PC Gaming upgrade on £200 Budget

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Polymer11

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May 13, 2012
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Hey, my current system has these specifications:

Processor - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz
Motherboard - ASUS P5Q LGA 775 Deluxe Intel Motherboard
RAM - OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC x 2GB RAM (DDR2)
GPU - Nvidia Zotac GTX 460 768MB
Sound card - Asus Xonar DS
HDD - 500 GB Western Digital
PSU - 600 Watt CiT
OS - Windows 7 64 Bit
Monitor - SyncMaster SA350 1080p

As you can see some of these components are several years old and are beginning to have an impact on the games I can play as well as the graphical settings. However, I'm not entirely sure where to go with my next upgrade. Where would see me gain the best improvements? I have a budget of up to £200 for this purchase. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.
 
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MajinCry

MajinCry

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Dec 8, 2011
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You'd actually be better off overclocking that quad core. Anything that would be worth upgrading, would be way more costly than £200.

Also, you seem to only have 2GB of ram. Time to buy some more; Windows 7 likes atleast 4GB for casual use (I.E, not gaming).

You could also see some benefit from upgrading that graphics card, but I wouldn't suggest it; you'd have to spend more than £200 for the upgrade to be worth it.
 
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aatje92

aatje92

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Get a good CPU cooler and overclock that cpu to 3+Ghz, and get a HD7850 should be worth the upgrade. DDR2 RAM is too expensive nowadays imo so leave that. Have no experience with CiT psu's, but if it could run a GTX460 it should run a HD7850 just fine.
 
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benjii

benjii

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I'd say with that rig your real problems are the graphics card and the ram. However, without upgrading your motherboard, which would need a CPU upgrade too; you're stuck with DDR2 RAM. Either way, I'd get an AMD 7850 and spend the remaining ~£50 on getting better ram.

However, what I would personally do is save that £200 and wait 'till I had enough to upgrade CPU, mobo, graphics and ram all at once.
 
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Someone Somewhere

Someone Somewhere

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Sep 23, 2012
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I think he's saying he has 2x2GB - 4GB is adequate, though not ideal.

Second the OC comment.

How about this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card (£154.39 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£52.41 @ Dabs)
Total: £206.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-17 13:06 BST+0100)

I don't trust that old PSU you have. If you think it will survive, then one of these would be good: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-111992020g
No promises that your PSU won't catch fire though - crap PSUs can be REALLY crap.
 
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jungle71

jungle71

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Mar 6, 2013
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if you really want an upgrade i did get rid of that motherboard and DDR2 ram...ddr2 ram on gaming old news.. upgrade to ddr3 which means change of mobo since your mobo do sent let ddr3. i did change those two first. those will least increase the speed
 
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Polymer11

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May 13, 2012
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Thanks for the quick responses guys. I do have 4GB of RAM in total, sorry should have been a little clearer there. As for overclocking my CPU, this is something which I haven't tried before but like the idea of. How can I be sure that my motherboard and cooler is capable however? I currently use a Zalman Super Flower Cooler, would it be sufficient? Are there any guides?

Also, either purchasing the HD 7850 or waiting to upgrade all components at once sounds ideal, something which I'll need to think about. Thanks again.
 
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aatje92

aatje92

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I'd get a better cooler if i where you, that mobo is good for overclocking. Get something like a Cooler Master H212+ or a scythe mugen, that should keep the Q6600 cool enough.
 
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KabirAhmad

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Jan 31, 2016
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I would upgrade the Processor,Ram And the GPU. Try and go for used parts as you can get pretty good prices. I bought a full gaming PC for 200 quid (used) 300 quid with peripherals, normally it would cost around 600:


CPU - AMD FX - 4300 3.8Ghz Quad core

Cooler: Zalman CNPS5X Performa

Mobo: MSI 970A-G43

Memory:Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 (only 8GB)

Storage: Western Digital
WD5000BPVT 500GB & Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (1.5TB total)


Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R7 260X 2GB TurboDuo Video Card


Case:
BitFenix
Neos Black

Power supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
 
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