Game which pursuaded you to go for a upgrade???

[jeetsm]

In my case, Half-Life 2 did the job. Back then I had a P4 1.7GHz and onboard intel 845. The game used to start with all the valve logos n havoc logos, then plain desktop. at that time i had already read about it so was very eager to play it.

Its requirements were minimum 256Mb RAM and I had only 128Mb RAM. So went for a mem upgrade and clearly told my parents why i required that extra RAM (just to make a game work) . I was so overjoyed when finally i got it started. I added another 256Mb,making total 384Mb of RAM.

so which one is it for you all???

 

[LePhuronn]

My core system hasn't changed from the Pentium 4 3.2GHz, but Doom III was the sole reason I upgraded my GPU from a FX5700 Ultra to a 6800 Ultra (AGP), and it's served me well ever since - only running 1152x864 on 17" CRTs so I don't play at too high a resolution (still running everything I do have on max settings).

However I have a new build happening in the New Year. Although it's mainly for work (I just can't do motion graphics any more), I am spurred into action sooner than planned because of Portal 2 coming in February.

 

[compfreak93]

My first upgrade was for CoD4 and WoW, my second upgrade was for Crysis 2.

 

[Mithness]

Uhh, my first upgrade was accually pretty recent, april or may or around their and i bought a really bad graphics card just to play Team fortress 2 (btw its an ati radeon hd 4350) but since then i've been a real techy person when it comes to computers im upgrading my processor, to a duel core (only got single core haha)

 

[Burpy]

I upgraded my whole system in 2008 for id software's Enemy Territory Quake Wars.
Went from a single core AMD CPU to a Quad core Intel, coupled with a 8800GT.

 

[waydiddy]

Half-Life 2 was all it took to make me build my first rig
Prompted me to get my first dual-core (2.13 GHz Core 2 Duo "Conroe")

 

[Herr_Koos]

My first upgrade was for CoD4 and WoW, my second upgrade was for Crysis 2.

Crysis 2 isn't even out yet...

Anyhow, I've been through a number of upgrades over the years, and many of them were game-related. The ones that stand out are:
1) Pentium 150 to play Grand Prix 2
2) K6 333 to play Wing Commander 3 and 4.
3) Duron 750 to play Red Alert 2
4) My current rig (Athlon X2 5600 and 8800GTS, later 9800GTX) mainly to play BFME and C&C3.

 

[MockingbirdUK]

The original Tie-Fighter
(although to be fair, I just bought a joystick, but that's still a hardware upgrade in my eyes)

 

[isamuelson]

My first upgrade was for the original Doom. 286 to 386 SuX!

UPDATE: I forgot. After the 386 SuX, I then went to a 486 DX/2 66. Now THAT was smoking because it was the fastest chip out at that time. I didn't upgrade it for a game, but it was a graduation present from my wife for graduating out of college. However, it DID allow me to play Wing Commander III.

After that, my next upgrade was for Quake. Pentium 133 (OC'd to a 150).

Next upgrade was to an Athlon64 2100+ (and then eventually to an Athlon64 X2 4200+) for Oblivion.

Now, my latest upgrade was to a Phenom II X3 720BE (unlocked 4th core, OC's to 3.6ghz) for Dragon Age and GTA IV. And I have yet to find a game that doesn't run well on this system at med to high detail levels. Of course, my max resolution is 1280x1024 due to my monitor, but hey, it still rocks!

 

[mi1ez]

HL1 pushed me to buy a new pc
HL2 pushed me to go first to HD3850, then 4870.

 

[Alex The PC Gamer]

I'd have to say that the most significant upgrade I did was for...yes...Crysis.

Built a 4000$ system (though by shopping for deals and such I was able to get most on special where total costs were about 1800$). Ya, I loved Crysis and I still love it to this day but I think I might be "EXTREMELY" biased. Dam game cost me way too much to not like it.

Before that, I had upgraded for Ghost Recon Advanced Warfare (GRAW).


