Looking to Upgrade for about $500

[rydog]

Hello everyone, my brother and I made this computer two summers ago and were hoping to upgrade it to allow for Dx11 capabilities and to have a more powerful processor to run a game like shogun 2 total war. Here are the specs:

-EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition
896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported
Video Card

-GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

-Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache
LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

-XCLIO GREATPOWER X14S4P4 700W ATX12V SLI Certified
CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC
Power Supply

-Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB
Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives

-4GB kit (2GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 memory
module
CT2KIT25664AA800

-XCLIO Windtunnel Fully Black Finish 1.0 mm SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower
Computer Case

-Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

We use this computer purely for gaming purposes, and the games we play include Crysis 1 and 2, Total War series, Battlefield Series(cant wait for #3),Company of Heroes, and various other shooters and strategy games.
Hopefully you guys can help us out and allow us to upgrade our computer for the new wave of games coming out this year

 

[WR2]

Hello rydog;

What resolution do you guys game on? We can size the video card based on that.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

here's my under $500 suggestion:

i5-2400: $190
ASRock H61 w/ SATA 3/USB 3: $70
8 GB DDR3-1333: $80
H6850 or GTX 460 1GB: $170

$500 total.

 

[rydog]

Hello rydog;

What resolution do you guys game on? We can size the video card based on that.

We game on a 19 inch screen with a 1440 x 900 resolution DVI

 

[WR2]

A GTX 460 will be a really strong graphics card running @ 1440x900 resolution.
Nice to see an excellent PSU in the mix.

■ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB Video Card
■WINTEC AMPX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 RAM
■MSI H61M-E33 (B3) 1155 H61 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
■Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) 1155 95W Quad-Core CPU
~$463 before rebates ($30), any taxes and shipping.

 

[rydog]

If we could find the extra money do you think going for the GTX 570 would be a solid choice?

 

[WR2]

Only if there's a chance you're also going to upgrade the monitor to 1920x1080.
Or maybe go with a dual 1440x900 monitor setup (2880x900 virtual resolution).

 

[rydog]

So by using the GTX 570 with our monitor it would be under-powering it?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

a GTX 570 is overkill for anything less 2560x1440 or some form of multiple monitors
a 460/560 or 6850/6870 is plenty for 1920x1080

 

[rydog]

a GTX 570 is overkill for anything less 2560x1440 or some form of multiple monitors
a 460/560 or 6850/6870 is plenty for 1920x1080

So would we keep the exsisting ram or exchange it for the newer sticks? What are the advantages of buying this new ram if the money could be spent on a larger cpu or gpu? Or am I missing something?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

So would we keep the exsisting ram or exchange it for the newer sticks? What are the advantages of buying this new ram if the money could be spent on a larger cpu or gpu? Or am I missing something?

if you upgrade to a modern CPU (like the 2400 I suggested), you have to also upgrade the RAM, as DDR2 has pretty much sunset now. Nothing new actually uses it.

 

[rydog]

Oh... ok I think I get it now. thanks for all the help! I'll tell you when we finally purchase all the parts and upgrade it

 

[rydog]

Best answer selected by rydog.