# Advice sought on computer upgrade **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 7, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249 "2015-09-07T16:53:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/41 "2015-09-15T14:12:10Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > I’ll share the specs on my laptop so I feel a little more like I can hang in this thread All right **Bear\_Nenno** , I guess you’re cool, you can hang with us 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/42 "2015-09-15T21:49:01Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > If I was going to get into a game, though, I do have a computer for that. I’ll share the specs on my laptop so I feel a little more like I can hang in this thread: > [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 880M graphics with 8GB total GDDR5 _If_ you were going to get into a game? Why did you get an 8GB VRAM 880M? Overclocking: With a Phenom II X4 955 at 3.2GHz combined with water cooling, what kind of overclocking can I expect to get? I know it varies but just a range. Is it possible to overclock just the first core of a 4 core CPU? Or to, say, overclock the first core to 4GHz and the second core to 3.8GHz then the third one to 3.5GHz and leave the last one at 3.2GHz or even underclock it? I’ve also heard of monitor overclocking. Right now, mine tops out at 60Hz. Anyone familiar with that? Vsync: Does screen tearing only happen when the GPU refresh rate is above the monitor refresh rate? Usually, Vsync works by 30Hz steps. Is it possible to set it at something else? ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/43 "2015-09-16T00:54:00Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Overclocking: > With a Phenom II X4 955 at 3.2GHz combined with water cooling, what kind of overclocking can I expect to get? I know it varies but just a range. You may want to look up a review. they almost always overclock it and give impressions. > [@](#): > > Is it possible to overclock just the first core of a 4 core CPU? Or to, say, overclock the first core to 4GHz and the second core to 3.8GHz then the third one to 3.5GHz and leave the last one at 3.2GHz or even under clock it? You can sort of do this with Intel CPU’s, not sure about AMD. It’s usually best left to the CPU to control however. Intel’s CPU cores will over/under clock themselves based on load and temp. Also, don’t go for AMD. The performance gap is HUGE. > [@](#): > > I’ve also heard of monitor overclocking. Right now, mine tops out at 60Hz. Anyone familiar with that? Yeah, I just heard about this recently too. Basically you’re setting the monitor controller to refresh at a higher refresh rate. EVGA’s Precision X GPU overclocking software has a pixel boost setting that does this. I would strongly suggest you search around and see if anyone has any stats on your monitor and what results they achieved. Unlike most other overclocking, this CAN damage your monitor. Usually only a few brands support this to any decent extent. My Dell U2711, for example, doesn’t handle refresh rates even a little bit higher. It starts to skip frames if I OC it. > [@](#): > > Vsync: Does screen tearing only happen when the GPU refresh rate is above the monitor refresh rate? > > Usually, Vsync works by 30Hz steps. Is it possible to set it at something else? Screen tearing happens any time the GPU isn’t synced with the monitor refresh. It has nothing to do with frame rate. Anytime the monitor refreshes the screen it starts to draw whatever frame is available on the GPU. If the frames change between refreshes, you’re going to get part of one frame and part of another frame drawn on the screen at the same time - that’s screen tearing. Vsync can be set up to use double buffering or triple buffering. With double buffering you can only support refresh rates that are a factor of the monitor’s refresh. however, triple buffering supports smooth degradation of frame rate, and will show frames in between 60 and 30. If the game only supports double buffering, see if it supports border less window mode. Windows desktop does triple buffered vsync by default. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/44 "2015-09-16T01:44:30Z")
Your board should be fine as well but, genrally speaking, you’ll want to check it before you get started. Some motherboards handle overclocking much better than others. The board that **Bear\_Nenno** linked to, for example, says on the spec page “Maximum processor core frequency \<= 2.93GHz”. Also BIOS options and ability to handle the voltage and stuff like that. That said, your Gigabyte board should be fine. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/45 "2015-09-19T02:37:51Z")
I speculated earlier that the GTX 970 would potentially overclock more than the R9 390, is that accurate? I’m leaning toward the GTX 970. The versions I’m seeing go from 400 CAD to 530 CAD though which is a significant difference and I really don’t know if the more expensive ones add something significant. Are factory overclocked GPUs just about skipping the overclocking step? I suppose the highest boost clock is desirable but I’m not sure about the base clock. As wide a difference between the base and boost clocks seems to allow a GPU to remain as cool as possible until its power is needed. ---
