My PC is a bit behind the curve and im quite liking the look of the up coming DX3 and the year old Metro 2033.
My current rig is
E4500 2.2 core 2 duo processor
2 gig DDR2 (maybe ddr3) ram
8400gs Nividia card
cant remember the motherboard, but given its with a core to duo it wont be a monster.
So the question is, how long can i cost effectivly facelift this PC.
i see three options
1. Spend upto £200 ($350) on a new graphics card, and add a 4gb stick of ram, with the expectation of about 3-5 more years of being able to run top flight games but not necessarily at max settings. Possibly buy a better core 2 duo (is upgrading a core 2 duo ever worth it?). If so which card should i get, i dont want to upgrade my power unit and cooling system.
2. by a geforce 9800 or some card for about £50, and then maybe 2gb ram just to play the two games mentioned (if the processor the other upgrades will cut it) and maybe a few other releases in this year.
3 buy new PC
Theres no point in spending loads on an upgrade if the motherboard and processor are never going to cut it, is the basic hinge point.
can anyone advise?
You're far better off going with a new build. I would look into Intel's new line of processors, perhaps the i7 2500 or the K version if you wish to overclock, which is damn easy.
AMD's current processors can't keep up with anything beyond Intel's Core 2 line, they have a new line due out in Q2 that will hopefully rectify that but if you need to buy before then, go Intel.
Personally, I'm waiting for Q2 to decide what to get as I'm also upgrading this year.
*snip*
You are so terribly misinformed.
First of all, and I'm being pedantic here, the ATI brand is dead, it's AMD now.
Secondly, both Nvidia and AMD have driver issues, Nvidia once released drivers that killed cards, for example.
I see a lot of people complain about AMD drivers beyond 10.8 or 10.10 but I'm currently using 11.1a with no problems.
Personally, I've used cards from both companies over the years and I've never had issues with either company's drivers. Although I haven't had an Nvidia card since 2 6800GTs crapped out on me in... 2006, I think.
Next, AMD vs Nvidia is nothing like Intel vs AMD, why? Because AMD is actually competitive with Nvidia. AMD's current line of cards are about as fast or faster than Nvidia's line in similar price categories and the AMD cards use less power. In comparison, AMD's processors use more power and are, in many cases, much slower than almost any Intel processor since the i7 was introduced.
Finally, cases can make a huge difference, especially if you're going with an mATX or mITX build. Some cases have horrible airflow, some have excessive airflow and make too much noise, some aren't long enough to fit high-end video cards, some won't take long PSUs. Even at stock, and especially with a decent video card, a case with bad airflow can lead to overheating issues.
Buy a new barebones. Transfer existing (good) parts.
Enjoy blissful transfer of files, OS, settings, and drivers.*
Also cheaper. I spent $580 and got a computer worth about $850. Why? Kept my 2 hard drives ($80/per), kept my CPU fan ($50), DVD drive ($20), sound card ($?), and wireless adapter ($30).
I got mine here:
www.portatech.com
*If you get a new video card, you'll install a new driver, of course, but a lot of your basic drivers will still be there as well as drivers for hardware you kept.
This just seems like a bad idea, you can get a better PC for the money, not to mention pick out better quality parts, by just building it yourself. It's not even that hard.
What OS are you on? As much as it pains me to say it, XP is on its last legs as far as gaming goes. If you're not on Windows 7 yet, you need to be for the next year+ of modern gaming.
Yes, anyone still on XP is way behind the times and missing out. I switched to Vista as soon as the beta went public and I haven't looked back since. I'm on 7 these days.
Intel is upgrading to 2011-pin sockets soon. If you're looking for something high-end, I would seriously recommend waiting for them to hit, as the 1156 and 1366 sockets are essentially being discontinued.
Socket 2011 isn't coming until Q3 or Q4. Socket 1155's CPUs are already a fair bit faster than the older ones.