Need advice on buying new or upgrading old

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ThomasAndCo

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Jan 20, 2013
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Hey guys...

I'm trying to play all the newest games on my outdated desktop, I can basically only play them on their lowest settings with out lag and I don't know whether or not to upgrade it or buy a new computer all together.

Here's the specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo e8500 @ 3.16 GHz, and 4 GB's of RAM.

I am kind of a noob with these kinds of things and I want to get the most out of my money and if I really need a new CPU I would prefer it to be a laptop... Any suggestions?
 
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Id have to say that yes alienware laptops are way overpriced, for wat u get from them, to me it'd be like getting a macbook, good laptops for their cost for gaming are asus,msi, and one lenovo y580 which is under $1k. the asus and msi ones with something like an i7, 8gb ram, and 670m gtx will range the 1.1-1.2k reigion, but will be great for gaming and will most likely to be better than my desktop lol

$hawn

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Totally agree with rolli59. The E8500 is a bit dated, but still has some gas left in it. Please list out the games you play, that should help us get an idea of where the bottleneck is. However, somehow I'm 99% sure you have a very low end GPU. Pick up atleast a Radeon HD 6570 to improve things.

You can have a look at this article to help you make a decision if your budget is a bit higher,
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

 
Id say buy new, new generation everything just gives u the feeling that u wont need to upgrade because its old. Budget FX 6300, am3+ mobo, 8gb 1600 ram, 7770 Radeon HD or 650 GTX, is a decent start and a corsair cx430 psu will easily power all. good gaming pc, i5 k edition, nice z77 mobo, 8gb ram 1600 or higher, 7870 or 660 ti. 650 or higher 80 plus bronze or better psu(corsair, seasonic, ocz, pcp cooling, xfx, evga) of course ur choice of case.

Or upgrade current with just a gpu if u have a decent psu, something like a 450gts or 7750, or 650/7770 and build around that later, or wait for hasewell and lga 1150,and amd 8xxx gpus and nvidia 7xx gpus to be released mid to late this year
 
A gaming laptop if u want one and that'll last will be around a $1000-1200 asus or msi gaming laptop with an i7 and 560gtx m, 660gtx m, etc, on a budget a A10 laptop with the igpu or dual gpus with 7670m is not a bad choice usually under $800, will play games like bf3 on lowest setting with the screen resolution, where the 1k plus laptops will do way more than lowest setting on bf3 lol

Edit: Now that i think of it Lenovo makes a decent laptop something like Y580 that has similar specs to the asus/msi ones
 

ThomasAndCo

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I want to try to play Bf3, Diablo 3, Skyrim, Arma 2, ect... On Med - High Settings. I'm also not sure how to check what GPU I have as I'm not very good with hardware.
 

ThomasAndCo

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Are AlienWare Laptops overpriced to play high end games with good settings and good fps?
 

ThomasAndCo

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How would I go about checking what GPU I have?
 
Id have to say that yes alienware laptops are way overpriced, for wat u get from them, to me it'd be like getting a macbook, good laptops for their cost for gaming are asus,msi, and one lenovo y580 which is under $1k. the asus and msi ones with something like an i7, 8gb ram, and 670m gtx will range the 1.1-1.2k reigion, but will be great for gaming and will most likely to be better than my desktop lol
 
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the905

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Jan 29, 2013
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laptops arnt for gaming. u can game with them but dont. buy a new set up
 

ThomasAndCo

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Thanks man, I'll look into getting one.
 
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