Rebuild my PC for BF4

B

Bskate907

New Member
I built my PC a few years ago with the help of a friend who is no longer here to consult me. Basically I got BF4 and the game freezes all the time. Not from internet connection (90mbps wired connection) but from what I can tell I have an outdated computer. I need help on rebuilding my PC in regards as what I can salvage and use, what would be compatible, what I would need to upgrade etc. Here is my current specs:


OS: WIndows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Motherboard: Asus P5k Deluxe (Pretty sure I need a new motherboard)
Processor: Intel(R) Core 2 Quad CPU Q9400 @ 2.66GHz
Ram: 4 GB DDR2
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX
(This I plan on upgrading to Nvidia GTX 760 2 GB
Power supply: 700W

If i need to post any new information let me know.

I am a complete novice with what to keep, what to replace, etc. I believe I need a new motherboard and graphics card maybe boost up my cpu to an i5.


Please could anyone assist me with this. In your opinions what can I keep, and what needs to get replaced. What are some recommended parts that would be compatible with my machine?

Thank you in advance.
 
How much money are you willing to spend?
4 additional GB RAM, even though it's DDR2, a good CPU cooler + overclock and a new GPU would be good enough for BF4.
Which PSU do you have? If it's no-name, get a new one.

Otherwise you will need a new mobo, RAM, CPU, most likely PSU and a GPU.
But a lot of reviews are now showing that BF4 likes fast RAM, and you can easily use fast RAM on the newest Intel platform (socket 1150). DDR2 RAM is not that fast, 2133/2400MHz vs max 1066MHz

It all depends on your budget really
 
Last edited:
The power supply is actually an antec 750W power supply ( thought it was 700)

My budget is around 1300

It would be a great help if you could assist me in which parts are compatible with each other. I know nothing about motherboards and what to look for in them. I will invest in the graphics card listed above, most likely an i5 (maybe i7) cpu, and I will get 8gb ram. as to what motherboards and compatibility, im stuck.
 
Antec makes good PSUs, you can keep the one you have.
I'm going to assume you are using US dollars, and if you have 1300 of those to spend, I would probably just recommend building an entirely new system and reinstall your old one, giving you two complete PCs.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer 81.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($4.99 @ Microcenter) (This is insane. $25 discount and then $25 MIB - buy one for your old PC as well if you can buy two (I'm not from US/CA, so I don't know how the stores operate 100%))
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($138.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($98.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($499.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1303.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-03 12:01 EST-0500)

You may say: But I already have a case and PSU.
Again, I would keep your old PC as a complete unit and then buy this one.
 
Thanks for your help. Might as well do that If i have enough right! I didnt even know there was a PC builder tool like that link you gave me. thank you for that.
 
Nice, but I would get a 290X over 780, for two reasons. First, it's the same price and performs better. Second, BF4 is optimized for AMD and you will get even more FPS when Mantle comes out, which BF4 and AMD supports, but nVidida doesn't.
 
I actually forgot about Mantle and treated this as a regular gaming PC. Yes(!) go with AMD if you play BF4 the most. However I've also blocked the 290/290X out of my scope, because you can't get them with a proper cooler. Can you imagine a watercooled 290X performance? Insane.
We seriously need the third party coolers ASAP (look at my sig!)
You also want to get faster RAM. I've seen benchmarks (can't remember settings and such), but going from 1333MHz to 2400MHz (I think :D) gave you 15FPS more. BF4 likes fast RAM.
 
Last edited:
I was looking at the Radeon 290 but it seems they are sold out everywhere online right now. With the RAM you provided you dont think it would be fast enough? I dont plan on maxing out all setting and having my PC maxed out. Im just looking for an enjoyable time where im not freezing up every few seconds during a game.
 
1600MHz is fast enough, but for like $5-10 more you can often get 2133Mhz.
With this build I am confident you'll be able to play on the highest settings without stressing it much.
 
Yeah, try for 1866 or 2133 if its not too much more. For the R9-290X, check Amazon, NCIX, Newegg, and Tiger Direct. Also if you can afford it, get a aftermarket cooler by Arctic Cooling as those 290s from what I hear are LOUD as Jiniix stated. However it shouldnt be too bad with a R4, thats a pretty quiet case.
 
It features GPU Boost 2.0 or w/e AMD calls it, so you can adjust it to a certain fan speed, temps and clock speed.
 
Jiniix said:
I actually forgot about Mantle and treated this as a regular gaming PC. Yes(!) go with AMD if you play BF4 the most. However I've also blocked the 290/290X out of my scope, because you can't get them with a proper cooler. Can you imagine a watercooled 290X performance? Insane.
We seriously need the third party coolers ASAP (look at my sig!)
You also want to get faster RAM. I've seen benchmarks (can't remember settings and such), but going from 1333MHz to 2400MHz (I think :D) gave you 15FPS more. BF4 likes fast RAM.
Click to expand...


CPU and DDR speed makes almost no difference in BF4, even with some CPU cores turned off. It is by far GPU limited. This means, you wont get anything more than 5FPS more by improving your platform.

As with the CPU results, this is a fairly easy set of results to assess. There's a little more variation than we saw with the CPU tests, and a general pattern of a few lost frames as you get lower down the set of memory frequencies. However, it's only ever a maximum of 5 percent between the best and worst results (although they were still repeatable patterns). Therefore, while it appears that the engine does place some degree of stress on the memory subsystem, it's still hugely GPU limited, even at low settings.
Click to expand...

You don't need anything new except a new GPU and extra 4GB RAM. You're getting that anyway, so if I were you id get a 780Ti or a R9290x and be done with it. The rest of your machine is more than capable of handling BF4.

