Upgrade for Gaming £300

[Inferno_str1ke]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: this week
BUDGET: £300

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming, photoshop, video, internet

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: OS, HDD, Peripherals, Monitor, Case, PSU (425W Hiper Power)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: ebuyer.com
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK

PARTS PREFERENCES: no preference

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe (case has two 120mm fans)
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1280 x 1024
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Needs to make MW2, Crysis, Bioshock, GTAIV playable. Currently on an Athlon 64 3000+, 2GB DDR400, Radeon X700 256MB. Current system is 5 years old, would like 2-3 years out of this system.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Inferno_str1ke]

Oh, and support for hardware virtualisation in the CPU would be nice as going 64 bit means a lot of older games I like to play are going to need to run in a virtual machine.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Here's an idea of what to look for. It should be about in your price range...

CPU: Athlon II X4 620 Propus
Mobo: Asus M4A79XTD EVO
RAM: Cheapest 1600 mhz (or 1333 mhz) DDR3 CAS Latency 7 2x2 GB kit you can find. Might have to drop to 2x1 GB.
GPU: HD 5770. Overkill for your resolution, but if you upgrade to an 1900x monitor, it should still be good.

Let me know what that comes out to, and I can tweak it from there.

 

[Inferno_str1ke]

The only available processor with 620 as the number was the Athlon II.

The build comes out to £374.80 which is a bit over budget. Looking at similar kit, how about:

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHz 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 Retail Boxed Processor £58.97
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10666 Gold i5 Memory Kit 1.65V CL9(9-9-9-20) £69.55
Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-S2 AMD 760G Socket AM3 VGA DVI 8 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard £45.06

Which comes to £203; what would be the best GPU for this combination?

 

[MadAdmiral]

That's the one I meant. I originally started with the Phenom, then realized it be way out of budget. Edited the original post.

GPU really depends on your prospects for a new monitor. If your not going to get a new one, then any GPU will work. If you're looking to upgrade, you won't want anything less than the HD 5770.