Pc upgrade for gaming help please

[mastic]

My current pc wont run COD black ops so im thinking of upgrading some parts so i can play Cod black ops and the new Battlefield 3 when it comes out. My current specs are:

AMD Athlon 64x2 Dual Core Proccesoer 5200+ 2.70ghz
4 Gb Ram
GeForce 9800GT gfx card

Now its says i need a phenom x3 on the can you run it site and my gfx card passes. I always take my comp to the shop to get built, so what do you guys suggest on a tight budget. What parts can you suggest i get that will play the latest games and could be a couple of years future proof without going silly lol.

 

[daveleebond]

What budget are you thinking of, what are your current parts, dvd, memory, motherboard, psu (makes & models if possible) etc.

Sent from my HTC Hero

 

[little_pob]

Before spec'ing out a whole new system, what is your budget?

If you've got a tight budget, go for the self build. I know it's nice to support the independent dealers and if it goes wrong you can take it back to them, but it's nearly always cheaper to built it yourself.

Google suggests that AMD have used the Athlon 64 X2 5200+ name for two different CPUs; an AM2 and an AM3. The AM2 CPUs (and AM2+ for that matter) work on AM2 and AM2+ motherboards but not AM3. AM3 CPUs work on AM2+ and AM3 motherboards but not AM2. Use Speccy to find the details of motherboard.

If it's an AM2+ or AM3 motherboard, then a straight swap of the CPU for the X4 955 Black Edition would sort you out for £105: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Socket AM3 3.2 GHz.. | Ebuyer.com

If it's an AM2 board your choices are a little more restricted as the AM2/AM2+ CPUs are end-of-life and, as mentioned, these won't run AM3 CPUs. You can either grab an AM2+ motherboard and the X4 955 BE above to be able to use your current RAM, or grab an AM3 board and CPU but have to also upgrade your RAM to DDR3.

However, if you are looking to upgrade the system, then the way to go at the moment is probably Intel's Sandybridge (LGA1155). However, that is likely to set you back around £350.

The 9800GT is fine for COD:BlOps, because it's the same base engine as used by COD4:MW. I imagine Battlefield 3 may require a more up to date graphics card. As it is running the Frostbite 2.0 engine, a DX11 compatible card is recommended.

 

[mastic]

Ive run speccy and this is what it comes up for my mobo, my budget is about £150 tops at a push. Im not looking for a top notch gaming machine just something to pop on from time to time. thats why im looking just to upgrade a few parts, my opticals and hd are fine as is the psu.

Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Model GA-M56S-S3
Chipset Vendor NVIDIA
Chipset Model nForce 560
Chipset Revision A3
Southbridge Vendor NVIDIA
Southbridge Model nForce 560
Southbridge Revision A3
System Temperature 31 °C
BIOS
Brand Award Software International, Inc.
Version F3
Date 12/04/2007
Voltage
CPU CORE 1.104 V
DDR 1.888 V
+3.3V 3.392 V
+5V 5.080 V
+12V 12.032 V
-12V -13.056 V
+5V HIGH THRESHOLD 5.053 V
CMOS BATTERY 3.120 V

 

[little_pob]

That's an AM2 board, so isn't compatible with the AM3 CPUs

As you're upgrading the motherboard anyway, I'd look at spending the extra £35 on upgrading to DDR3 1600 too (I hadn't realised 2x2GB kits had got under £60 let alone £35):
AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHz 6MB L3 Cache.. | Ebuyer.com - the recommended minimum for BlOps
MSI 870-C45 AMD 770 Socket AM3 GB LAN 8 Channel Audio.. | Ebuyer.com - An AM3 motherboard
Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz HyperX Blu Memory.. | Ebuyer.com - AM3 motherboards are DDR3 only
Total: £143.21 delivered
(Don't forget you can sell on your current CPU, mobo and RAM.)

Whilst you could upgrade to the recommended specs for BlOps for under £100 using a cheaper motherboard and reusing your RAM, it's worth pointing out the AM3 CPUs work best with DDR3 and the specs for BF3 are still to be announced. All that is known so far is no DX9 support (so XP stalwarts will not be playing), and full 64bit support is expected - i.e. the Frostbite 2.0 engine should have 32bit and 64bit variants.

As it could turn out that the X2 550 BE is below the minimum spec; in the run up to BF3, I'd set some cash aside to further upgrade the CPU and probably invest in a new graphics card (e.g. the GeForce 550Ti or Radeon 6790). If it turns out the X2 550 BE is fine for BF3, you've more to spend on the GPU.

 

[mastic]

cheers little pob :Clap:

 

[turner brown]

or buy the machine i have for sale rip your card out and sell your machine
should be cheap upgrade
you might even be able to take 2 gig out of your old machine as
the one i have for sale is ddr2 but 1066 stuff