chainx

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Dec 12, 2009
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im planning on upgrading my old gaming pc.it was built in 2002.the tower is great.i want to be able to play the top 3d games but cant afford a quad core setup.im looking at a celeron dual at 1.9 will that be ok for games like warfare 2
 
What are your current system specs and whats your budget for an upgrade? A celeron is in no way meant to be a gaming CPU, its a crippled pentium dual core which is already a low end Core 2 Duo, your best bet would be a new system, probably AMD since you said you dont have the budget for a quad, and just salvaging a few select parts from your old build.
 

rockyjohn

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You generally can upgrade to a low end gaming system for about $320-380, assuming you don't need a new case, PSU, optical drive, etc. that will play most games at playable framerates at low to modeate settings:

CPU - low end dual core or cheap quad $100
Mobo for single card $70-100
Memory - 4 GB $80-100
Graphics card $60-80

When upgrading though, the old PSU most likely is to small and replacing it will add another $50-80. If you find good sales or the right combo deals , you might be able to knock $20-40 off the total above.

The above assumes a low end gaming card - for another $20-30 you can take a major step up in frame rates - but still at the upper mainstream level, not the enthusiast level.
To go higher you need to upgrade the CPU as well as the graphics card.

The link below shows you approximately what you can expect in that budget range using a 4670 video card. Note that the benchmarks were made using a system designed so the rest of the system would not constrain the graphics card - most importantly a fast CPU. While the CPU in this budget range should mostly keep up with a 4670 - some results may be a little lower - but on the whole decent low end game play.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-cards-charts-q3-2009-mainstream-quality/compare,1374.html?prod%5B2594%5D=on

Its pretty hard to go much lower in price without one thing or another affecting play, or low quality components.
 

rockyjohn

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I put together an excellent package that came in on the low side of my estimate above - $272 AR plus shipping on some items

AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor – Retail - $67 with free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103681

ASUS M4A77TD AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail- $75 after $10 mail-in rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131603

MSI R4670-MD512 Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card – Retail - $55 after $10 mail-in rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127448&cm_re=hd_4670-_-14-127-448-_-Product

OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G10664GK - Retail - $75 with free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227346

Total Cost - $272 AR plus shipping on some items

See the link below for a review of the CPU. It should give you a good idea of what to expect – particularly in gaming from this CPU. Note that performance will, however be dependent on the limitations of the graphics card as well. Also note that generally 30 FPS is considered minimum for game play and 40 FPS is desirable – much above that and it won’t even be noticed.

http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/CPU/AMD-Athlon-II-X2-250-and-AMD-Phenom-II-X2-550-Black-Edition.html

What size monitor do you use? The review shows the impact that has on frame rates with this processor.

It would be helpful if you provided make and model on you case and PSU. I assumed both are ATX standard and not only a micro-ATX mobo and that you do not need to upgrade your PSU. Also what operating system will you be using?

How does this fit into your budget?