Upgrade card or... ?

[Matty D]

Well my system is starting to get long in the tooth but still does pretty well. However I'm at a point where I think I will need to upgrade part of it this year.

My problems are lack of money for a complet rebuild. My PC is for gaming first and the rest second. Current specs are:

Q6600 @ 3.0Ghz
2x2 Mushkin ram
1680x1050 monitor (20.1")
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ( ollllld card is old, third system it has been in)
4870 512mb
Windows XP 32bit

I see a few issues with my system that will potentially hold me back. Win XP is not capable of Direct X 10 or 11. So if I buy a new card I won't be able to get the benefit from new Direct X affects with XP. However my card is what I think will be the biggest gaming improvement regardless of any other change. Thinking about a 560Ti currently or a 6950 1gb. Realistically $200-$300 is my range (taxes on top)

My second thought is to grab a copy of Win 7 and maybe a new SSD. That means no card for a while though. Maybe just grab win 7 on existing drive but that cuts into the budget for the card.

So considering all the above what thoughts do people have on how to improve my system to handle this years games i.e. BF3

[LarkStarr]

Well for $300, all you can really do is get a video card at this point, and couple it with a fresh windows 7 install. for $300, if you time it good, you can hit up a gtx 570 for the green party, or indeed a 6950.

Later on this year, when AMD's Bulldozer comes out and then Intel's Z68 chips become available, you can upgrade the rest of the aging components. You'd need more $$$ to do an overhaul. If you're strapped with cash, forget the SSD.

[Matty D]

Thanks LarkStarr, yeah $300 is tight. I guess letting go of the SSD is my best bet as it likely won't do much for my gaming except boost load times.

[_dangtx_]

dont do nothing, like i said in the other dude's thread, go full out on 2500k/bd when it comes out.

piece by piece can work if you only have money for 4gb ram ddr3 for exemple, and you add another 4gb next week when the
paycheck comes but thats it.

[draemn]

I think your CPU is still going to be good for another 1-2 years (but I'm no expert on this), so I would look into just a GPU upgrade. Sure, an SSD is nice and really gives your system a 'snap,' but your computer works without one. At your resolution, I don't see any reason to buy anything above an GTX 560 Ti, which can be had around $230 on sale... therefore, I'd say spend $200-230 on a GPU and get something that's a good sale (but don't buy a 6870 @ $200 because they claim the original price is $260, because the 6870 is only a $210 card).

You can get a copy of windows 7 for < $100 if you meet certain licensing requirements... Students or OEM builder (which includes someone like you or I building a custom computer from parts)...

[GT7R]

As long as the CPU does the job for you, keep it. Update the videocard first (prefer something from nvidia, it will deal with physx without overloading your CPU).

[YukonTrooper]

What resolution are you running?

[LarkStarr]

Originally Posted by YukonTrooper

What resolution are you running?

1680x1050 monitor (20.1")

Right in the original post.

[BrutalGreen]

@1680x1050 any sub 250$ gpu will get u solid FPS in any current game and probably most games for a respectable time in the future (depending on game and AA/AF) even if you keep the rest of your build the same. I'd suggest the MSI 560ti twin frozr

Currently @ 225$ after MIR on DirectCanada

[rjbarker]

GPU n W7 x64.....at that Res a 560Ti should be suffice...