What do I need to upgrade for next years games?

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Aubryn

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My PC is not the top of the line gaming rig, however its what I've managed to successfully use over these pass years to play some of the most demanding pc games such as crysis 2 and Black Ops. My pc cannot handle Operation Flashpoint Red River nor can it handle most other games that will release in the next few months. I'm ok with running games on medium settings, its the low settings and choppy performance that gets to me...

I hope to do as little upgrading as possible, since I've already invested far more in my pc then I'd like to.

My specs are as follows.

I intend to upgrade my cpu from an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ @ 2200 MHz to an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5800+ 3.0GHz.

I currently have an nvidia 9500 gt which I don't intend on upgrading just yet.

I've been told to upgrade my motherboard from a KN9 SLI am2 socket to something a bit more powerful but like i've mentioned before I don't want to spend too much, i'm hoping to spend below 250$.


I appreciate your help and suggestions.
 
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Keytask

Keytask

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My computer won't run any of those games. lol But, you definitely should upgrade your graphics card. That is, if it's not inside the motherboard, otherwise, you can't take it out. I'm not sure what to recommend because I don't know what system you have and what year.
 
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HEXiT

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your gonna need to spend at least $500 to get it up to scratch. a dual core, especailly a slow 1 like the amd 5800 x2 just wont cut it. your gonna need a quad.
antel 2400 and an h61 motherboard with 4 gigs of ddr3 1333 will set you back exactly $250 and should be your first purchase.
upgrading the gfx first will lead to an unbalanced system that will give worse performance than you currently have which is pretty much none already.
you always start with a new cpu if your upgrading from particularly old kit.
you will also want to check out a decent psu minimum 500watts theres another 70 and the rest of your 500 can go on a new gfx card.
 
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kashifme21

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This is simply not true, please let this myth die already. In fact its console gaming that is very expensive compared to PC. If you are a regular reader of Tomshardware.com then you would note they have put up 500usd rigs that run most games out in 1080p, consoles only run 5% of their games in 1080p.

The cost of games on console itself is enough to make console more expensive then PC, Every game bought on console costs 10-20usd more then PC version, in the end if you intend to be playing lots of games then PC is obvious cost effective solution if you only intend to play 2-3 games a year then console is cheaper, however note console still wont do alot of the stuff that the PC can do IE(Work, web browsing, video editing etc).

To the OP, i would strongly recommend a GPU upgrade above anything else if you intend to be gaming on that rig. In todays day and age its the GPU that does most of the work when it comes to games. You can get a GTX 460 for about 150usd, and then overclock that rig to get decent performance.
 
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HEXiT

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lol the amd athlon 64 x2 didnt oc at all well. most people were lucky to get 200mhz out of them. when they dropped down to 65 nm you could maybe get 500-700 mz for a slower sample but the fastest 3.0ghz wouldn't even do 200mhz oc's as for attaching a gtx460 you will bottleneck it so badly it wouldn't be worth the money. the best card an amd 64 x2 can handle is a 98gt and that is only if you get a 3.0ghz 1 the 4600x2 bottlenecks it by about 10 percent.
 
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kashifme21

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He said its a athlon system @2200 MHZ that seems awfully low there might be potential of 400-500mhz there with a better cooler anyways. He wont be seeing much of a performance improvement on the games with the GPU he has anyways regardless of whatever CPU he gets. I said GTX 460 because its a good bang for the buck and in the future if he does decide to go for a full system upgrade like a 400-500usd rig, the 460GTX will come in handy at that time too, while allowing him to play any of his current games at much better framerates and AA.

Bottom line even with a CPU upgrade the 9500gt isnt really suited for games (its got a GPU thats actually weaker then ancient consoles out today).
 
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HEXiT

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your rite in that its a good bang for buck but it wont actualy give any performance increase because it will bottleneck so badly. its likely to give worse performance and thats if it even works on his motherboard.
not all pci-e x16 slots are backwards compatible if he has a via or nforce chipset with a 1.0a pci-e then its likely the card just wont work at all.

i really do know from experiance that the cpu wont handle it. i had a 4600+x2 and it wouldnt handle an 88gt without bottlenecking by neatly 10 percent. not you apply that logic to a very similar but slower cpu with a card thats x4 more powerfull and you can see that the card will indeed cripple his cpu by as much as 70 percent or more.
 
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illuminatirex

illuminatirex

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I am waiting to build a new pc as well..bu ti am waiting for the new ati 7x00 cards to be out, and till April/May 2012 for the Ivy brige to be out.... ;)...long wait...but that build should last me a good 4 years....I hope....or until cheaper dx12 gpu's will be out ;)
 
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Aubryn

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I will upgrade my video card in time.My problem now is finding a good cpu to fit my processor, I have an am2 socket and most seem to be dual core or lower. Any suggestions....I guess I have no other options except to upgrade my board.
 
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Aubryn

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So I think I've decided to get an ASUS M4A785-M Motherboard and AMD Phenom II X4 920 Quad Core OEM Processor Bundle. Obviously its a step up from my rig but is this good choice?
 
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cbrunnem

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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121390
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.661563

if you can spend a little more these parts can play most games at high details. its a little more than you stated but you get what you pay for. also if you wanna save your money you can get an i5 2500k and a mobo for about 300 prolly. plus a gpu and that would be a much better option.
 
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josephb65

josephb65

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Q6600 are cheap.. and I've been thrilled with the performance I've had for almost 2 years now (?), I regularly overclock to 3.0 with nearly no issues coming up unless I leave the beast on for many, many days. Most my restarts come from game crashes that seem to be non fp related I believe.

Lately I've been running W2, Crysis2, and FONV mostly topped out save the AA
 
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josephb65

josephb65

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Oh and the case shouldn't matter as long as it's not proprietary (dude your getting a dell, ..or some such), that is if all your considering changing is your main and cpu. The power supply of course is another issue. Most sites you can order from usually have tools now days to help you figure out what kind you might need.. enjoy!
 
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josephb65

josephb65

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cbrunnem


why invest in 2 gen old technology
Click to expand...

Price is always an issue, if it isn't your in denial or headed for divorce my friend :lol:


Besides if you can run a Q6600 you can usually upgrade later to a Q9650 which easily competes with the mid upper i7's ^^, just add graphic card!
 
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