Looking to upgrade my PC gaming experience so I'm starting with upgrading my old NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 to something that can handle today's AAA titles like Battlefield 4, Total War: Rome II, Far Cry 3/4, etc. I'm a n00b when it comes to PC repair/installation, which is why I've come here to tap into the community's collective wisdom to ensure that (a) I'm making the right prioritizations for my goals, (b) compatibility won't be an issue, and (c) to clear some things up like: "how do I discern between different manufacturer versions of the same GPU?" and "will an upgraded video card be bottlenecked by my other components?" Hoping you guys can steer me in the right direction.
CURRENT SPECS:
Mainboard : PEGATRON CORPORATION TRUCKEE
Chipset : Intel X58
Processor : Intel Core i7 920 @ 2666 MHz (max : 2926)
Physical Memory : 8192 MB
Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250
Hard Disk : RAID0 (1000GB)
CD-Rom Drive : DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
DVD-Rom Drive : Toshiba-Samsung CDDVDW TS-H653Z
Monitor Type : Hewlett Packard HP w2558hc - 26 inches
Monitor Type : Acer Acer AL1714 - 17 inches
Network Card : Intel 82567V-2 Gigabit Network Connection
Network Card : Atheros Communications AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCIe)
Operating System : Windows 8 Pro Professional 6.02.9200 (64-bit)
DirectX : Version 11.00
PSU: Cooler Master 650W GX - 80
NOTES:
- I want to stick with an NVIDIA card.
- My current system is housed in a stock HP Pavilion Elite m9600t PC tower, which means it was built for economy and not for upgrading. I've been told by a couple people that it simply won't accommodate today's bigger cards like an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770. Part of my $1,000 will go to buying a bigger case. Feel free to provide suggestions here as well.
- Along with the bigger video card and the bigger case, I'm interested in getting a more "future-proof" motherboard. Here's where I freak out since my ignorance of PC compatibility has me paralyzed by the thought of having to select an appropriate motherboard for the rest of my components.
All in all, I'm hoping to spread my $1,000 across a new GPU, case, and motherboard. I would be purchasing the equipment within the next few months with the end goal being to have a PC capable of playing AAA titles on near-top settings.
Please help!
CURRENT SPECS:
Mainboard : PEGATRON CORPORATION TRUCKEE
Chipset : Intel X58
Processor : Intel Core i7 920 @ 2666 MHz (max : 2926)
Physical Memory : 8192 MB
Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250
Hard Disk : RAID0 (1000GB)
CD-Rom Drive : DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
DVD-Rom Drive : Toshiba-Samsung CDDVDW TS-H653Z
Monitor Type : Hewlett Packard HP w2558hc - 26 inches
Monitor Type : Acer Acer AL1714 - 17 inches
Network Card : Intel 82567V-2 Gigabit Network Connection
Network Card : Atheros Communications AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCIe)
Operating System : Windows 8 Pro Professional 6.02.9200 (64-bit)
DirectX : Version 11.00
PSU: Cooler Master 650W GX - 80
NOTES:
- I want to stick with an NVIDIA card.
- My current system is housed in a stock HP Pavilion Elite m9600t PC tower, which means it was built for economy and not for upgrading. I've been told by a couple people that it simply won't accommodate today's bigger cards like an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770. Part of my $1,000 will go to buying a bigger case. Feel free to provide suggestions here as well.
- Along with the bigger video card and the bigger case, I'm interested in getting a more "future-proof" motherboard. Here's where I freak out since my ignorance of PC compatibility has me paralyzed by the thought of having to select an appropriate motherboard for the rest of my components.
All in all, I'm hoping to spread my $1,000 across a new GPU, case, and motherboard. I would be purchasing the equipment within the next few months with the end goal being to have a PC capable of playing AAA titles on near-top settings.
Please help!
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