Then, I remember purchasing my first computer for Unreal (the single player campaign!). There use to be a war between Unreal and Quake fans. lol

My parents had a 386 at the time and would only allow me to play DOOM on the smallest screen possible. At that point, the PC 486 must have had been my greatest desire for a piece of technology.

 

[greyghost12]

I've never really made an upgrade for a game. I guess cause I've always made sure to only ever buy games I knew my PC could run (even when I was a young teen and bought Civ 3 and AoE 2 on a dingy Pentium 3 550mhz PC with 256mb ram and only integrated graphics).

I mean...I GUESS I just built my current system for CoD: Black Ops.....that might be a fair assumption.

 

[jeetsm]

Upgraded to Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition for atari pac-man

that must be one hell of a CPU intensive game...

 

[waydiddy]

that must be one hell of a CPU intensive game...

 

[brandoncatz]

Fallout 3 and Assassin's Creed 2... didn't really build the system for gaming, but those were the last couple of games that I was attempting (and failing) to play on my old dual-core Athlon e-machine.

 

[namelessonez]

Upgraded to Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition for atari pac-man

Wait, didn't you need liquid cooling for that game??

 

[vladtheone]

Lol mine was Two Worlds... Sad sad sad mistake.

 

[tobydruHot]

Minecraft. lol yes i know that game sucks in graphics but i have integrated graphics and it runs at 5 fps

 

[varis]

The original Tie-Fighter
(although to be fair, I just bought a joystick, but that's still a hardware upgrade in my eyes)

Lol, fellow sith lord here I guess. Those buggered A-wings were just too fast to shoot down with a mouse! :lol:

 

[laxnski]

Planetside was the first game that really motivated me to spend money on a computer specifically for a game.

Right now I'm in the process of upgrading my CPU so I can play COD:BO. I was foolish to not look at the minimum requirements since games like Starcraft 2 and COD:MW2 ran on Extra high settings, but my AMD Athlon X2 7750 appearantly can't handle Black Ops. How's that for a buzzkill?

At least it give me an excuse to have something good when Star Wars: The Old Republic drops next year.

 

[brotech]

Minecraft. lol yes i know that game sucks in graphics but i have integrated graphics and it runs at 5 fps

You don't play minecraft for the graphics! Despite the games appearance though it is kind of a resource hog, I can understand wanting to play it smoothly.

 

[BeefBravo]

I upgraded from an Acer Extensa with an AMD Turionx2 & ATI mobility graphics to an Asus G72 Gaming laptop in order to play WoW on ultra. The G72 has a 2.53GHZ Core 2 Duo (oc'd to 2.88) and a 1GB GeForce 260M graphics card. Picked it up at Best Buy for under $1000 right after the G73 was released. I now can play WoW on ultra with 8x AA. Been thinking of trying Dragon Age: Origins too. Think the G72 will play DA maxed?

 

[stillerfan15]

Bought a Diamond Stealth video card for my pentium 1 back in the day to better play Diablo 2. A long, long time ago
Dave

 

[rattman169]

mine all were pretty much free since I work in PC Repair/Upgrades and I get stuff for free. But I did spend like $70 to upgrade from a Pentium III 866 with 256Mb ram and a Ati Radeon 9600 Pro 256Mb AGP to a Pentium D 820 2.8Ghz with 2Gb DDR2 800 ram and a BFG 6800GT OC 256Mb AGP system to play Need For Speed Carbon. Then recently to my current PC for DragonAge and hopefully Diablo III. I too don't necessarily upgrade for a game except truly the new rig, but just get free gear and do minor upgrades with newer hardware. I have 6 PC's total.

 

[redinsanemetroid]

Starcraft 2

I actually have been using a laptop (with no gaming ability) for 3 whole years until Starcraft 2 came out. Then, I built up a gaming desktop (took around $800) just for the game. In fact, I don't use it for anything else besides that.