Upgrading Wifey's PC - Opinions Please.

[pacioli]

I plan on upgrading my wife's PC in the next couple of weeks. She plays WoW and has been talking about SW:TOR at 1920 x 1080. Her PC is in the bedroom and she streams movies to it often.

Her current system consists of:

AMD Athlon X4 620 (replacing)
Biostar 770 Mobo (I noticed a bulging capacitor on this P.O.S. - replacing)
4 Gb of Kingston DDR2 800 Mhz (replacing)
Some crappy, loud, no brand case that looks like an elephant kicked it and took a dump on it (replacing)
EVGA GTX 260 - 216 core (keeping - unless I can be compelled to replace for some good reason)
Corsair 520HX Modular PSU w 40 amps on the 2 12V rails(keeping)
WD 160 Gb HDD x 2 in RAID 1 for the operating system and games (keeping)
WD 800 Gb Green for storage (keeping)

I plan on using the following parts to upgrade her PC:

i3 2125 ($119 at Microcenter) although I have been considering the i5 2400 ($149 at microcenter)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0376494
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ($122 at Newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 ($50 on Newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186
XCLIO Godspeed 747 ($40 on Newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103035

Total $331 plus tax and shipping

I told her it would cost about $350 to give her a huge upgrade over what she is running.
Without upgrading the graphics is it really going to be a huge upgrade?

Amazingly that GTX 260 is still in the eighth tier of graphics cards and is comparable to the Radeon 6770/GTX and the GTX 550 Ti.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

I could pick up a 2nd GTX 260 for an SLI rig on eBay for $40-$50 and her system would be able to heat the bedroom in the winter and pull off better framerates than a GTX 560 Ti

BTW the $350 budget is just what I told her because she is cheap. However, if a graphics upgrade would make a huge difference I'd blow up to an extra $200.

Any other recommendations for this build, moneysaving, performance, or otherwise?

 

[geekapproved]

Why a i3-2125 if you have a graphics card? A 2120 would be cheaper unless that's a special or something.

And for Wow, I'm not sure if a i3 is going to be an upgrade over a quad core. I've never played Wow but MMO's play a lot better with a quad core.

 

[Petrofsky]

Tom's has an article examining SWTOR running with various hardware. To max it out at 1920X1080, you need a GTX 570 or an HD 6970. If you can live without AA, a GTX 550Ti will get you high detail for about $150. If you can throw $200 at a card, you can go GTX 560 for a little headroom. If you can squeeze out another $50 or so, you can, well, maybe not run with the big dogs but at least trot along right behind them with a 560Ti.

The problem with a GTX 260, SLI or no, is that it can't do DX 11.

 

[pacioli]

Why a i3-2125 if you have a graphics card? A 2120 would be cheaper unless that's a special or something.

And for Wow, I'm not sure if a i3 is going to be an upgrade over a quad core. MMO's play a lot better with a quad core.

Microcenter doesn't sell the 2120. The 2100 costs $135 at Newegg
At Microcenter the 2125 is under $120 - really cheap. The 2125 runs $150 at Newegg

 

[pacioli]

Tom's has an article examining SWTOR running with various hardware. To max it out at 1920X1080, you need a GTX 570 or an HD 6970. If you can live without AA, a GTX 550Ti will get you high detail for about $150. If you can throw $200 at a card, you can go GTX 560 for a little headroom. If you can squeeze out another $50 or so, you can, well, maybe not run with the big dogs but at least trot along right behind them with a 560Ti.

The problem with a GTX 260, SLI or no, is that it can't do DX 11.

The GTX 260 is about as fast as the 550 Ti. So spending $150 for no more FPS seems silly.
I feel a 560 would be a small improvement for a $200 investment.
I know that sometimes after MIR the GTX 560 Ti can be had at the $200 range... but to justify the $ spent I'd still like to see a bigger improvement.

At the moment she does not play SWTOR, only WoW. Maybe in the future if she does take SWTOR we could go shopping for a GTX 570.

 

[pacioli]

I found this GTX 560 Ti for $209
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125401
and this 560 Ti for $185 after MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162074

 

[Petrofsky]

I found this GTX 560 Ti for $209
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125401
and this 560 Ti for $185 after MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162074

So, you rate an EVGA, but you'd get your wife a cut-rate card. You see how you are?

 

[pacioli]

So, you rate an EVGA, but you'd get your wife a cut-rate card. You see how you are?

That is exactly how I am... and I may make that the best answer

Hahahaha

 

[pacioli]

Now that I think of it... Maybe I'll get the GTX 570 and give her my 560 ti!

This is brilliant...

 

[pacioli]

Best answer selected by pacioli.