Making a gaming rig?

[Sir Tom Banana]

Hey
I have had my current ocmputer for a few years, and it works great. It has a dual core i5 processor, not sure what kind of video card. It can run source games, world of warcraft, minecraft, and games like that just fine. However, games like battlefield, cod, crysis, GTA, etc. it can't come close to running. I'm looking to build a comp that can run most of the more demanding games out there, all for around $1,000 tops. Any suggestions as to what kind of stuff (processor, video cards, fans, etc.) I should put in there? Thanks

 

[Snipeye]

Do you happen to know which i5 it is?

Go to Start -> Run -> Type in /dxdiag

This will give you information about your computer: CPU, Motherboard, RAM, and video card.

I don't think the CPU needs replacing, unless it's a low clocked model, which I doubt (laptop CPU in a desktop? Nawwww!). I'd venture that you would only need to upgrade the video card, maybe the RAM and power supply, and that's all you'll need.

 

[Sir Tom Banana]

I have a 3.20 GHz i5 CPU. It dosen't say anything about the motherboard or video card.I have about 8000MB Ram
What neighborhood of power supply do you recommend. I know that's something that computer manufacturers bottleneck on.

 

[B00MB00MBenji]

I Believe if you want to run BF3, you should get a quad core at least? I think that BF3 is Processor based, right? Correct me if im wrong.

 

[Cloakedsphere]

I Believe if you want to run BF3, you should get a quad core at least? I think that BF3 is Processor based, right? Correct me if im wrong.

Its more based on GPU more then CPU itself. The graphics takes in alot more then just the CPU. CPU is good if your running multiple programs at once. So like im playing TF2/CS:S/BF:3 all at once. That would take up alot of my CPU because the graphic demand and the processes it has to run is very demanding.

 

[_Sushi]

Battlefield is generally a game with a lot of CPU demand (I think it may be the sound). I know this because I used to play Battlefield Bad Company 2 with a Core 2 Duo E7500, and when I upgraded it to an i5-2500k I went from a 15 FPS average to a 52 FPS average.

 

[Sir Tom Banana]

thanks for all the feedback guys. I'm just wondering, would I be better off altogether building a new comp or just upgrading the one I have?

 

[Snipeye]

Upgrading. And just say 8 GB of RAM.

I'm honestly surprised it didn't say what motherboard you're using. As that would be under the System tab, under System Manufacturer and System Model. But of course, if you bought the PC, it could say something different.

Was this a custom built PC or bought one? If bought, let us know what model.

If custom built, I'm say just upgrade the video card and see how that improves the performance. But I'm assuming you're using DDR3 RAM, and have enough power from your PSU.

 

[pillar]

Well it really depends upon the full specs of your system. By the sounds of your cpu, I think all you may need to do is just upgrade the cpu (dont quote me on that tho). Also if you're wanting to build a better computer, I highly suggest you find out what motherboard you have, that way we can help you further in your search for a great quality upgrade. For the power supply, I would suggest anything 600w+. I currently have a Corsair 650w & its doing me just fine (I think it has a 5 year warranty, which was 1 of the major selling points there).

Now depending on which Windows OS you have, click on Start then run & type in dxdiag. If you have Win7 (like me), then just type it in in the search bar right above the windows icon. Once you do that, itll pull up all the juicy info on your cpu, motherboard, os, etc. Once you let us know which motherboard you have, we can pull up the tech specs & go from there. I highly doubt that youll need to hit the $1000 mark unless you're going for close to overkill on the upgrade. Possibly $700 will get ya up there, if that.

My upgrade will be for an i5-2500k, new mobo & ddr3 memory & itll hit me round $500, if that.

 

[a pet rock]

Well it really depends upon the full specs of your system. By the sounds of your cpu, I think all you may need to do is just upgrade the cpu (dont quote me on that tho). Also if you're wanting to build a better computer, I highly suggest you find out what motherboard you have, that way we can help you further in your search for a great quality upgrade. For the power supply, I would suggest anything 600w+. I currently have a Corsair 650w & its doing me just fine (I think it has a 5 year warranty, which was 1 of the major selling points there).

