Upgrading my old gaming rig for $500

greggpdx · Oct 24, 2013

Approximate Purchase Date: next 30 days

Budget Range: $400 - $500 total

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Internet, home office

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: CPU, mobo, RAM, video card

**Include Power Supply: PC Power&Cooling Silencer 610

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg or Amazon, but open to others

Location: Portland, OR, USA

Parts Preferences: no preference

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Not now, but probably eventually

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200

Additional Comments: I mostly play FPS - Crysis, Rage, Borderlands 2, Battlefield.
Looking for a platform that has some room to grow - CPU upgrades, SLI/Crossfire, etc...
I also already have a new 120GB SSD and Win8 ready to install
Planning to reuse existing case (Antec Sonata), DVD drive, PS (PC Power&Cooling Silencer 610), KB, mouse, etc...

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Moving to Win8 and also want to play some newer games like Crysis 3, Battlefield 4, Bioshock Infinite, etc...

My current rig is an AMD Athlon X2 5000+ with SLI GTS8800 512's. This setup has served me well for a long time, but it's time to upgrade.

Razor88 · Oct 24, 2013

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1SBP7
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1SBP7/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1SBP7/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($117.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($93.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: AMD 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card ($205.66 @ Newegg)
Total: $502.60
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-24 08:37 EDT-0400)

That's the best I can do with your budget. Double check with other members/ forums though, since I'm no expert.

I do think that's good bang for buck though

Rammy · Oct 24, 2013

There's a few considerations here, but if you want to get the best bang for your buck, then something like this is probably the way to go-

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4-M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $464.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-24 09:11 EDT-0400)

Now, there are a couple of issues here. The processor isn't unlocked, and neither is the motherboard, its a budget compromise but a totally sensible one. You mention that you want a platform that has room to grow and while this can in theory, the 1155 socket will not get new CPUs, and the video card I selected is such good value because it's probably being killed off (AMDs new nomenclature makes that particular card even more confusingly named than before) and because Newegg have a very nice deal on it. This is great for building a machine today, but it means that finding crossfire compatible cards might be tricky in the future.

My advice would be to ignore any "expansion potential" and build the best machine you can for today. It's always going to be aiming at a moving goalpost, and if you made it to today with GTS8800s you might be better off spending less but more often.

greggpdx · Oct 24, 2013

Rammy :

There's a few considerations here, but if you want to get the best bang for your buck, then something like this is probably the way to go-

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4-M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $464.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-24 09:11 EDT-0400)

Now, there are a couple of issues here. The processor isn't unlocked, and neither is the motherboard, its a budget compromise but a totally sensible one. You mention that you want a platform that has room to grow and while this can in theory, the 1155 socket will not get new CPUs, and the video card I selected is such good value because it's probably being killed off (AMDs new nomenclature makes that particular card even more confusingly named than before) and because Newegg have a very nice deal on it. This is great for building a machine today, but it means that finding crossfire compatible cards might be tricky in the future.

My advice would be to ignore any "expansion potential" and build the best machine you can for today. It's always going to be aiming at a moving goalpost, and if you made it to today with GTS8800s you might be better off spending less but more often.

Thanks, I really appreciate both options, and the insights. Back in "the day" I would upgrade fairly religiously every two years, but kids/wife/job has slowed me down a bit.

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Upgrading my old gaming rig for $500

greggpdx

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Razor88

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Rammy

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greggpdx

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