Greetings fellow computer enthusiasts! I have been out of the hardware loop since I've been away at college for the past four years (as you can see from my current rig to the side). Now that I've graduated, however, I've managed to save some many thanks to holding down a stressful and slightly-above-minimum wage job for the past several months, and I am finally ready to upgrade! Hooray! (Thank God for college degrees. /sarcasm) Let me begin by saying I'm not looking for amazing performance. I only have $500 to spend. I just want something that will allow me to play current gen games at low / medium settings on a widescreen monitor with a +30 frame rate. Just as an example of what will satisfy me over my current gaming experience, consider this: I'm attempting to play Dragon Age: Origins running lowest possible settings 800x600 resolution, and I'm STILL getting sub 20 fps in some cases... It's rather painful. My main requirements for this rig: 1) Powerful enough to run current gen games on low / medium settings. 2) Future-proof. While I realize that no upgrade is going to be totally future-proof due to the speed of new developments in hardware, but certain measures can be taken, right? 3) Low - middling noise levels. My current rig sounds like a 747 Boeing taking off. I have to use noise canceling headphones to get any kind of immersion experience. Here are the things I have which I don't believe need to be upgraded (although I could be wrong. Another pair of eyes is always helpful: - Antec Truepower 2.0 550W PSU (I think this should be enough to handle current processors and videocards.) -Monitor - Mouse / Keyboard - Speakers (Logitech 5.1) - Sound Card (Sound Blaster Audigy! Value 2. Might even scrap this for onboard... The jury is still out.) - Videocard (7800GTX is actually, surpisingly, above minimum requirements for Dragon Age. I might be able to get by without upgrading this for now.) The $500 is relegated to everything else. - Case (I don't even mind micro ATX form factor if it'll save me some money. I'd use my current case, but it's nice and twisted from a nasty fall it took a couple years ago, and it looks like a warmed over.. Uh. Turd.) - Motherboard - Processor - Videocard (If I have leftover cash, I'd like to upgrade from my 7800GTX.) - Memory - ??? Anything else I'm forgetting. So: Any suggestions on what to buy? I'm doing some research of my own, but I'm curious to hear what you guys will suggest. Thanks in advance!
Here's what I'm thinking so far based on my own minimal amount of research. With shipping, my total comes to $574... A little too high for my tastes. Any suggestions for improvement? Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147112 Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128445 Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103809 Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227496 Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339 My main concern is whether or not the video card is going to fit in a mid tower microATX case. I like the idea of having a lot of power in a low profile case, but only if its feasible. EDIT: This is a possible processor choice, too. Very cheap for this kind of performance, yes? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103706
Check out the AMD 890G chipset, great value for money. Pair it with an Athlon II X4 (or a Phenom if you can afford) and some cheap DDR3 and you've got yourself a very nice budget build. If you want a shiny new but relatively cheap (considering how awesome it it) graphics card I'd go with a 768mb GTX 460.
lol yes that's pretty much what i was thinking with regards to the ram, chip and board. As for the video card, that's certainly a nice step up from what you have now, but not very futur proofed. I guess it depends what you can afford though.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.480288 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.482246 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...081910-Latest-_-ComputerCases-_-11129042-L01A there you go my friend, a better, more powerful and future friendlier PC for $470.00 after rebates. Enjoy!
Yeah that rig will be something like 30x more powerful than your 7800gt I've run dragon age 1920x1080 with a 9600M which is basically like 30-40% more powerful than the 7800gt. It's playable on max settings but only because of the pause button. If your last major rpg was baldur's gate 2, play dragon age on maximum difficulty. Then again I had the digital deluxe edition so I had access to good armor for my tank which makes a massive difference.
