Hmm, what to upgrade?

[TwwIX]

When i upgraded to a E8400 and a GTX 260 Core 216 last year, i thought that i future proofed this system for at least 2 more years before i started feeling the impact on it from newer games. I even overclocked them. Well, that day has come sooner than i expected. I have been playing the Battlefield Bad Company 2 Beta for a couple of days and i can't say that i am too happy with my framerate. Game loads fast and all but once the heavy action starts the frame rate drops below 30. Yes, i know that it is a beta but i don't expect them to optimize it in the near future, if at all.

The question is, what do i upgrade on a budget?
Upgrading to a i7 would be too costly at the moment. It would require me to practically put an entire new system together. So, that's out of the question for now.

So, here are my options.
Upgrade to a new graphics card along with a PSU. Or, go SLI. That though would require me to get a new motherboard too, along with the card and PSU since my current board doesn't support SLI. Finding a compatible card for my particular model could be difficult too.

What would you guys suggest to a gamer on a budget? Any advice is welcome. Thanks!

 

[Schall]

Get a Q9400, a new PSU, and an ATI card. So much better than nvidia it's not even funny. Or just get a new cpu and psu. GTX 260 is pretty good.

 

[CyberPitz]

The main reason for your frameloss is your dual core processor. Get a quad core for 250 bucks and you're good. That's my plan to start off.

 

[huntingbear]

The main reason for your frameloss is your dual core processor. Get a quad core for 250 bucks and you're good. That's my plan to start off.

now now...let's not be sold by the number of cores, don't forget that when not being used a multicore processor underclocks the extra cores drastically. I've seen some pretty badass dual core beasts

 

[3ssence]

Pitz is spot on. The GTX260 is more than adequate. What you are seeing in bad company 2 is a game that actually utilises the extra cores of a quad core, and penalises those without. You don't need that powerful a graphics card to run it, people get by fine with the previous generation, 8800GTX etc, but with a quad core.

edit: Worth bearing in mind that this is a beta though, and most cpu's, duals and quads, don't actually seem to be utilising much more than 50% of each core. So there is scope for improvement in that sense.

 

[Barney Fife]

All of the above.

 

[Quixoticism]

Either upgrade your processor(biggest thing holding you back right now) or get another 260 and put it in SLI.

 

[The Brick]

To get some more framerates in BC2, set shadows to low, HBAO off and directx to 9. That massively increased my framerate. But I'm on a quadcore anyway.

I don't see how any upgrade is worth it from what you already have. Overclocking the cpu is a good idea if you haven't already.

 

[TwwIX]

I Am starting to believe that this game is poorly optimized. No matter what settings i play the game on, i still get the same framerate. Yes, i have played around with the settings config file too. I don't seem to be the only one getting a inconsistent frame rates though. So, i'll wait and see if they will patch it.

All of my other games are running perfectly fine. Including Crysis on high settings.

 

[CyberPitz]

I play the game on 1600 x something or other resolution *Yes, I can't remember.*

Currently with my 8800GT, I have everything set at Medium. Sometimes I get really solid 25-30 FPS, sometimes I go from 40 down to 15 stutters....It's very un-optimized, but considering how this game was made, I'd have to say having a Quad Core will be very beneficial to you. Considering the game says that Recommended = Quad Core and a GTX 260....