**Author:** ![JayRx1981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@JayRx1981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayRx1981)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/46 "2015-09-24T04:27:18Z")
I can say my stock EVGA 970 GTX Superclocked edition (GPU=1165,Boost=1317,Mem=1753 per GPU-Z) handles pretty much everything I throw at it with very few hiccups in 1080p60. I’m told I could easily overclock it to GTX 980 reference levels very easily if I wanted to. So far, I haven’t run into any problems with the 3.5+0.5GB of VRAM, but then most of my gaming isn’t known to be graphically intensive (play games like WoW, FFXIV, DA:I, Diablo III, and the various Lego games, at max settings so not very intensive). I could probably install Crysis 2 and see how it runs. I don’t know much about the R9 390, but the highest temp I reached for the GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 2.0 in Unigine Heaven 4.0 was 80C at 1920x1080 running fullscreen with x8 anti-aliasing (Nvidia lists max temp at 98C, though I’ve never gotten close to that on air). Having an i7-4790k (running stock–still deciding on case to rebuild a watercooled rig) at 4.0GHz doesn’t hurt much, I suspect. I can run any free benchmark program (with or without overclocking) and compare to someone with an R9 290x or R9 390 if someone else has one or both of those, if that would help. I was frying up some chicken from 20 feet away (lid on deep fryer) that was louder than the the 970 at max in Unigine. I can pretty much list off my components for comparison if necessary. At the end of the day, I’m happy with this card for now and will probably go with whatever comes after the GTX 980 Ti unless it’s an overpriced (for me, that is) Titan variant. I’ve had terrible luck with all of the AMD cards I’ve purchased over the years (2x 5770’s, 6950), and the only “bad” nVidia product came about when I dropped the computer case it was in in from 3 feet in the air, so probably my bad on that one. Oh, and the 970, 980, and Titan series all come pre-equipped with HDMI 2.0 (for 4K@60), not that a 970 is driving anything at that level except at the lowest settings, I suspect, while I hear even the Fury X lacks this “feature”. Not a big deal now, since most current 4k TVs aren’t actually meeting HDCP 2.2 standards (from my understanding), but could be a future proofing issues for UHD Blu-Rays and such. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/47 "2015-09-24T05:24:55Z")
You’re better off buying an Intel over an AMD processor. AMD used to be the “nearly same performance at bargain price” brand but that’s no longer the case, and the gap between Intel’s offerings and theirs has widened considerably. ---
**Author:** ![JayRx1981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@JayRx1981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayRx1981)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/48 "2015-10-08T11:55:12Z")
Scratch that. The SSHD died. Speficially the portion that allows MS Windows (7/8/10) to read it as a viable drive (gparted reads it fine, chkdisk /f fails in an administrator command prompt in windows, and windows takes 15 minutes to boot with the drive plugged ih). Since I was in the area of Microcenter anyways, I figured since for now I failed abysmally at learning to ride a motorcycle, I was gonna do something nice for me. Probably not psychologically healhty, mind, but I replaced the SSHD with a 1TB Samsung EVO 450 and an EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC ACX 2.0. I haven’t played with benchmarks or overclocking yet, but ask away if you have any burning questions. Bioshock Infinite plays beautifully. Any taxing games I should pick up to really put the combo through it’s paces? Windows OS 10 drive is a Samsung EV0 840 (250GB), and RAM is DD3-9-9-9-24. ---
**Author:** ![JayRx1981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@JayRx1981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayRx1981)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/49 "2015-10-08T12:08:22Z")
Oh, and nothing is currently overclocked. Stock ram (and voltage), CPU (though “watercooled with an H100i”), nor the new vid card in a Fractal Node 804. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/50 "2015-10-31T06:24:04Z")
1. Is it generally a mistake to buy a refurbished GPU? 2. How worthwhile is factory overclocking? I’m not sure because on the one hand, I plan to overclock on my own but on the other hand, it seems like factory overclocking gives an assurance that it’ll overclock to at least the level it’s sold at. Really not sure though. 3. Are some of the fancier coolers worth it to overclock a GTX 970 or would that largely go to waste? If worthwhile, what are some of the better ones? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/51 "2015-10-31T10:25:27Z")
A factory overclock means that the card comes overclocked; personal overclocking is never guaranteed. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/52 "2015-10-31T17:31:13Z")
