Cheap upgrade for gaming

[baronvongogo]

Hi Folks!,

I'm hoping someone can help me. My wife's computer is getting on a bit and struggles to play the newer games such as Borderlands 2. It can play it...but not to my standards she copes with it though.

The current set up is:

Intel Core 2 duo E6600
4 gigs of DDR2 Ram
Nvidia 7900GS

Now I was thinking of going either:
AMD A10-5800K with 8 gigs of DDR3

Or
AMD FX-6 core 6100

The issue I am having is if I can get graphics card for the 2nd option and to keep my budget around £200.

Any suggestions? Or would you say go with the AMD A10.

 

[PP Mguire]

Actually, you would be better off spending the money on the GPU first then upgrading the rest. I'm surprised that 7900GS can even play Borderlands 2. My 7950GT had a hard time with UT3 at 1080p back in 2007.

 

[baronvongogo]

You may be right. Although you have to take into account I wont be playing at 1920x1080 either so a card that works well on lower resolutions would be best hence why I thought of going for the A10. As it will do a CPU upgrade along with GPU saving me some money.

 

[PP Mguire]

I suppose that works as the A10 has a 7660 in it.

 

[Trotter]

Gainward GeForce GTX 660 NVIDIA Graphics Card - 2GB - 426018336-2777 - Scan.co.uk

 

[baronvongogo]

Gainward GeForce GTX 660 NVIDIA Graphics Card - 2GB - 426018336-2777 - Scan.co.uk

I meant £200 to include ram,CPU and mobo

I think I will go down the route of an AMD Phenom II Quad core 965 with a cheapish mobo , 8 gigs and maybe get a graphics card either the 6670 or 7750. Should get all that for around £215-£240.

If I didn't need a new CPU I would have gone for that GFX card Trotter but the Core 2 duo E6600 is getting a little old so might as well upgrade as much as possible.

 

[PP Mguire]

Depends on how much you are paying for that 965 to make it actually worth it. If you are going to do all that then you would probably be better off with an Ivy Bridge i3.

 

[Veraster]

Actually, you would be better off spending the money on the GPU first then upgrading the rest. I'm surprised that 7900GS can even play Borderlands 2. My 7950GT had a hard time with UT3 at 1080p back in 2007.

I have an E5300 Pentium D and only 3GB of DDR2 ram but I have an ATI Radeon 5770 1GB. I can somehow play almost any game including Borderlands 2 on max settings.
So the OP could get a major performance boost by buying only a new video card like you said.

 

[PP Mguire]

E5300 isn't Pentium D, it's Core 2. It's just called "Pentium" because it is the lower class processor of that group. Basically though, you proved my point as the E5300 is slower than the E6600.

 

[baronvongogo]

Depends on how much you are paying for that 965 to make it actually worth it. If you are going to do all that then you would probably be better off with an Ivy Bridge i3.

The P965 is only £69 the mobo is around £38 and ram is £28

the rest of the money is going on a decent GPU I figure while I have the money may as well upgrade as much as possible. I have been looking at an ivy bridge i3 but the cost is a tad too much.