Upgrading a computer for the esteemed purpose of experiencing fine games

[Thrik]

My current computer is a big, sweating mess that's been running on fumes for some time now. My hard drive is almost full, games like Anno 2070 (sweet-looking SimCity alternative by the way) bring it to a grinding halt, and it is essentially well and truly spent. Time to upgrade.

I've done some research and shopping, and have found a wonderful selection of parts I believe will serve as excellent ingredients for the new hub of Thrik. But have I made the right decisions? Could I get far better performance by spending just a little more? Do I deserve a slap for my choices?

It's always hard deciding what the cut-off point should be, where satisfactory performance is attained without breaking the bank. So without further ado, I present:

• 1 serving of Intel Core i5-3570K CPU (4 x 3.40GHz)
  
• 1 dash of AMD Radeon 7870 (2GB)
  
• 1 piece of Corsair Vengeance RAM (8GB DDR3 1600MHz)
  
• 1 smattering of ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP Motherboard
  
• 1 chunk of Seagate 3TB Barracuda
  

I'm yet to choose a case but it'll just be a ~£50 one, and I already have a good power supply and DVD writer. No interest in overclocking, but I've gone for a single 8GB RAM stick so I can go up to 16GB easily at some point.

Mainly just wondering if I've made wise decisions about the above, validate or crush me — it's all good.

[Mazy]

Looks fine to me, but have you thought about going for an SSD?

[blackdog]

I'm not up to date with latest hw, i just read recently that whatever the VGA, it's ok because the new one will come out only toward the end of the year.

By the way, if i was to buy something, i'd be gravitating toward nVidia... aren't those still heating less? Also, even if doesn't change the world, the support for PhysX is nice to have when performance/price is equal. No?

Edited March 20, 2013 by blackdog

[Zacker]

In terms of gaming you would get almost the same performance from a much cheaper dual core i3. Spending the money you save there on going for an SSD would give you a lot more value imo.

[Thrik]

My thinking was that because AMD is being used for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox Next, things like PhysX are going to become pretty much dead and games will probably be inherently a little more optimised for AMD out of the box. (Could be totally wrong on this though?!)

[Pampers]

You are missing a SSD.

[Thrik]

OK I'll look into SSDs. Don't really know anything about them but I do know that having a big regular HD for storage and an SSD as the main operating system/application drive is great for performance, right?

Zacker, interesting thought. I assumed that going mid-range with CPU would be a good plan for gaming, but if games aren't really making use of that extra power I'll see how much cheaper I can go without losing significant performance.

[Pampers]

OK I'll look into SSDs. Don't really know anything about them but I do know that having a big regular HD for storage and an SSD as the main operating system/application drive is great for performance, right?

Yup, put your windows partition on it, and most commonly used games/programs

[Zacker]

Zacker, interesting thought. I assumed that going mid-range with CPU would be a good plan for gaming, but if games aren't really making use of that extra power I'll see how much cheaper I can go without losing significant performance.

This might be an interesting read: http://www.overclock.net/t/943540/i3-vs-i7-gaming-performance-updated

[dux]

Drop that crappy intel and get yourself an FX 8350 Black. It's newer, it's better and it's cheaper and it loves eating everything you put infront of it.

Here's my recommended build for you.

CPU FX8350:

http://www.amazon.co...63821071&sr=1-1

Motherboard:

http://www.amazon.co..._cp_computers_0

OCZ Vertex 4 SSD:

http://www.amazon.co...63821409&sr=1-1

I'm using amazon here just because. Can shop around.

Keep that 3TB seagate and just install windows and all your immediate programs onto the SSD. The ram and gfx card are fine.

Edited March 20, 2013 by dux

[Psy]

I'd recommend the Samsung 840 for your SSD. I have one and it's the bestest thing ever.

Also, in what may appear to be a hijacking of this thread (note: it is), which graphics card would you guys choose between the 660ti and the 7950?

[2d-chris]

+1 for the vertex 4, got a few myself they are great

[Taylor Swift]

i bought and completed myself a monster pc im using right now. i was looking for weeks thru the net researching hardware and finally built my own computer. i looked into alienware but it was overpriced and seriusly i didnt like it..

im also planning to start saving my $ for something new for maybe next year. my harddrives are all full and even the external drives are getting close to full. i guess having alot of harddrive space is important and something i will consider for my next build.

it depends on what you need, are you into serious gaming id spend on cpu and graphics, id say anything over 10 GB right now is still overkill. for the last 4 years i didnt see much improvement on the graphics card. they go right now to 2GB ram.. 4 year ago u had approximately 1 gb ram. so that isnt much .. now supporting direct x 11.. when is 12 coming out.. ?

i say spend extra $ on cooling, my fans broke very fast and i need to buy new chassi fans..

i have a overclocking card so if i need that extra power i can easily turn up my cpu speed when needed. for now, i can play anything without problem..

research before buying.

[Sentura]

with AMDs shitty driver support i would say go for an NVIDIA card instead, and also SSD. currently having a 660ti, it makes sweet love to my triple monitor setup.

[-HP-]

This reminds me, I need a new PC. My PC is from early 2009, I updated it's RAM (Currently with 6gb ddr2) and the graphics card (Currently with a Nvidia GTX560ti) but I think it wont last long. I had to reduce Borderlands2 to 1280*760 for it to run smooth, and it looks jagged as fuck on that resolution.

I don't play a lot of games on PC nowadays, but some games belong on PC so I wanna have a good experience there. Will see how Bioshock infinite will do on my rig.