To upgrade, or not to upgrade?

[Wadders]

Hey everyone, I was just wondering if anyone could advise me on a computer decision. I want to be able to play all the new games (mainly Mass Effect 2, MW2 and Bad Company 2, and Napoleon Total War) coming out in the holiday season, and I want to play them at decent settings, but to do that I'll need to upgrade my PC in some way or another.

Currently this is my set up:

Asus M2NPV-VM PCI-E motherboard
AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ (3.1ghz) CPU
4GB of 800MHZ DDR2 RAM
Geforce 8600GT 512MB GPU
250GB HDD (most if which is used up)
550W PSU
19" LCD screen with DVI

So my dilemma is this: Should I go for the cheaper but less long lived option and spend about £100 on a new graphics card (as I believe that is the weakest part of my PC) and format my HDD and possibly get windows 7, or should I just go for it and blow about £600 on an entirely new windows 7 PC that may well last me better in the long run?

Which do you think would offer the best value for money, and reasons of possible

Thanks guys.

 

[wolfy098]

Ahh my brain it hurts
speaking of hurting

it depends how much the extra 500 would hurt your bank account
(no details plz you never know who's listening.)

 

[Wadders]

Go for the long run, games are getting more intensive by the day. If needs be though, you could probably go with spending the 600 on the Processor, the Graphics card and the PSU so you can overclock it.

Ahh my brain it hurts
speaking of hurting

it depends how much the extra 500 would hurt your bank account
(no details plz you never know who's listening.)

Thanks for the feedback guys

Yeah, ideally a new PC would be what I want, and as you say, games are getting more and more demanding. But the thing is, if I only spend £100, I can afford a nice shiny shotgun too

 

[hieiwrath]

Just buy a new graphics card, the rest of the pc is good. And if u need buy a new hd, if u are a gamer i think its better u wait a litlle more before going to win 7

 

[Wadders]

Go for the long run, games are getting more intensive by the day. If needs be though, you could probably go with spending the 600 on the Processor, the Graphics card and the PSU so you can overclock it.

Ahh my brain it hurts
speaking of hurting

it depends how much the extra 500 would hurt your bank account
(no details plz you never know who's listening.)

Thanks for the feedback guys

Yeah, ideally a new PC would be what I want, and as you say, games are getting more and more demanding. But the thing is, if I only spend £100, I can afford a nice shiny shotgun too

buy the shotgun, rob a dude with money and use that money for your computer?

Why?...Why did I not think of this before?!

You sir are a genius.

 

[slipknot4]

4GB of 800MHZ DDR2 RAM
Geforce 8600GT 512MB GPU

The RAM looks slightly slow, but it's all right.
The Geforce 8800 is awesome, i seen Crysis run on ultra high on it, with vista.
I i think that you should be able to play those games just fine. But if you want to, upgrade to a Nvidia GeForce GTX 295.
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/screenshots/original/2008/12/GTX295_F3_Corei7_1920.PNG
Or any of the cars above here.

 

[ryai458]

Or, you could buy a console and make game developers happy because thats mainly who they are making games for now days. (unfortunately)

 

[Wadders]

Personally, I'm in the same situation as you, except that I can't afford to buy a new system. I don't see a favourable near future in PC gaming, though, so I'm gearing myself up for a small upgrade, so I can test the waters, as it were. A good graphics card should do for now, as far as I can see, along the lines of the Radeon HD 4870 or 4890.

I agree, and I was in fact looking at those very same cards as possible upgrades, I just wasn't sure if they would outshine the rest of my system, thus necessitating further upgrades...

However, I'm glad to hear someone else is in the same position, and is thinking along the same lines, thanks for the suggestions

Or, you could buy a console and make game developers happy because thats mainly who they are making games for now days. (unfortunately)

I was considering getting a PS3, but the cost of the games and the fact I would have to buy a decent TV (which would ramp the cost up to that of buying a new PC) put me off.

Also, I have my principles to consider. If PC gaming is going down, I'm damn well going down with it.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

I would buy a new PC (but be wary of windows 7, remember what vista was like? Buggy as hell.) wow, didn't really need the brackets.

 

[ToxinArrow]

Simple, buy a Mossberg 500 http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=145813977 $245

Spend the rest on upgrades. Buying a new PC shouldn't even be considered since you can just but a 9800 GT and 1 TB HDD for like $200 and have yourself a quality rig, and a quality shotgun.

 

[jamesworkshop]

Buy a new graphics card games aren't hardware intensive anymore the new graphics cards from ATI now run games accross 3 monitors because so much of modern graphics cards power is being wasted by current games

 

[Wadders]

Simple, buy a Mossberg 500 http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=145813977 $245

Spend the rest on upgrades. Buying a new PC shouldn't even be considered since you can just but a 9800 GT and 1 TB HDD for like $200 and have yourself a quality rig, and a quality shotgun.

Hmm yeah, that seems like a reasonable suggestion

However, with regards to the shotgun, I'll be using it for clays and game mostly, the Mossberg looks a bit more like a "home defense" kind of gun. I want something more along these lines: http://www.ukgunroom.com/viewGun.jsp?id=10789&fromSearch=true or a Over and Under: http://www.ukgunroom.com/viewGun.jsp?id=33492&fromSearch=true

 

[Wadders]

Hmm, seems like most people reckon I should just get a new GPU...

I reckon I will then

 

[Wadders]

I have essentially the same PC as you (same CPU) except a slightly better graphics card and 1 less GB of ram (the bastard died on me and I spent ages trying to figure out why my pc wouldn't boot) and my upgrade path is get a graphics card then worry about the rest in 4 or 5 months time.

(and don't listen too much about ram speeds, the difference is negligible if you don't overclock)

Sounds like a good plan.
Thanks for the advice.

 

[Valate_v1legacy]

You will be five times more set than you need to be.

 

[Wadders]

You will be five times more set than you need to be.

Pardon? I dont follow ya :S

Also: does anyone know if DDR3 graphics cards will work on my DDR2 motherboard?

 

[Antari]

You definately don't need a new system. A graphics card, and a reformat to Windows 7 will give you a major performance increase, but if you don't want the hassle of the reformat another drive is definately a good option. As for the ram on the video card the memory is for its interface, the motherboard doesn't care. Just have to worry about it being PCI-E.

 

[rokkolpo]

Asus M2NPV-VM PCI-E motherboard
AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ (3.1ghz) CPU
4GB of 800MHZ DDR2 RAM
Geforce 8600GT 512MB GPU
250GB HDD (most if which is used up)
550W PSU
19" LCD screen with DVI



[/quote]

O_O i have no idea what youre saying.......

 

[Wadders]

Asus M2NPV-VM PCI-E motherboard
AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ (3.1ghz) CPU
4GB of 800MHZ DDR2 RAM
Geforce 8600GT 512MB GPU
250GB HDD (most if which is used up)
550W PSU
19" LCD screen with DVI




O_O i have no idea what youre saying.......

I am not responsible for your ignorance

It's just names of PC parts, not as scary as it looks

 

[Murlin]

I think you're PC is still up to date compared to mine (Nvidia geforce 6600 T_T) so you can also just leave it like it is, but if you have money to spare then nothing beats the feeling of an entirely new rig under your eager fingers.