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Active: 779 users

What one thing should I upgrade?

Forum Index > Tech Support
Post a Reply
Clicker
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States1012 Posts
June 15 2011 21:49 GMT
#1
I can stream okay, but I'd the quality to be just a little better.
Pretty much I can afford 200-250ish to upgrade right now.
What should that be?

Current system specs
CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core
GIGABYTE LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
750w PSU
Win 7 64 bit.

Would http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127510 provide a worthwhile performance increase for streaming?
Or go the route of more RAM? ;x
skyR
Profile Joined July 2009
Canada13817 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-06-15 21:51:49
June 15 2011 21:51 GMT
#2
Streaming is dependent on the proocessor. The graphics card won't improve Starcraft II performance as the GTX 260 is already quite powerful enough to run it on high smoothly.

You're looking at a motherboard, memory, and processor upgrade to something like a P67 / Z68, core i5 2500k, and DDR3 if you want to improve streaming quality.
Lyzon
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United Kingdom440 Posts
June 15 2011 21:52 GMT
#3
SSD, will give your computer a very noticable speed increase. It wont up your fps but you will notice yoru systm gets alot snappier
JingleHell
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States11308 Posts
June 15 2011 21:55 GMT
#4
What benchmark shows SSD's speeding up streams? This I've got to see.
Habel
Profile Joined April 2011
United States123 Posts
June 15 2011 22:00 GMT
#5
Because streaming is so dependant on CPU power, as sky said, your best bet is to save up and than just do a complete overhaul. However, if that's not in the foreseeable future, and seeing as the only better processor available is a 9650 which is around 340$ due to lesser production of them, than yes you should get 8GB of ram. That would maybe increase streaming speed, definitely more so than a newer GPU.
"I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints." - Billy Joel
Sablar
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Sweden880 Posts
June 15 2011 22:04 GMT
#6
I think you would be better of upgrading the whole system. Changing graphics card can help with fps in games but not really streaming.

If you still decide to get a new GPU, I don't see why it should be some pre-OCd expensive model. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125383&cm_re=560-_-14-125-383-_- is just better, and you can overclock it yourself.

I think it would be a good idea to overclock your CPU, and save the money for a motherboard, ram, cpu upgrade later.
Lyzon
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United Kingdom440 Posts
June 15 2011 22:43 GMT
#7
On June 16 2011 06:55 JingleHell wrote:
What benchmark shows SSD's speeding up streams? This I've got to see.


Where did I say SSD's increased stream speed? i just said it would make his pc feel snappier
FeiLing
Profile Joined March 2011
Germany428 Posts
June 15 2011 22:48 GMT
#8
A SSD would be the best thing to spend the money on, but it won't help with what the OP wants to achieve. For 250 bucks nothing will though. Needs to be a new machine.
jacosajh
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
2919 Posts
June 15 2011 22:52 GMT
#9
On June 16 2011 07:43 Lyzon wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 16 2011 06:55 JingleHell wrote:
What benchmark shows SSD's speeding up streams? This I've got to see.


Where did I say SSD's increased stream speed? i just said it would make his pc feel snappier


He asked what he should upgrade to better his streaming. And you suggested an SSD which is not relevant to streaming.
Souljah
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States423 Posts
June 15 2011 22:53 GMT
#10
Personally, I'd get some DDR3 and save the rest of your money for a new build in the future.. At least the memory will be able to be reused.
Aduromors
Profile Joined July 2009
United States279 Posts
June 15 2011 22:56 GMT
#11
That's still a decent CPU, so maybe get an aftermarket cooler and try overclocking. if you dare
jacosajh
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
2919 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-06-15 23:36:22
June 15 2011 23:35 GMT
#12
Sell your Q9550 and you will have enough for a decent CPU/Mobo/Ram on top of your $200-250.

You might be able to get around $150 for a Q9550 (I see some on amazon/ebay listed for $160-$240 but I don't know what the demand is, if any). That can bring your total to $350-400... enough for:

2500k - $220
P67 Mobo - $110ish
4GB DDR3 RAM - $40ish

You can try to sell your old mobo/ram but I don't think you'd get much for it... if you can sell it at all.

Maybe you can even try and resell the entire system itself and just start from scratch? If streaming really is that important to you, it'll be worth it. Upgrading to 2500k will bottleneck you with the 260, but it's not important if you don't need anything more than that (just playing SC2).
skyR
Profile Joined July 2009
Canada13817 Posts
June 15 2011 23:36 GMT
#13
On June 16 2011 07:53 Souljah wrote:
Personally, I'd get some DDR3 and save the rest of your money for a new build in the future.. At least the memory will be able to be reused.


Wrong. DDR3 and DDR2 are not interchangeable. Even if the motherboard has both of these slots, you cannot use them in combination.
JingleHell
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States11308 Posts
June 15 2011 23:38 GMT
#14
On June 16 2011 08:36 skyR wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 16 2011 07:53 Souljah wrote:
Personally, I'd get some DDR3 and save the rest of your money for a new build in the future.. At least the memory will be able to be reused.


Wrong. DDR3 and DDR2 are not interchangeable. Even if the motherboard has both of these slots, you cannot use them in combination.


To be fair, the confusion is easy to understand, if you try to find his mobo on newegg, the only one from that line they have is a new one with a DDR3 memory controller.
skyR
Profile Joined July 2009
Canada13817 Posts
June 15 2011 23:43 GMT
#15
The OP didn't specify a motherboard and only specified DDR2. He just listed Gigabyte and the P45 chipset. Gigabyte has more than a dozen P45 models. So no it's not fair >.>
writer22816
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
United States5775 Posts
June 15 2011 23:48 GMT
#16
Probably the biggest upgrade to streaming would be to upgrade your LGA775 processor to a Sandy Bridge LGA1155, i.e. i5-2500k. However that would also require a motherboard and (I think) RAM upgrade.
8/4/12 never forget, never forgive.
JingleHell
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States11308 Posts
June 15 2011 23:51 GMT
#17
On June 16 2011 08:43 skyR wrote:
The OP didn't specify a motherboard and only specified DDR2. He just listed Gigabyte and the P45 chipset. Gigabyte has more than a dozen P45 models. So no it's not fair >.>


Yeah, I know, I'm trying to be a nicer person though. It isn't working well overall.
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