What upgrade should I get (details inside)

[cwuarre]

My current rig is
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2 Hz 125w
XFX Radeon HD 6950 1 gb 256 bit
ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard
G.Skill Ripjaws series 2x2gb DDR3
Antec 550w power supply
My goal is
to play Battlefield 3 on High settings at 1920x1080 with Itunes and Firefox in the background (browser required for bf3)
I realize there isnt some exact specifications to achieve this but I also know there are some very experienced people who could recommend a few replacements to reach my goal.
If any tests can be run or if any further information can be provided let me know.
Thanks, Sean

 

[PP Mguire]

Eh, honestly you should be able to already? How many programs do you normally have going at once? And by programs I mean total processes and RAM usage BEFORE loading BF3 (in game).

 

[cwuarre]

Thanks for a quick response
83 processes
35% cpu usage
42% physical memory
Firefox(a browser is required), Origin(required), Itunes

Thats without BF3

~95% cpu usage
72% physical memory on medium settings, near empty server though

 

[PP Mguire]

That is why. Half your resources are going to background tasks hogging your CPU and RAM. Get rid of some of those processes and you'll find you don't really need an upgrade.

 

[cwuarre]

That is why. Half your resources are going to background tasks hogging your CPU and RAM. Get rid of some of those processes and you'll find you don't really need an upgrade.

Wow, that worked wonders haha I was skeptical at first. I tried to end tree for all the processes with my username and then High settings was a breeze. I have a new goal then, what would I need for ultra settings?

 

[PP Mguire]

Wow, that worked wonders haha I was skeptical at first. I tried to end tree for all the processes with my username and then High settings was a breeze. I have a new goal then, what would I need for ultra settings?

You should still be able to do Ultra with that machine. I do it myself and my video card isn't as powerful as yours. If you want absolutely smooth FPS I would suggest upgrading your CPU/Mobo to a 2500k or 3570k. Or you can cheap out, get an H80 or H100 and OC the crap out of your 955

 

[cwuarre]

You should still be able to do Ultra with that machine. I do it myself and my video card isn't as powerful as yours. If you want absolutely smooth FPS I would suggest upgrading your CPU/Mobo to a 2500k or 3570k. Or you can cheap out, get an H80 or H100 and OC the crap out of your 955

Lol, well im admittedly not very tech savvy. What do the 2500k/3570k and h80/h100 refer to?
I have never overclocked my processor, if I replaced my mobo with a nice one and began overclocking would that be a noticeable difference? I dont really want to spend $200+ on a new cpu

 

[Yami]

2500K/3570K are high-end consumer Intel CPUs. H80/H100 are Corsair water-cooling solutions.

 

[PP Mguire]

Your board is fine for overclocking. If you want to experiment in OCing your 955 then you will need good cooling.

 

[cwuarre]

Your board is fine for overclocking. If you want to experiment in OCing your 955 then you will need good cooling.

I do have an after market cpu fan that I bought because I couldnt install the factory fan properly lol. In my defense it was my first build.
Could I try overclocking since I have that? I have no idea how to overclock, and I know ive tried before. Also I leave the side of my case off when I game because I figure that will improve air flow.

Edit: I just found this Asus AI Suite program, I think I use this to overclock