Im still running my 7750 BE @ 2.9ghz, 4gb ddr2 1066, and radeon 4850X2 1GB i use a 37" LCD TV @ 1920x1080 currently im playing DayZ with the GFX turned down at 10-15FPS and i just cant take it any longer, and I'm not even going to bother buying a newer game :/ i dont mind shelling out some $ but id like a best-bang-for buck for the system. obviously a GTX 690 would kick arse, but... with my CPU and older pci-e slot with ddr2 im pretty sure its full potential would be throttled back drastically.
about $700 budget... i really need to upgrade my HDD's to something thats going to last me a while, and im thinking about keeping my system current for now and getting a revodrive x3 and a GTX 570 which would both be in my budget. right now my boot drive is a 2.5" 200 something gig P.O.S bc my main drive crapped out and i had it laying around, my games are loaded on 2 seperate raptor 37g HDD's. i tried making one a boot drive and its just way too small. i know ill be holding that 570 back but not sure by how much. if i had double the budget id grab the unlocked i5, of course budget permitting. too bad amd sucks right now, theirs not a whole lot of competition driving the prices down in the cpu market.
I would go for a Phenom II CPU like airbud7 said, and try overclocking it (make sure you get an unlocked version). This should breathe a new lease of life into your current system. Keep the 4850x2 for a little while longer, save up a little more cash and go for a HD7770 or save a bit more and go for HD7870 if your PSU can handle it. If your on a budget AMD is the best way to go in terms of graphics card if you ask me, which is why I went for the HD7970 instead of a GTX680. I did not see the point in a £60+ price difference for 5% better performance in only a handful of games.
ARMA 2 / DayZ is very CPU intensive. Take the advice of others in here and upgrade that before anything else.
No doubt. ARMA is the "Watermark" for "How much do you want to see your PC cry" I mean I have been with ARMA from the start(Ordered the german version because I couldn't wait for global release) It spent it's entire life span getting patches to "optimize" it. ARMA II comes along same deal, still getting patches to "optimize" it. ARMA III is right around the corner I don't expect it will be any different. Not saying it's poorly coded or a bad experience to play but you have always been able to "turn it up" to beyond any level that your PC can handle. That said I really should fire it up as I bought my 7970 and have really not been gaming at all. So many games I could be "punishing" it with. Add ARMA to that list Sleeping Dogs has been the first game in months that's got me sitting in front of my PC again and it's no slouch for punishing either But the pay off has been amazing.
$700...Thats easy... 1...$84..http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157304 2...$199..http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115234 3...$299..http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127697 4...$38..http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314 Total...$622.......$78 left over
$110http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727 $299http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161407 $110http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442 and you will still have around $150 after shipping and all