Well, based on the site given, it looks like my GTX 970 will pull its weight just fine, but all of the sudden my 6-core FX 6300 is mediocre in an AMD3+ slot. But getting up to the recommended specs on processor would mean having to resort to installing a water cooler. I have no idea what that involves, but could it possibly not be a pain in the ass? My processor seems to exceed minimal specs, so I guess I’ll be alright. Overall, I expect a better picture than I’d get on a console, though I haven’t exactly done the homework there. I was just shocked at how flat and plasticy the Fallout 3 graphics were on the XBox when I was used to seeing it on my PC. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/53 "2015-11-01T07:51:12Z")
Factory OC: > [@Quartz](#): > > A factory overclock means that the card comes overclocked; personal overclocking is never guaranteed. Yes, so getting at least the factory OC is the main advantage of factory OC over doing it yourself, right? My question is whether or not that is the main advantage and how much of an advantage it is. Also, do factory OCs tend to leave much room? Do they tend to increase the voltage? I’m looking to make the most out of the GPU I buy and I’m ok with reducing its life expectancy to 2-3 years. Is there a way to buy a GPU that’s been binned for high OC potential? Price variations for the same GPU: Looking over here: [http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007708%20600565504](http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007708%20600565504) We can see that the cheapest r9 390 is a PowerColor at 400CAD and the most expensive is a VisionTek at 535CAD. What explains that difference? Neither one of them is overclocked; the 400CAD runs at 1010MHz and the 535CAD runs at 1000MHz. Their VRAM runs at the same freq. Neither one of them has a particularly advanced cooling. Neither is pimped out with colored LED or a backplate. It’s quite curious that the VisionTek would go for 535CAD since an MSI R9 390X goes for 530CAD. Why would someone possibly go for the VisionTek R9 390? Sucky CPU: > [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > Well, based on the site given, it looks like my GTX 970 will pull its weight just fine, but all of the sudden my 6-core FX 6300 is mediocre in an AMD3+ slot. Depending on how the game is made, a mediocre CPU might not be that big a problem. > [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > But getting up to the recommended specs on processor would mean having to resort to installing a water cooler. I have no idea what that involves, but could it possibly not be a pain in the ass? Doesn’t seem so bad: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUz88inukEM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUz88inukEM) Also, a good air cooler might be sufficient. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/54 "2015-11-01T14:33:44Z")
Factory overclocks tend to be modest since they still need stability across all the cards they’re selling and compete in the overall GPU market without adding prohibitively expensive cooling solutions. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/55 "2015-11-09T08:43:55Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Factory overclocks tend to be modest since they still need stability across all the cards they’re selling and compete in the overall GPU market without adding prohibitively expensive cooling solutions. Meaning water cooling? Some GPUs are coming out with factory-installed water cooling. Definitely not worth it for GPUs that cost 300$ but for, say, a GTX 980 Ti, perhaps being able to push it even further might be worth it. Anyone have any idea how much further a GPU could be pushed with water cooling? Examples: [http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487145](http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487145) Some use hybrid cooling: [http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487144](http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487144) Also, has anyone been issues with Newegg? I can’t uncheck my 5 selected items to compare. ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/56 "2015-11-09T15:40:41Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Also, has anyone been issues with Newegg? I can’t uncheck my 5 selected items to compare. I am as big a noob as can be wrt watercooling, but for the newegg thing it seems to be a firefox issue. Switching over to chrome enabled me to add and remove compare items again. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249/57 "2015-11-11T21:42:20Z")
> [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](#): > > I am as big a noob as can be wrt watercooling, but for the newegg thing it seems to be a firefox issue. Switching over to chrome enabled me to add and remove compare items again. I’m having this problem with Chrome. Using a proxy solves the issue but makes navigating the site really slow. Lots of GPUs offer a free game as incentive; Either Rainbow Six Siege or Assassin’s creed. How much bother would it be to resell them and how much could I expect to get? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-sought-on-computer-upgrade/730249.md?page=2)