I joined this forum in 2003 and was an active member for 5 years before I built my first PC.
I spent about $500 on the following:
Wolfdale e7200 2.53ghz Core2 Duo
EVGA 512mb 9600GT (later Replaced with EVGA 1gb 9800GTX)
2gb gskill 800mhz DDR2 (later replaced with 3gb Kingston HyperX 1066)
250gb WD hdd (Added 500gb WD hdd for 750gb total)
450w CoolerMaster Centurion case/psu (Later replaced with 500w OCZ psu)
Gigabyte EP35-DS3L mobo
Its a great computer and it'll basically play any game I throw at it. What I'm really missing out on though is DX11 and PhysX. I bought the Batman Arkham pack on Steam last weekend and the demands of those games surpass what my system is able to deliver. (Arkham Asylum ran okay, but Arkham City is such a beast I have to keep everything turned way down to maintain smooth action)
I've been looking into upgrading the GPU again to something like a GTX460. I understand this to be a DX11 card and it would be powerful enough to run PhysX on its own AND it is budget friendly.
BUT, the more I looked into it; newer games are requiring more powerful CPU hardware as well as GPU. My question is, would buying a GTX460 do wonders for my gaming experience or would it be worthless paired with my old components? Should I just plan on building a whole new machine soon or do you think I can keep upgrading what I've got?
I appreciate all opinions and suggestions!
I'm not really a "PC Guy" but I'm a gamer and I enjoy building and upgrading things and I enjoy playing games on the PC much more than consoles.
I spent about $500 on the following:
Wolfdale e7200 2.53ghz Core2 Duo
EVGA 512mb 9600GT (later Replaced with EVGA 1gb 9800GTX)
2gb gskill 800mhz DDR2 (later replaced with 3gb Kingston HyperX 1066)
250gb WD hdd (Added 500gb WD hdd for 750gb total)
450w CoolerMaster Centurion case/psu (Later replaced with 500w OCZ psu)
Gigabyte EP35-DS3L mobo
Its a great computer and it'll basically play any game I throw at it. What I'm really missing out on though is DX11 and PhysX. I bought the Batman Arkham pack on Steam last weekend and the demands of those games surpass what my system is able to deliver. (Arkham Asylum ran okay, but Arkham City is such a beast I have to keep everything turned way down to maintain smooth action)
I've been looking into upgrading the GPU again to something like a GTX460. I understand this to be a DX11 card and it would be powerful enough to run PhysX on its own AND it is budget friendly.
BUT, the more I looked into it; newer games are requiring more powerful CPU hardware as well as GPU. My question is, would buying a GTX460 do wonders for my gaming experience or would it be worthless paired with my old components? Should I just plan on building a whole new machine soon or do you think I can keep upgrading what I've got?
I appreciate all opinions and suggestions!
I'm not really a "PC Guy" but I'm a gamer and I enjoy building and upgrading things and I enjoy playing games on the PC much more than consoles.