Ya, these are probably common knowledge...

1. Is their really any worth the while improvement in processor speed if i re-formatted my aging desktop and formatted in Win 7 64bit, it's current 32 bit?

2. If you hook your laptop via the HDMI out to the HD TV... do you match the TV's 1080 resolution or use what the laptop is... IE: 1366x768x32 in my case?

My aging desktops CPU is my weak spot... and thou I was hoping to buy or build a new state of the art desktop for this Winters releases... IE: BF3... looks like that ain't going to happen this year... so trying to see what, if anything I can do to increase processor speed.

My desktop:

Intel Core2 processor Q6600 (Quad Core)
4GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
NVIDIA GeForce 280 GTX 4/1024MB DDR2)

I asked this before and was told I have a strong system... but that was a year or two ago now.

actually, looking at that performance chart... looks like my harddrive is the weakpoint... anyway to speed that up...besides defragging...

5.9 is not uncommon for SATA drives. I got the same number. By the way, Experience Indexes just go as high as 7.9, so use that as a measure.


Your system numbers look fine. Do you overclock? I think you can get a bit more out of your system.

Agree.

Hard drives score low -- but don't affect FPS (games are programmed so that they don't). Some poorly programmed games will "stutter" momentarily while the hard drive is accessed. A faster drive might help that. But, its not worth the effort. There are more important places to spend cash

Most games are 32bit. A small number of new ones are 64bit and 32bit (will run on any system). Going to 64bit might make a small improvement in those games -- too small to actually see. So, 32bit OK.

32bit games can only use 4GB of memory. Some games do slightly better on the extra memory that the 64bit will address. But, not a big deal in most games.

Intel quad core is good enough if it runs around 3.0GHz or faster. As noted, OC it for the price of a better cooler. Even OC may not make a visible difference in FPS.

The weak link is the graphics card. Not horrid. But, with a substantial cash outlay, one could do significantly better. Get high end card with 1.5GB or more of graphics memory (extra memory less useful in a 32bit system, but useful in the next system).

All in all, a good system that might be improved with a better graphics card (depending on the games). If you upgrade in the future, go for 64bit and 8GB RAM -- but that won't make a worthwhile difference today.

In my opinion

thx, good feedback.

all of my SATA Disks get 5.9 regardless of cache size.

The low score makes sense, as much as any of that system at least. Spinning platters is old tech now. SSD's should be cheaper than they are by now IMO.
I think you're well off too, but your video editing, if you still do a lot of that, is where you might benefit from beefing up. My cpu is far behind yours but it's still fine for gaming. Or are you seeing issues running Fraps while gaming?

You might get the boost you want with the hardware you have just by changing things up a bit. What AV do you use? I'm a bigger and bigger fan of MS Sec Essentials, doesn't slow down the pc as much as TrendMicro did and FAR less than AVG. I'm always for a format and reinstall if it's been a year or more, but that's just me. Stick your games on another partition so you can do it with ease next time. Streamline it as a gaming only rig for the most part.
Otherwise, you could also tweak W7 some, drop the aero, set it up for performance rather than "pretty". You can customize to find a middle ground. Uninstall anything you don't need, clean up the drive, check your start up and services with msconfig. PG posted a link to a handy site: http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3347429/Win_7_tweaks_seeing_massive_im.html#Post3347429
How's the temp situation? Open it up, do a thorough cleaning (remember to be grounded). Maybe freshen it up with a new case and better cooling for that "new pc feel".

HDMI to the tv...just give it a shot. Start with the lower res, then change...but hit "apply" not "ok". If it's not good just wait for it to change back. The tv will be fine either way, just depends on what the laptop is capable of.

ya, I pretty much stopped making too many movies because FRAPS stutters... but it's still running everything good... even the game that must not be named that is in alpha... everything on high getting 40 fps, (that was a concern)... I still can play everything on HIGH even Blackshark and A10c with 35 to 45 fps.

and I use MS Essentials also.... and I use to re-format every year... but haven't in 2 now... too much work and I like everything i got.

but ya, maybe a better graphic card will solve my recording issues.


thx again

Get a back up drive if you don't have something set up already. Format, get everything loaded perfectly, games, drivers, apps...then go into Backup & Restore and make a system image. Next time you have a major issue, you've got your perfect install to go back to, just update as normal.

Mag, make sure whatever video card you get will work okay with the current power supply you have. Both NVIDIA and AMD have a certified list of power supplies for their video cards.

I can only second that. Learnt it the hard way, but came out lucky, as no permanent damage occured, when I tried to run an HD6950 with maxed out settings with a 560W PSU. However, even if your PSU is not listed - if it got enough power on the relevant channels it should work without problems.

Yeah, even my 10k Velociraptor 600GB with dual CPUs gets a 5.9 in WEI...

Regarding the power supply:

If you buy one, make sure it is "single rail". Some are multi-rail.

In a nutshell, multi-rail does NOT give full power to any connector -- and sometimes, with multi-rail, no connector will provide enough power for what you have hooked to it.

Where can I find the "approved" lists? Searching Nvidia's site right now with no luck.

It's probably under each card's listing, as different cards will need different amounts of power, but it's likely only under the top end cards. Lower level cards (anything below the 560) will probably work with anything. The main issue is SLI (or Crossfire for AMD) as even 2 lower level ones can tax a PSU.




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