I'm going to use my tax return to upgrade my computer. I need some advice. I haven't built my own system in 4-5 years and I'm a bit behind the times on new stuff.
My Goal) Be able to play games that are out now at their max. Stuff like Skyrim, PoE, Minecraft with a ton of mods and high end textures. etc. Also I do some 3d modelling and rendering, but nothing too crazy.
My price range) I already have monitor, case, optical drives, 1 HDD. I only need new Motherboard, Processor and/or GPU, RAM, and maybe an SSD. I want to keep it around $500.
Question 1) CPU/GPU vs APU. I used to be majorly against the APU concept. Early on, they just sucked compared to a dedicated GPU. What I'm reading now is that you can get a pretty good APU that will give good performance for cheaper prices. Is this true? I know that a high end CPU+GPU will still likely outperform even the best APU, but what do you all recommend here?
Question 2) This ties in with question 1... If I don't go APU, what Processor should I shoot for?
Question 3) This one seems easy. Ram. DDR3 seems to be the way to go. 8GB+. Any Opinions?
Question 4) HDD vs SSD vs Both. I currently have a 500GB drive. I'm thinking of adding an SSD that will hold the OS + the few programs I want the best performance out of. This sound reasonable? And put the rest on the HDD.
Question 5) When picking a MB, I know obviously need to make sure it supports my CPU, GPU, and RAM. But anything else I should look for?
Question 6) Where should I buy? Last time I used NewEgg.
Question 7) Any general recommendations or advice that I didn't touch on?
Thanks!
Chris
My Goal) Be able to play games that are out now at their max. Stuff like Skyrim, PoE, Minecraft with a ton of mods and high end textures. etc. Also I do some 3d modelling and rendering, but nothing too crazy.
My price range) I already have monitor, case, optical drives, 1 HDD. I only need new Motherboard, Processor and/or GPU, RAM, and maybe an SSD. I want to keep it around $500.
Question 1) CPU/GPU vs APU. I used to be majorly against the APU concept. Early on, they just sucked compared to a dedicated GPU. What I'm reading now is that you can get a pretty good APU that will give good performance for cheaper prices. Is this true? I know that a high end CPU+GPU will still likely outperform even the best APU, but what do you all recommend here?
Question 2) This ties in with question 1... If I don't go APU, what Processor should I shoot for?
Question 3) This one seems easy. Ram. DDR3 seems to be the way to go. 8GB+. Any Opinions?
Question 4) HDD vs SSD vs Both. I currently have a 500GB drive. I'm thinking of adding an SSD that will hold the OS + the few programs I want the best performance out of. This sound reasonable? And put the rest on the HDD.
Question 5) When picking a MB, I know obviously need to make sure it supports my CPU, GPU, and RAM. But anything else I should look for?
Question 6) Where should I buy? Last time I used NewEgg.
Question 7) Any general recommendations or advice that I didn't touch on?
Thanks!
Chris
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