Updating My Specs

T

tskacoustic

Posts: 11   +23
Hi all,

I'm looking at upgrading my current PC as I would really like to play games such as Skyrim and ARMA with (much) better graphics. Ill have around £500 to spend altogether on the new parts.

My current specs are:

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6400+ (2 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 6144MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+

If you need any more specs or details about the computer just ask :)

Thanks!
 
On a 500 Dollar budget, that's going to limit you, let me see what I can do, but that's going to limit a lot of things. Give me a few minutes
 
Was not paying attention to the symbol haha. Ok then, I can work with that alot easier, il l erase what I was doing before and start over lol.

Heres a few Combo Deals on Newegg at the moment that are pretty good.

AMD Build

Intel Build

With both builds at your budget since both prices are roughly the same, I would recommend this card based on your range.

HD 7870

Let me know what you think!
 
GhostRyder said:
Was not paying attention to the symbol haha. Ok then, I can work with that alot easier, il l erase what I was doing before and start over lol.

Heres a few Combo Deals on Newegg at the moment that are pretty good.

AMD Build

Intel Build

With both builds at your budget since both prices are roughly the same, I would recommend this card based on your range.

HD 7870

Let me know what you think!
Click to expand...
You will need a completely new build, no upgrading. Sorry if the sites below are in US dollars, you just have to find the products on Amazon UK or whatever you use.

CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K ($220)
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LK ($140)
CPU Cooler: Hyper 212 Evo ($35)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB ($70)
GPU: EVGA GTX 660 ($220)
HDD: WD Black ($95)
PSU: Corsair HX650 ($105, but it is $80 after mail in rebate--which is equivalent to the lower end PSU)
Case: Corsair 200R ($50)

This build is a bit above the budget, but it will play all of your games at high settings (maybe not ultra, but there is basically no difference between ultra and high).

If you want to reach the $800 mark exactly, change the Core i5 and Z77 with these components:
CPU: AMD FX-6350 ($140)
Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 R2.0 ($100)
 
Wait a minute hold the phone JC713, my builds were good, they were bundle deals that are on sale at the moment on Newegg lol. Both of those were I54670k and the other was an FX 8350, I don't get what was wrong with those (The I5 build had low ram, but I figured adding another stick would not be much of a bother later on). The FX one was very nice and even had the new sabertooth R2 variant and had the exact same PSU you suggested lol.
 
GhostRyder said:
Wait a minute hold the phone JC713, my builds were good, they were bundle deals that are on sale at the moment on Newegg lol. Both of those were I54670k and the other was an FX 8350, I don't get what was wrong with those (The I5 build had low ram, but I figured adding another stick would not be much of a bother later on). The FX one was very nice and even had the new sabertooth R2 variant and had the exact same PSU you suggested lol.
Click to expand...

OMG sorry, I was looking at links that were provided on another thread! Fail lol.

It works out though since my builds are a bit better than the combos. XMS3 RAM isnt that great. The Sabertooth motherboard is overpriced for a budget build. Seagate HDDs suck (in my opinion). The combo deals are great, I was putting together a build I thought was more suitable (despite looking at the wrong links lol).
 
Tight budget.
I'd steer clear of U.S. etail since Newegg aren't representative of UK pricing (and of course don't ship internationally)
CPU: Intel Core i3 3220 £93 (Use the included heatsink fan - it's plenty for your purposes) or Core i5 3330 (quad core) £132 (You'd need to go with the HD 7850 graphics option to stay within budget)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LX2 £78
Memory: 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600C8 £44
PSU: XFX 550 Watt Core Ed. £47
Graphics: Either: MSI HD 7870 2GB £160 or MSI HD 7850 £132 (Depending on your screen resolution and budget)
Hard drive (if required): Western Digital 1TB Caviar Blue £55
Chassis (if required). Largely subjective de[ending upon your taste. I'd look at something that has reasonable build quality, USB3.0 (future proofing...maybe), and a reasonable number of included fans:
Corsair Carbide 300R for £64, or a cheaper option of the NZXT Source 210 at £42 fit the bill - but there are a lot to choose from.

If you had a requirement for productivity/content creation workload I might have steered you towards an AMD FX 6300 + 970 chipset board for around the same price as the Intel i3 + Z77. but there isn't a great deal between them in price and the Z77 offers a better feature set.
 
dividebyzero said:
Tight budget.
I'd steer clear of U.S. etail since Newegg aren't representative of UK pricing (and of course don't ship internationally)
CPU: Intel Core i3 3220 £93 (Use the included heatsink fan - it's plenty for your purposes)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LX2 £78
Memory: 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600C8 £44
PSU: XFX 550 Watt Core Ed. £47
Graphics: Either: MSI HD 7870 2GB £160 or MSI HD 7850 £132 (Depending on your screen resolution and budget)
Hard drive (if required): Western Digital 1TB Caviar Blue £55
Chassis (if required). Largely subjective de[ending upon your taste. I'd look at something that has reasonable build quality, USB3.0 (future proofing...maybe), and a reasonable number of included fans:
Corsair Carbide 300R for £64, or a cheaper option of the NZXT Source 210 at £42 fit the bill - but there are a lot to choose from.

If you had a requirement for productivity/content creation workload I might have steered you towards an AMD FX 6300 + 970 chipset board for around the same price as the Intel i3 + Z77. but there isn't a great deal between them in price and the Z77 offers a better feature set.
Click to expand...

