New Computer

[HoneyBadger]

So uhh, I'm planning on building a new computer with a budget of around $1000 I can take my 2gb ram chips out of my old computer and I'm currently running a 8600GTS and 3ghz core 2 duo. I'm not so pro at hardware so any help, corrections etc would be much appreciated

[fluxcore]

You don't want to go i7 yet because it's hella expensive.

If you want it for gaming, just go for the fastest core 2 duo you can afford (which you pretty much have already). Not sure what other bits you need, but I'd highly recommend getting a decent power supply (corsair 620HX or something), and for graphics card probably an ati 4850.

So basically, what are you upgrading? You can't make much better than what you've got atm, just get a better gfx card really...

[HoneyBadger]

Definitely not going i7. Really I'm looking to improve my frame rates as they only really reach 150 when playing CoD4... Are there ways I could go about maximizing my fps? Could it possibly be a driver issue rather than hardware?

[electric]

I've been out of the PC modding game for a while, but I'm pretty sure the basics still apply... 2GB ram shouldn't be too bad for COD, so I'd probably concentrate on Video card first. 6800GTS's are a little on the old side -- I hear 9800GT's are going reasonably cheap these days, and it always pays to make sure you have the latest stable drivers

[HoneyBadger]

I've been out of the PC modding game for a while, but I'm pretty sure the basics still apply... 2GB ram shouldn't be too bad for COD, so I'd probably concentrate on Video card first. 6800GTS's are a little on the old side -- I hear 9800GT's are going reasonably cheap these days, and it always pays to make sure you have the latest stable drivers

I heard the cards didn't have much difference except cooling. So you guys wouldn't recommend I upgrade just yet? What sort of stuff should I focus on to improve overall FPS and are there any tweaks and things I can do to improve my FPS in general?

[fluxcore]

8600gt is a bit shitty. As I said, go for an ati 4850. That should do you I reckon.

[electric]

Oops, you said 8600GT, I thought you said 6800GT which I think were still sold in AGP lol, my mistake

[HoneyBadger]

Thanks Alan and Electric <3 Soon I will be beasting again

[deprenyl]

your core 2 duo 3.0ghz (im assuming E8400?) is still quite a good CPU even in todays terms, i would definately upgrade that 8600gts to a 4850/70/90 or gtx275 (although 4850 would be more than fine for cod4), 2gb ram is a little lacking in todays terms, i think the norm is around 4gb, but again, 2gb should be fine for cod

[Lennysaurus]

Yeah pretty much what they said.  Drop another 2 gigs of ram into it, and buy a better video card.  Who made the card?  Is it an asus silent version?  If you want to be a cheap fucker, and you have one of those.  Drop an extra fan in it, and you can overclock that sonofabitch from arsehole to buggery.

Ive got one in a spare computer, and even with just stock cooling they are pretty decent for oc'ing.  When I had it in my main rig, i sat an extra fat heat sink and an extra fan over it, and had alot of fun turning it up.