Upgrading PC to run FFXIV better

[Xerlic]

Didn't want to threadjack the guy in the FFXIV forums, so I figured I'd post here. I'm looking to upgrade my system to run FFXIV better. Here are my current specs (get ready to laugh):

Processor: Pentium i5 750
Mobo: MSI H55-G43 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130271)
RAM: 2x CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model TW3X4G1333C9A G (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...TW3X4G1333C9AG)
SSD: 256 GB Samsung 840 PRO
HDD: 1TB F3 Samsung Spinpoint 7200RPM SATA (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-185-_-Product)
GPU: EVGA GTX 460 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-563-_-Product)
PSU: Cooler Master 750W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...0master%20750W)
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

I pretty much only use my PC to play XIV and watch shit, so I'm not looking to go crazy with upgrades. Maybe like $200-$300 max. My current standards for XIV are pretty low, as you can imagine.

I'm pretty sure I can get my most bang for my buck by upgrading the GPU, and I'm leaning towards a 750 ti. Also, I'd like to upgrade my RAM. Can I mix 2gb and 4gb sticks as long as everything else is the same? Frequency, voltages etc. Thanks.

[The Stig]

You know your PC is decent enough as it is. 750 Ti is an excellent choice upgrade wise. Good on heat, there's even 1 that's self cooling (some metal stuck on top of it) providing you don't molest it and energy consumption.

Mixing sticks, I'm divided on that. I think it's a none issue these days in general but on the other side of my mind it's like sticking 1 large and 1 smaller wheel to the side of my car lol

[Niya]

There's absolutely nothing to laugh about, sounds like a solid system to me Though I can understand that ARR probably doesn't perform that good anymore with a 460.

Upgrading GPU, definitely. Heard a lot of positive voices for the 750ti and maxwell, though the higher-end R7/lower-end R9 radeons shouldn't be too bad either.

Upgrading/mixing RAM, hm... It may have become better with DDR3, but the old rule of thumb was always "if possible, keep all modules at same size, same rating and in best case, same manufacturer". Not that much of a fan of "heat spreader RAM" either because they often violate the JEDEC standards and run with timings and clock speeds the used chips officially don't support (thus they hide the chips below the heat spreaders...). Though your corsair RAM seems to be a rare kind of heat spreader RAM that stays within standards.
IMHO, since RAM prices are so laughably low, replace your 2x2 with 2x4 if you really need the additional RAM. In most cases 4GB should be enough, 8 are nice to have. Get a kit with visible chips from Kingston, Crucial, G.Skill, munshkin or any of the companies that offers them. The only JEDEC conform timing/voltage combination for DDR3-1333 that gets used it CL9/1,5V (well, excluding DDR3L with 1,3V, but that rarely gets supported by normal desktop mainboards ^^)

[Gulkeeva]

Hard to say, since everythings low (the main 3, cpu, ram, video card) and could? potentially bottleneck each other upgrading the other (especially the video card).

For a "near" $200 upgrade video card
(both mail in rebates)

Radeon (benchmarks show this as decent) R9 270X
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202059


Or rather have Nvidia (benchmarks show slower then the R9 270X though but faster then 750Ti
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130825


and more ram would help, 4GB is kinda low ;/

about $75 for 8GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-607-_-Product

P.S. the 800 nvidia series is coming up late stept/early oct (or very much expected to be) and may drive prices down as nvidia plans to release a 880 and a 860(?) low end something on release.

[Mabubeezareel]

Personally, I'd get an EVGA Nvidia 760 and another 4GB of that same memory. Total for the two should be right around $300. Also, depending on your CPU heatsink/airflow/ambient room temperature, consider OCing your CPU if you haven't already.

EDIT: About mixing RAM sizes, yeah, that's perfectly fine to do 2x2GB and 2x1GB for a total of 6GB. Just make sure that the two sets are paired off properly, meaning that the 2 sets of equal sizes are set in the same channel.

[Xerlic]

Thanks, all. Looks like I'm definitely going to pickup a new GPU. As far as the RAM, I probably should have been more specific.

I have these in my system, and was planning to pick up these. Same brand, CAS, timings, voltages. Just different capacity. Would that be OK?

[Mabubeezareel]

Yeah, they should work fine, just that 12GBs may be a bit of overkill. 8GBs seems to be the sweet spot right now, unless you're planning on doing some hardcore video editing and running a few VMs while you're gaming.

[Gulkeeva]

Yeah, they should work fine, just that 12GBs may be a bit of overkill. 8GBs seems to be the sweet spot right now, unless you're planning on doing some hardcore video editing and running a few VMs while you're gaming.

No such thing as overkill if your using windows 7/8, all of its used to cache the system improving performance! I have 16GB atm, and using near 6GB with just chrome open, and playing ffxiv. (about 10GB cached programs etc etc)

[The Stig]

6gb with chrome? jeez. I get edgy when it hits 2gb and I purge my tabs and restart Chrome lol

[Pharaun]

6gb with chrome? jeez. I get edgy when it hits 2gb and I purge my tabs and restart Chrome lol

Yeah, but Gulk has stated before that he has some ridiculous amount of tabs open, 100+ iirc.

[Gulkeeva]

Yeah, but Gulk has stated before that he has some ridiculous amount of tabs open, 100+ iirc.

actually, I only had about 10 tabs on chrome, firefox has about 1,000ish open (and if that was open) on day 1 its about 1.5GB ram usage, about 3GB by about day 3).

the 6GB is pretty much....

2GB from ffxiv, 1GBish from chrome, 1GBish from skybe + image viewer + misc programs and 2GB from windows 7 64 bit stuff running most likely looking at resource monitor anyway.

[Scizor]

out of curiosity why would you have 1000 tabs open at once...?

[Xerlic]

He's Gulkeeva. Take a guess why he needs so many tabs.

[Gulkeeva]

out of curiosity why would you have 1000 tabs open at once...?

Been too busy, so havn't had chance to update the imageboard, to "keep" images I haven't updated yet (things like source/image author etc), I just open and save them per say. Also saving locations on where I browse for new pics