgo should be faster. how full is your hard drive?. I see 30? there's no place for the information to flow. and I bet it doesn't defrag..??............ disable pagefiling and run a game or two.

970 is overkill for your system. I think a 960/380 would be overkill for your system.

Hi,

My PC specs are:

Processor: Intel Core i7-2600 @ 3.4 GHz

RAM: 16GB DDR3 @ 1600 MHz

Graphics Card: NVIDIA Geforce GT545 3GB

Storage: TOSHIBA DT01ACA200 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

My hard drive still has ~900GB available and it is set to defrag routinely, but yes I have recently defragged it manually as well.

So what would you recommend is appropriate for my system?

Thank you for replying!

LabRat · July 2, 2016

I have a tough time suggesting what I deem lesser graphics cards. In my original post I said a 380 or 960. I'll stick with that, and get a 4gig model. I have a pcs+ 380 I use on a somewhat regular basis. Plays real good at 1900 res. regardless of what you get, look for a decent cooler on it. the pcs is hot. ( the back plate )

the 545 is less than a 560ti..... so look well above that in the rankings.