Upgrading or New System for NS2

[goto_hardware]

Hello,
My current system is to low to play Natural Selection 2 with accurate FPS, even with all details off.

My System looks like:

AMD athlon 64 X2 e4850 (2x2.5 GHz)
4 GByte DDR2 RAM
ATI HD 5700
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H Motherboard (for AMD AM2+ Phenom / Athlon 64)


Approximate Purchase Date: this week (the closer the better)

Budget Range: 100-250 Euro
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Just gaming, I have a notebook for work


Parts to Upgrade: CPU, Graphic Card. Maybe RAM (still think 4GByte are enough for a single game?!).

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: amazon.de

Overclocking: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080


NS2 FPS ~30 and <20 by action.

What is the better choice, upgrade or a complete new System?
I'm not up to date to Hardware for more than 3 or 4 years.

If upgrading:
I thought about a new CPU - Phenom 2 X4?
Maybe a SSD instead of my HDD, but that would only speed up loading time, not the actual performance, is that right?
Also the 4GByte RAM is not much, but does 1 Game needs more?

All I want is a system which runs NS2 (with or without details - i dont care) performant.

 

[FinneousPJ]

Do you have any benchmarks to share?

 

[goto_hardware]

Sure, which benchmark-program is recommendable?

 

[FinneousPJ]

I mean benchmarks on the game you want. I have no idea what it requires.

 

[goto_hardware]

Minimum System Requirements
Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.6 ghz
Memory: 1GB for XP / 2GB for Vista/7
Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible video card with 1GB, ATI X800, NVidia 8600 or better

Recommended System Requirements
Processor: Core 2 Duo 3.0 ghz
Memory: 2GB for XP / 4GB for Vista/7
Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible video card with 1GB, AMD 5770, NVidia GTX 450 or better

Source (at the bottom)

But these requirements doesn't accurate, imo.

You can also see several benchmarks made by users here: http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=119506

Example:

- AMD Phenom II x4 965 3.4GHz
- HD 6950
- Windows 7
- 8GB
- 1080p
- 90-100 ping
- Everything except AF turned off

40 fps on a freshly restarted All-In Server with 6v6 people. Mid-game 30fps, late game 18-25fps.

 

[FinneousPJ]

Well, it does really seem to like CPU resources.

Which 5700-series is your card BTW?

What is your budget? Fill this in http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/353572-13-build-upgrade-advice

 

[goto_hardware]

ATI Radeon HD 5770 from Sapphire , 16x PCI-e, 1GB, GDDR5 Speicher (Modellnummer: 11163-02-20R)
is that what you mean?

From your Link:

Approximate Purchase Date: this week (the closer the better)

Budget Range: 100-250 Euro
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Just gaming, I have a notebook for work


Parts to Upgrade: CPU, Graphic Card. Maybe RAM (still think 4GByte are enough for a single game?!).

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: amazon.de

Overclocking: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

 

[FinneousPJ]

250€ isn't enough for a CPU&GPU upgrade.