Some games really struggle on dual cores, so I would stand clear of them. For example, Far Cry 3 has horrendous performance on dual core platforms and favors quad core platforms. The WD Black isnt much more expensive than the Blue. Finally, the Corsair 200R is probably the best option for this build since we can use the savings toward other components.
 
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You cannot be serious with those specs, that processor would not be a good gaming rig because the processor would not handle most new games coming out.
 
JC713 said:
Some games really struggle on dual cores, so I would stand clear of them. For example, Far Cry 3 has horrendous performance on dual core platforms and favors quad core platforms.
Click to expand...
Please link....and I mean PLEASE LINK.
Here's mine: Far Cry 3 CPU performance.
Your turn.

If a 4C CPU is a "must have" feature Aria have the i5 3330 for £132, which puts the build at £530 (w/ HD 7850 and Switch 210). BTW JC713, your build works out to be just over the £700 mark (around $US1090) is bought via British etail.

Skyrim and other RTS games that rely upon AI generation tend to be the greatest bane of dual cores, but for the budget you generally need to make sacrifices. Are you telling me that dropping a few games per second in some gamesis of critical importance. If this were the case, you wouldn't use an AMD CPU with three and four way Crossfire
JC713 said:
The WD Black isnt much more expensive than the Blue.
Click to expand...
Well it depends on whether the longer warranty is worth a 40% price hike. £22 still represents a sizeable chunk of the OP's budget...and the object of the exercise to keep within the budget after all - although as a user of Caviar Black and RE drives I definitely see the appeal.
JC713 said:
Finally, the Corsair 200R is probably the best option for this build since we can use the savings toward other components.
Click to expand...
Nice chassis, and one that I would have added -amongst others- which is why I linked to a whole range of mid priced towers
 
Aw, your right. It is much more in the UK :(. But I was comparing the i3 3220 to a i7, I should have compared it to an AMD CPU since that is what the situation is right now. The 6350 will perform higher than the 6300, which already performs higher than the 3220:
CPU_01.png
 
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He should invest in a CPU and motherboard first, that in my opinion should always be top priority, after that, manage your budget to keep everything else in check. A GPU, ram, and HDD can always be upgraded a lot easier than a CPU and motherboard. I think he needs either and FX 6350 or better AMD proc or and I5, that budget has enough to maintain that area.
 
JC713 said:
Aw, your right. It is much more in the UK :(.
Click to expand...
Yup. It's always a good idea to note where the OP is geographically. Distribution areas and local tax play a substantial role in advising on a budget constrained build ( Yeah, I've been doing this awhile), as do mail in rebate availability (fine print usually tells you that you need to have a North American post address to claim the rebate).
The U.S. is singularly blessed when it comes to range and competitive pricing (unless you have direct access to a wholesale distribution hub ;) ), but very few stores ship internationally- either because of warranty/RMA hassles, an unwillingness to get hooked up with PayPal, high international shipping costs, or conflict of interest with local distribution.

For the UK, the principle (r)etail outlets with good stock availability and representative pricing are OcUK, Dabs, Scan, Aria, and to a lesser extent Amazon UK. SpecialTech and The Water Cooling Shop usually offer a good range/price on cooling products.
 
GhostRyder said:
He should invest in a CPU and motherboard first, that in my opinion should always be top priority, after that, manage your budget to keep everything else in check. A GPU, ram, and HDD can always be upgraded a lot easier than a CPU and motherboard. I think he needs either and FX 6350 or better AMD proc or and I5, that budget has enough to maintain that area.
Click to expand...

He will need new RAM to go with the motherboard + a new HDD. The GPU he has is ancient. It all needs to be put together at once. There is no need for upgrading parts separately.
 
I never said upgrade separately, I was expecting him to buy a new machine based off his old specs. However, you should always first focus on CPU and a good motherboard then worry about the rest because all that can be swapped out later with ease. I do not recommend at all an I3 because that's just a temporary chip for a gamer being that Quads are what most games will run more smoothly on. I would not recommend the FX 4 series of the I3 series, he should try for an 4670k or the FX 6 series or higher and then worry about the rest.
 
GhostRyder said:
I never said upgrade separately, I was expecting him to buy a new machine based off his old specs. However, you should always first focus on CPU and a good motherboard then worry about the rest because all that can be swapped out later with ease. I do not recommend at all an I3 because that's just a temporary chip for a gamer being that Quads are what most games will run more smoothly on. I would not recommend the FX 4 series of the I3 series, he should try for an 4670k or the FX 6 series or higher and then worry about the rest.
Click to expand...

The 4670K is way out of his price range, especially since he is purchasing in the UK (prices are higher). The FX 4350 is fine, but the 2 extra cores in the 6350 would help in RPG and RTS games.
 
cliffordcooley said:
I'm confused! You specifically recommend avoiding dual core in response to dividebyzero suggestion of i3-3220. The i3-3220 performs better by 36% (according to Passmark) than the FX-4350 which you say is fine for games.
Click to expand...

I was never comparing it to the i3 lol. I was just saying that for his budget, if he wants a quad core, go FX4350. If he wants the best bang for the buck get the 6350. If he wants Intel, get a Core i3.
 
You want 2x4GB of RAM (or 2x2GB), not 1 4GB stick. As for the motherboard, MSI boards are not that great. There are budget Gigabytes and ASUS' that are more reliable. MSI boards have given me trouble in the past. That PSU is a disaster waiting to happen lol. If you can get in a 650Ti, do it.
 
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