Upgrade VS Brand New

Hey Forum Peeps!

I feel it's time to do something with my PC, its several years old now and I'm getting a bit fed up with long load times, lag in cities, having everything set to Low/Off (and I'm not even high enough to have experienced higher level crowded FATES yet...meep!) I use my PC literally for FFXIV and the odd steam game, I did consider a PS3 but I really don't get on with the Controller system!

I've decided to save up and do something about it but I'm really not a tech savvy person so hope that someone here could help... I have a budget of around £600 but obviously the less I can spend the better!

Would it be best to Upgrade a few components on my current PC or just flog it and add it to my kitty for a new one? I understand that if I upgrade one thing, you might have to do another and the cost can quickly go up resulting in a new PC being a better option...

I've found this PC at Overlockers.co.uk seems nice...apparently "Ivybridge" are good for gaming...? Although the Graphics Card is apparently a little weak, also a downside to buying from OC is having to buy Windows 7 again! Also I don't care what it looks like as long as it runs well and I don't need it to burn my eye balls out with graphics either...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...75&subcat=2486

My Current PC spec:
Windows 7 HP 64-Bit
AMD Athlon X2 250 Processor (2 CPUs) ~3.0Ghz
4096MB RAM
ATI Radeon HD 5700 (400MHz) 2809 MB
DirectX 11

Any suggestions to which would be the best option appreciated! Any more info needed just ask :)

At the very least if you have the money I would go with the 250GB Samsung 840 SSD as your windows and gaming drive and then get the 500GB as a secondary drive for things like movies, music, pics. Though I would also look into instead buy a Seagate Desktop SSHD as your second, you can get a 2TB one for 84.31 Pounds.

The best thing to do really is research it some, also look at how much buying the components separately as opposed to buying an all in one would affect the price.

As for the Processor, I would say you should go with the i7, though maybe someone with a bit more knowledge in that can chime in. I know i plan on gettting the 4770k haswell for my upgrade. The video card I have no clue on, don't do radeon i'm a Nvidia guy.

I agree with Gonzo regarding the SSD Windows & gaming drive. It makes a huge difference.

I'm not familiar with AMD CPUs, so I'll let someone else deal with that. The I5 processors are very good for gaming, but I can buy the 4670k processor for $10 more than the 3570k here, and the Haswell should handle graphics better. I would definitely price compare the Haswell v/s the Ivey before buying.

If you just want to replace the GPU, you should be able to find some good deals now or soon, since AMDs announcement on Wednesday. Their 7950 were a good deal already, and lately I've seen them dipping under $200 with MIR.

Make sure you check your ISP. Some people were having issues with throttling by their providers.

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Originally Posted by Dotem

I agree with Gonzo regarding the SSD Windows & gaming drive. It makes a huge difference.

I'm not familiar with AMD CPUs, so I'll let someone else deal with that. The I5 processors are very good for gaming, but I can buy the 4670k processor for $10 more than the 3570k here, and the Haswell should handle graphics better. I would definitely price compare the Haswell v/s the Ivey before buying.

If you just want to replace the GPU, you should be able to find some good deals now or soon, since AMDs announcement on Wednesday. Their 7950 were a good deal already, and lately I've seen them dipping under $200 with MIR.

Make sure you check your ISP. Some people were having issues with throttling by their providers.

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He definitely needs to replace the CPU its an old dual core, and for this game he really needs a quad. I should know i'm currently running a Core 2 Duo E6600 OC'd to 3.0GHz. Won't be able to upgrade until january so i gotta just tough it out.

In that case, OP is probably better off upgrading CPU and main components first and the GPU later.

I wonder how much difference the hyperthreading of the 3770k / 4770k makes compared to the 3570k / 4670k. Probably not much.

I would think your E6600 would run the game pretty well, especially at 3.0. Our second computer is a Q9550 with Crossfire 7950s and it runs the game very well.

The Q9550 is a quad core processor though, my cpu currently bottlenecks the system. I only get at most 25 fps, and the GPU only ever gets to like 15% or so. Plus the E6600 at 3.0 just meets the Minimum specs. I'm nowhere close to recommended specs. except in memory and Graphics card, and I was an idiot when upgrading the graphics card, did do enough research and got the 550ti instead of the 560, still kicking myself for that.

Oh, my bad. I was thinking Q6600 quad core, not dual core. That makes sense.