Gaming PC help (Borderlands 2)

J

jellymonster

New Member
Hi,

I haven't been using PC gaming for about 3-4 years now as I've been using my xbox more so decided one day to take down my gaming rig.

Now however, my friends persuaded me to get Borderlands 2 from Steam for PC. I use a MacBook Pro 13" early 2011 spec:
2.7GHz Intel Core i7-2620QM520M (2 cores, 4 threads, Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz, 4MB L3 Cache)
4GB of 1,333Hz DDR3 SDRAM
500GB 5,400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
Integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000
This is running Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit.

Played the game for about 2 hours with my friends, moaning constantly about how it was running! All game video options on minimal and it still ran badly!

So I thought perhaps the integrated intel graphics isn't quite up for it, so I went into the garage to see what parts I still had from my gaming rig. This is what I found:
3.0GHz Intel Pentium 4 630
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3l mobo
(2x) 2GB DDR2 running at 1066MHz
(2x) 1GB DDR2 running at 800MHz
Gigabyte NVidia GV-N98XPZL-1GH graphics card
2.5" 250GB 5400rmp hard drive.

Put it all together, installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit and Borderlands on it and it still ran horribly! Even on low settings!
Now I know the CPU would be the bottleneck of this setup, but I would expect something playable? Have I missed something?

I wil probably end up getting a new CPU, but I don't know if I should get a quad core 775 socket. Or future proof myself a bit and get a new mobo with Intels 2012 socket and a SandyBridge I7 of some sort. Cost difference being about £400 :S.

Any input would be much appreciated =)
 
If I was to get a 775 socket processor it would be something like Intel Q6600.

If I was to get a new motherboard and processor they would probably be:
Asus P9X79 PRO and Intel Core I7 3820
Unless anyone has any better suggestions?
 
jellymonster said:
If I was to get a 775 socket processor it would be something like Intel Q6600.

If I was to get a new motherboard and processor they would probably be:
Asus P9X79 PRO and Intel Core I7 3820
Unless anyone has any better suggestions?
Click to expand...
I would get a MSI Z77A-G45 ATX motherboard and an i5-3570k.

There is no need to get an i7 for gaming. The only thing they offer that an i5 doesn't is hyper-threading, which no game needs.
 
_Controlling said:
I would get a MSI Z77A-G45 ATX motherboard and an i5-3570k.

There is no need to get an i7 for gaming. The only thing they offer that an i5 doesn't is hyper-threading, which no game needs.
Click to expand...

I didn't think of that.... I5 it is =)

That motherboard looks pretty good. That setup would save me about £200 too!!!
 
While the motherboard and CPU would definitely not be the bottleneck, it's much more powerful than your GPU.
Also, I would steer clear of MSI motherboards. They are good, but from my experience (I've built quite a few PCs in my time :D), I would use either Gigabyte or ASUS.

Now, if you're looking to save a few bucks, a motherboard and CPU combo I would recommend would look like this:

  • ASUS M5A97 R2.0
  • AMD FX-4100
  • 4-8GB Kingston HyperX 1600MHz (You'll need DDR3 RAM for newer motherboards)

I would overclock the CPU as well :)

The i5 combo would be more future proof though.
I'd say go with the AMD if you're not planning to upgrade the GPU for a while :)
 
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Jiniix said:
While the motherboard and CPU would definitely not be the bottleneck, it's much more powerful than your GPU.
Also, I would steer clear of MSI motherboards. They are good, but from my experience (I've built quite a few PCs in my time :D), I would use either Gigabyte or ASUS.

Now, if you're looking to save a few bucks, a motherboard and CPU combo I would recommend would look like this:

  • ASUS M5A97 R2.0
  • AMD FX-4100
  • 4-8GB Kingston HyperX 1600MHz (You'll need DDR3 RAM for newer motherboards)

I would overclock the CPU as well :)

The i5 combo would be more future proof though.
I'd say go with the AMD if you're not planning to upgrade the GPU for a while :)
Click to expand...

I have a confession, I kinda ordered the I5 and MSI when I saw them XD

I only used Gigabyte in the last, but this motherboard is rubbish! The over locking functionality is awful!
 
jellymonster said:
I only used Gigabyte in the last, but this motherboard is rubbish! The over locking functionality is awful!
Click to expand...

I have a GA-G31M-S2L which should be worse, but I find this board to be decent. Newer boards have EUFI rather than BIOS, and it's muuuuuuuch better :)
 
you still need new ram, need to see what your psu is and you'll prob want a new gpu, but that one isn't terrible, still should game ok, and you'll need a new windows key unless you have the retail version.
 
CPu was deffinatly the bottleneck. A 9800 GTX+ isnt too powerfull, but my GT 240 can play many games on med, and have ok FPS. And a 9800 GTX+ is quite a bit more powerfull. I have a friend with a few MSi boards, he is happy with 'em. Some MSI boards are good, some are bad. I hear all their Z77 boards are good. And Asus has a awful RMA service, dont go with them. And Gigabyte is a great brand, and most of their newer boards are awesome. Their old boards did have problems. And new RAM, yes! Get some Corsair, or G Skill. 4 GB mininum, 8 GB is great, 16 GB to be future proof. A new copy of windows is also required for each board.
 
byteninja2 said:
I have a friend with a few MSi boards, he is happy with 'em. Some MSI boards are good, some are bad. I hear all their Z77 boards are good. And Asus has a awful RMA service, dont go with them.
Click to expand...
MSI's boards are good, and please stop going on about Asus!! They're fine - really!

jellymonster said:
If I was to get a new motherboard and processor they would probably be:
Asus P9X79 PRO and Intel Core I7 3820
Unless anyone has any better suggestions?
Click to expand...

Wouldn't go for the X79 board and the 3820, instead I'd go for a Z77 board and a 3770K. The 3770K is cheaper and faster than the 3820 at stock, and the 3770K can overclock, whereas the 3820 cannot. Z77 boards are also cheaper than the X79 boards. For me it'd be a no-brainer.
 
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So, CPU, case and motherboard came today. Case has a cracked fun so pretty annoyed about that. My old memory doesn't fit, so need to spend more money on new memory. Looking at Corsair Vengeance? There doesn't seem to be a place to fit the SSD. And my old PSU as 4 pin ATX and the motherboard has 8. I don't know if this will work, it's 700W. If not, what one should I go for?
This is turning out a lot more expensive than I thought =S
Kinda wish I didn't bother and carried on with my Xbox.
My next upgrade will be the GPU, but I've already spent too much! I'll have to research the whole SLI thing too.
 
Jiniix said:
  • 4-8GB Kingston HyperX 1600MHz (You'll need DDR3 RAM for newer motherboards)
Click to expand...

I told you :) The Corsair Vengeance is good RAM, and so is the HyperX. Really just buy whatevers the cheapest of those two, and go for 1600MHz.

As for the 4-pin CPU - I think you'll be able to boot up with only 4 out of 8 pins, but I wouldn't recommend overclocking then. But, I'm not 100% sure, never tried it IRL.
 
An 8-pin board will boot and function fine with 4-pins, but really if you can you want to have a PSU with an 8-pin EPS and use all 8 pins on the board.
 
Yeah yeah, I know I know. Everyone said I needed new memory, I didn't see the posts ut late though =(

I'm glad I don't have to get a new PSU quite yet. I've already spent a lot more than I first intended on an impulse buy =S. I won't be overclocking or anything until I do get a new PSU which will be my next upgrade.
 
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