What to upgrade - for gaming - Any New Technology coming up

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snowkiwi

160 posts

Master Geek

#73295 11-Dec-2010 06:01

hi All

I've got an aging desktop I will need to upgrade soon - I use it just for gaming . I'm out of touch with the latest hardware generations.
Main Question: Is there Any New Technology coming up I should wait for? Anything revolutionary or exceptionally evolutionary on the horizon?

Im not wanting to spend too much (as I don't game as much as Id like to anymore) What is a good price/performance point for CPU and graphics card. - I'll probably do an upgrade Box for under a grand.

My present Rig:
AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400
2GB RAM,
250GB HDD
GF 8800 GT 512MB

this has been an absolutely awesome system for me, its had great legs - lasting over 3 years without any upgrade or any reinstalls.
It works fine for all my recent (1 yo) purchases eg Borderlands, ME2, Dragon age, Metro2033.
I'm very happy with the visuals at present -
Usually High detail everything (not ultra), with no or low FSAA &
set to my monitors native resolution 1680x1050

But 2 things;
1. I will be getting a larger 16:9 display soon so I need to think about 19?? x 1080 resolutions
2. I suspect my wife/kids are buying me COD Black ops for xmas.

So I need to upgrade

thanks

merve0o0

492 posts

Ultimate Geek

#415763 11-Dec-2010 07:59

I just made up a pc for a guy at work ended up about 900 less graphics card as he is not a gamer so I speced a amd880g motherboard with onboard gpu. But a amd hd6850 is about $420 so

Amd phenom II x4 955. 3.8ghz
4gb ram
Amd radion hd6850
All the little other bits
Around $1400-1500 cheaper if you reuse your case/ DVD drive etc

I prefer amd for no particular reason other then price point

AMD's HD69xx series is coming out soon to replace the current HD58xx but the 68xx is good enough for casual gaming

From what I've read not many systems can run black ops smoothly at the moment

jonofan

52 posts

Master Geek

#415835 11-Dec-2010 11:56

Have you considered putting your money into a console instead? I have an almost identical PC spec to yours, and the only game I want to play that I can't is Black Ops, but can play that on my 360.

snowkiwi

160 posts

Master Geek

#415877 11-Dec-2010 14:43

Thanks merve. I may have to rethink the price a couple of hundred.

jonofan I'd do a console solution in an instant if I could handle the controllers. I've given them a good go (xbox360) but after 20 odd years of FPS gaming the mouse and keyboard feels like a direct extension of my brain ie very intuitive and responsive . I just have to think about it and i can shoot something small in the head from 100 paces.
whereas the controller feels like an extension of my big toe - and mines a really unresponsive and unintuitive big toe !!
ie I cant hit the eye on a multi-eyed Giant floating eye monster from 1 pace!

Put a mouse and keyboard on a console and I'd be in boots and all.

merve0o0

492 posts

Ultimate Geek

#415885 11-Dec-2010 15:14

just thought i should add those prices i put are all from computer lounge just because of the ease in knowing shipping is free and getting it all from one store. could definitely get it cheaper by shopping around on pricespy. be careful though as i almost got caught out by the fact some of the stores prices are exc. GST

aionwannabe

147 posts

Master Geek

#416249 12-Dec-2010 19:55

just as a point black ops is a Son of a ... Balistic knife on PC basically because of the whole "up your pc" mentality of the industry atm

Next year probably first half some of amds radical newly designed cpus and what not are going to start flowing out but they wont work with the am1,2,+,3 socket so from what your describing shouldn't matter.

So if you post your motherboards model name i can find a cpu which suits it.
id also suggest investing in 2 more GB of ram but im not certain its necessary.(on this point 32bit or 64 bit OS?)
Finally as far as midrange graphics goes your looking at anything ATI 5770 to a 6850 which is around $200-$350ish in the nvidia department theres the 450 and the 460 for the same pricepoint

which is all assuming your Power supply is up to the task

snowkiwi

160 posts

Master Geek

#416640 13-Dec-2010 17:35

thanks aionwannabe - thats what I'm talking about - new revolutionary stuff around the corner.
And I know what you mean - some sector of the games industry/community seams to think pc gaming is dead. I heard the other month a tech podcast correspondent say " does anyone actually play games on pc anymore?" !!

