Upgrading my Gaming PC

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Crowlad

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Dec 3, 2012
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Hi all! So Christmas is coming up and I'm thinking of upgrading my gaming rig. While I am pretty knowledgeable on the software end of computers, I know very little about hardware. My current rig is:

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
RAM: 4096 MBytes
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 8800GT
Memory: 500GB

I am thinking of getting an Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 Ti; would this be the best thing for me to do, or should I upgrade something else first?

 
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jessterman21

jessterman21

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Dec 14, 2010
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Your CPU is on the low end of playable in recent games. You may be looking at a platform refresh as well as a new video card. What's your budget, monitor resolution, and what games are you wanting to play?
 
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Crowlad

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Dec 3, 2012
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I can currently play most games at 1920x1080 resolutions (without heavy antialiasing), I run skyrim heavily modded at 1280x720. I play games like Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Assassins Creed 3 etc. Also run emulators (dolphin mostly)
 
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lostgamer_03

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Aug 4, 2012
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How about your PSU?

Your CPU would bottleneck the hell out of GTX 660 ti. You might need to aim a Little lower about the GPU. Bottlenecking is where either the GPU or CPU is holding the other one back, so you won't get the full potential out of them.

Please tell us about your budget, so we can advise you further.

 
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lostgamer_03

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Aug 4, 2012
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I'd say you need to upgrade both the CPU and your RAM. Which Means you actually also would be needing to upgrade your MOBO, so the new CPU would fit in it.

Best thing you could do from my perspective is trying to last a Little longer on that old machine, and save some Money so you could buy a new one in the coming year. :)



 
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jjb8675309

jjb8675309

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Feb 21, 2010
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I'd shoot for something along the lines of a second-hand gtx 460 or Radeon 6850 unless you intend on upgrading your cpu and mobo, the 660ti is not going to be worth it when pair with your C2D imo

your best bet is to use the 400 to upgrade to something along the lines of an SB or IB i5 and new 1155 mobo and then saving a little more for a decent gpu...

as far as the gpu goes, id go for something along the lines of a 7870 or up for nice 1080p gaming

of course many have made it through games with less hardware but that is my personal taste

I bet you can get all that done for around 500 bucks assuming that you have a good psu...
 
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shaun_shaun

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Mar 26, 2010
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this my recommendation for you

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black 3.2GHz = $84
ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard =$60
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 = $33

GTX 660 2GB = $229
or
7870 / 7850


total = $409

you might need to buy a new PSU (depending on your current )





 
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mrdowntownkiller

mrdowntownkiller

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Sep 14, 2012
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the 400$ is good for an upgrade but when you have a LGA 1155 but in your case i would game at it for another 3 or 4 months till you have like $550 to change your whole pc except case and psu and storage if they are compatible with new parts. the second choice is to go with amd system.
 
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jessterman21

jessterman21

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Dec 14, 2010
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You'll need at least $60-70 for a new motherboard, $35 for 8GB RAM, $130 for a CPU, and you'll want to spend at least $185 on a new video card - for it to be a meaningful upgrade.

Try to stretch to $450 and we can saddle you up with a great rig.

Btw, I doubt you'll need a new PSU.
 
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