If i had 1300 to spend with your rig, and all i was interested in is improving BF4 game play

780Ti
4GB extra RAM
SSD

Much much more general and gaming performance.

Essentially it comes down to if a 3570K at stock frequency with 2 cores disabled performs the same as a 3570K at 4.5GHz all 4 cores enabled, your Quad core is not going to matter one bit if you have a 780Ti for example.

Forget the upgrade of the platform (as you will also likely need a new Windows key), just get the 780Ti/290X, 4GB RAM and be done with it.

Which, BTW will give you a tonne more BF4 performance than anything listed above.
 
Last edited:
Okedokey said:
DDR speed makes almost no difference in BF4
Click to expand...
Say that to Corsair

Corsair Blog: BF4 loves high speed memory

"Testing on an i7-4770K overclocked to 4.4GHz and two overclocked GeForce GTX 780s in SLI, I discovered that memory speed affects Battlefield 4 performance in a very measurable and perceptible way. Check this out:"

BF41920.png

BF45760.png


"Running at 1920x1200, or slightly above the most common resolution of 1920x1080, bumping our 32GB of Dominator Platinum from DDR3-1600 to its XMP speed of DDR3-2400 raised the average framerate a staggering 22.7% and the minimum framerate a still impressive 9.7%."

"Where things get really exciting is in surround at a monstrous 5760x1200. Ordinarily this is a situation where the system will become totally GPU bound, yet Battlefield 4 again demonstrates a performance uptick going from DDR3-1600 to DDR3-2400. Average framerates are up 15.2%, and the all-important minimum framerate goes up 22.9%!"

A beast system with 4.4GHz 4770K, 32GB RAM and 780 Ti SLI gains massive amounts of frames by jumping 1600 to 2400MHz.

Linus from LinusTechTips also said on his WAN show that they noticed RAM making a difference, and there would soon be a video about it.
 
Last edited:
Jiniix said:
Say that to Corsair
Click to expand...

Lol, so yeah, get a whole new machine because of a claim FROM A RAM MANUFACTURER that itll increase your game - even though, almost every other benchmark shows that the only thing that effects performance in BF4 is the GPU.
 
Okedokey said:
Lol, so yeah, get a whole new machine because of a claim FROM A RAM MANUFACTURER that itll increase your game - even though, almost every other benchmark shows that the only thing that effects performance in BF4 is the GPU.
Click to expand...

RAM speed does make a difference in gaming....otherwise there would be no market for faster RAM....which there obviously is.

I can tell you that back in my overclocking days, I saw significant increases in gaming performance going from 200mhz DDR to 275mhz. Which was pushing the envelope for my motherboard at the time, however the performance gain was a good 10-15FPS on average depending on the game. Every game is different, but RAM speed is still important as 9/10 the CPU is waiting on the RAM or disc drive...

Your computer is only as fast as its slowest component. Therefore, if said person invest in a GTX780ti you can bet it will be heavily bottlenecked by DDR2 RAM as the CPU will be waiting for the RAM and the GPU will be waiting on the CPU. The cycle goes on and on.

I would say go with updating the whole entire platform if you can afford it, because its time. I dont know what the person above me is talking about, but I couldnt imagine trying to run BF4 on a C2Q with DDR2 RAM and get decent framerates at high resolutions and max settings.
 
Last edited:
G80FTW said:
RAM speed does make a difference in gaming....otherwise there would be no market for faster RAM....which there obviously is.
Click to expand...

This is the definition of a circular argument.

Secondly, DDR3 isn't significantly faster than DDR2.

DDR3 1600MHz CAS 9 9/1600*2000 = 11.25ns
DDR2 800MHz CAS 5 5/800*2000 = 12.5ns

Review the BF4 benchmarks I linked before, CPU and RAM make NO difference in BF4.

Also shown by Anand here

The final discrete GPU test shows a small 5% difference from 1600 C11 to 2400 C11, although other kits perform roughly in the middle.
Click to expand...

While memory speed did not necessarily affect our single GPU gaming results, for real-world or IGP use, memory speed above these sinks can afford a tangible (5%+) difference in throughput.
Click to expand...

Even still, above DDR3-2400 the benefits are minimal at best, with perhaps a few % points afforded in multiple GPU setups.
Click to expand...

So instead of basing circular arguments and manufacturers marketing claims, ill post this again, where it shows absolutely no difference between overclocking CPU, core count or RAM speed.

To the OP, SPEND YOUR MONEY ON A GPU. Do that first, (as you're doing it either way); if you don't like the results then update the system. I absolutely guarantee that you will drop in a 780Ti and be happy with that. Getting a new platform for BF4 is nearly pointless.
 
Last edited:
Regardless of the performance, it should still only be $5-10 more than 1600MHz, which is worth it imo.
 
Jiniix said:
Regardless of the performance, it should still only be $5-10 more than 1600MHz, which is worth it imo.
Click to expand...

Agreed, but only if he requires another platform, which I think isn't needed.

Im advocating dropping in a high-end GPU (he has a sufficient PSU) and be done with it. A Q9400 is plenty for BF4 and can be overclocked at least to 3GHz if not. Add another 4GB of RAM and he's golden.
 
Last edited:
Okedokey said:
Im advocating dropping in a high-end GPU (he has a sufficient PSU) and be done with it. A Q9400 is plenty for BF4 and can be overclocked at least to 3GHz if not. Add another 4GB of RAM and he's golden.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think I'll agree. The performance lies in the GPU. It's always the most important part of a gaming rig.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top