Anyway mine is an old motherboard - from memory the cpu is pre AM2- socket 939 I seem to remember.

My present Rig:-circa 2005
AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400 -socket 939
2GB RAM,
250GB HDD
power supply 500W.
then
GF 8800 GT 512MB purchased 2008

So I'm expecting to do a full upgrade box - maybe keeping PSU/case

In light this and new Sandy Bridge intel I'll wait till early next year I think.

Black ops may have to wait a month on my shelf

merve0o0

492 posts

Ultimate Geek

#416716 13-Dec-2010 20:13

My old windows pc is almost the exact same spec bought in 2006. so im also thinking about buying a new gaming pc as i have a 27" imac for everyday use. i did plan to use the mac in boot camp for games and while it does play them well its a hassle to restart in bootcamp just to play a game so i dont to it.

but i just bought a new mtb so thats my savings for the new pc gone. will have to wait a few more months.

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Rollux

362 posts

Ultimate Geek

#416946 14-Dec-2010 10:14

Here's a good site for you to have a browse of, this article especially
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2365957,00.asp

Lounge:
WIN7 HOME x64 HTPC - E6420 2.13Ghz - 4Gb 800MHZ PATRIOT RAM - ASUS HD5670 1GB
ASUS P5B-VM MOBO - LG BLU-RAY DRIVE - BG3595 TUNER - 1.5TB STORAGE
PANASONIC 42" FULL HD PLASMA - PIONEER VSX1019AHK RECEIVER - WHARFDALE DIAMOND 10 SPEAKERS

Man Cave:
XBOX 360 MODERN WARFARE 2 EDITION - PANASONIC 37" PLASMA - SONY MONSTA 5.1 SURROUND SYSTEM

aionwannabe

147 posts

Master Geek

#417361 14-Dec-2010 23:23

Rollux: Here's a good site for you to have a browse of, this article especially
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2365957,00.asp

+1 basically saved me from typing it all out the "$600" (its American right so more like 700-800) setup they have described there is what i have, i don't even have a minimum wage job so its pretty affordable

TwoTwo

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#418252 16-Dec-2010 20:33

Hey snowkiwi!

I've got a pretty entry level knowledge about this stuff, but what I've seen trending in "able" computers is a good processor, you can try the Intel i# series? Chuck in an nVidia graphics card, mines GTS250 and the price for that is around $230, get it shipped from somewhere and its cheaper! I think your 8800GT is an awesome card (you must know best haha) since i remember people bragging about it on the cod4 servers.

Looking at youtube videos ive seen that the GTS250 is capable of handling full graphics for Black Ops given the right configuration. And most of them had 4gb of ram.. so RAM is a another place you'd want to upgrade.

If i've said anything what the other guys here have said or it is wrong, im sorry, just trying to contribute of what i know about these things. Oh, and the idea for a console is a good one too! PS3 seems appealing right now :)

wreck90

780 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#418276 16-Dec-2010 21:17

intel sandybridge cpu's are being released early next year supposedly.

Sandybridge includes integrated graphics with power equivalent to todays lower-end gfx cards.

Not sure if there is enough gfx grunt for you, but these chips are going to be awesome for low-mid range pc's.

Mprezd

119 posts

Master Geek

#419829 21-Dec-2010 08:21

Given that AM3 cpus will work in the new AM3+ motherboards you could look at building a system right now around something like an AM3 955, 4gb ram, 870 series motherboard for around $580

Then for the remaining money you can either get a gtx460 or hd6870

Comes in right on or under $1,000 depending on the video card

For the kind of $ you are talking, AMD will always give you better bang for buck. I don't see Sandy Bridge changing that

snowkiwi

160 posts

Master Geek

#420439 22-Dec-2010 14:18

Hey thanks for all the advice guys. I wanted to go intel because in the past I had a few issues with some games. But now that I think , that was in the distant past,10 years ago. My current rig is pretty stable. Looks like Sandybridge and its integrated graphics may only be decent for low demand games/ laptops.
Merve0o0 about the Mac for pc games. I'm doing just that on my MBP for basic GOG.com games. Works fine. So well I tried under parallels using 2GB bootcamp partition. Still fine. Likely slow/issues with new games though.