Trying to decide between upgrading my gaming PC or buying a new one

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Johnfloyd

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Mar 16, 2015
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Back in 07 or 08, a friend of mine helped me build a gaming PC. Since then, I've replaced a couple parts as they've become obsolete or burnt out (Hard Drive, Graphics Card, maybe the RAM... etc.), but after purchasing Shadows of Mordor and realizing my computer couldn't run it, I'm trying to decide if I should continue to upgrade my computer piecemeal, or if I should just salvage a few choice components and build a new machine around them.

The goal would be a computer that can comfortably run Shadows of Mordor and other looming releases like Arkham Knight and future Fallout and Elder Scroll games.

Here's my current specs:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00 GHz (2 CPUs), ~ 3.-GHz
OS: Windows Vista
Memory: 4094 MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250

Any advice? Any questions? Thank you in advance for your help.
 
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synphul

synphul

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Mar 11, 2011
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Budget always plays a major role in it but if it's possible a complete rebuild would be best. I've tried the piecing of things together and it seems like it's perpetual upgrading/tinkering and just about the time everything's been upgraded it's time to upgrade again. The e8400 lasted me up until this past holiday season but it was showing it's limits in games. That gtx 250 also isn't helping matters.

Overall a full rebuild with an i3 or i5 would be best. Including moving to 8gb of ram if possible and definitely a new gpu. Depending the brand, size in watts and age of your power supply, that may need an upgrade as well especially if it's older and/or lacks the power for a newer gpu.

If a full rebuild is out of the question, 4gb of ram is at least bare minimum to get you through most games and a new graphics card would help immensely. Just be aware it may require a new power supply as well. The gtx 250 isn't as powerful as the old hd 4850 I ran with my e8400. Around 18mo ago I upgraded the 4850 to an hd 7850 and that was pretty much my limit since the cpu was starting to bottleneck. It was still capable of playing cod ghosts on med/high settings at resolutions around 1080 usually between 50-60fps, sometimes dipping to 45fps in high action areas.

SoM system requirements call for between 4-8gb of ram and a quad core cpu of some sort along with a mid grade to upper end video card like a gtx 750ti or r9 270 (guessing a bit from listed specs of hd 7950/gtx 660 recommended specs). Figure around $130-150 for a decent gpu to play it.

This is just the guts, no case, no o/s - assuming you'd reuse your existing hard drive. Cpu, ram, motherboard, gpu and power supply if you needed it. Reuse the same case. An i5 build for under $500.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($178.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($83.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team Xtreem Dark Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $496.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-23 20:41 EDT-0400
 
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