Buying a 600W+ PSU for a single GPU system is not good usage of money.

 

[JPigg]

Bf3 is very gpu extensive, not CPU... Just to clear that up... Have no idea why people are saying its a CPU based game. You guys are wrong

 

[Snipeye]

Well it really depends upon the full specs of your system. By the sounds of your cpu, I think all you may need to do is just upgrade the cpu (dont quote me on that tho). Also if you're wanting to build a better computer, I highly suggest you find out what motherboard you have, that way we can help you further in your search for a great quality upgrade. For the power supply, I would suggest anything 600w+. I currently have a Corsair 650w & its doing me just fine (I think it has a 5 year warranty, which was 1 of the major selling points there).

Now depending on which Windows OS you have, click on Start then run & type in dxdiag. If you have Win7 (like me), then just type it in in the search bar right above the windows icon. Once you do that, itll pull up all the juicy info on your cpu, motherboard, os, etc. Once you let us know which motherboard you have, we can pull up the tech specs & go from there. I highly doubt that youll need to hit the $1000 mark unless you're going for close to overkill on the upgrade. Possibly $700 will get ya up there, if that.

My upgrade will be for an i5-2500k, new mobo & ddr3 memory & itll hit me round $500, if that.

I hope you meant GPU, and not CPU. He says he can run Minecraft, WoW, and games similar to that. Meaning not GPU-intensive games. However, on games like "battlefield, cod, crysis, GTA, etc." he can't even run them at all. How is that a CPU issue and not GPU? And a 600w PSU would be overkill. 500w, 400w even would suffice depending on the GPU Sir Tom decides on.

It's NOT HIS CPU everyone! He hasn't told us what his GPU is exactly, and I'm pretty sure that's the one component he definitely needs to upgrade. If it's a pretty modern GPU, then there's an underlying issue with his setup that needs to be figured out.

@Sir Tom Let us know what the video card is (you can google other ways to find it or youtube video showing you how to see it if my method doesn't work for you).

 

[I'm your huckleberry]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2011/11/10/battlefield-3-technical-analysis/7

This shows that the cpu is not the main factor as others have said. GPU is definitely where you need to upgrade.

And based on what you have told us about the cpu, it looks like you have a core i5 650 which is a dual core with hyper threading at 3.2 ghz. This should be decent for a little while longer.

 

[Sir Tom Banana]

Hey. Sorry I've been so late to respond, I've been sorta busy lately. I got this computer before I knew anything about computers, meaning that I got a crappy discontinued ASUS prebuild. It works fine, but we just got ripped off bad by it. I'm assuming they put a bad motherboard and ps in there, because my dxdiag says nothing about them. I got the system number and found the kind of comp. Here's a link to a review of it including all of it's gear. http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/as...03/4507-3118_7-33964723.html?tag=mncol;subnav
Judging by this, what do you think is stopping my machine from being able to run alot of the newer, more demanding games?
Thanks for all the posts guys, I love all the feedback!

 

[Snipeye]

Well, if it's the same as you found on the link, Tom, then huckleberry and I are right. You don't even have a graphics card! You only need a graphics card and you'll be able to run the games you want. Not at the highest settings, but it'll be a HUGE sight better than what you're seeing now.

 

[averageScrub]

Massive post is massive.

thanks for all the feedback guys. I'm just wondering, would I be better off altogether building a new comp or just upgrading the one I have?

Last time I checked, only i3's had 2 cores, and i5's had 4 cores? I might be wrong, but I JUST built a PC out of an i5, and everything I looked at had those specs.

But anyway, MOST of the time, it is more worth it to upgrade IF you have a good enough motherboard to handle what you plan to drop in. One question you have to ask yourself is if you are comfortable with working on a computer (upgrading, building one, etc.)? Do you know about the danger of ESD, and how to avoid it? Do you know how to safely handle hardware? When you do upgrade, try to look at the total power draw of what you plan to use. You can use this simple calculator HERE or this more complex one HERE to try and figure that out. Generally, one current gen GPU will get you by one most games (not always on MAX, of course). But some of it also comes down to the CPU. If your CPU is a dual core, that might not cut it. You could always upgrade it down the road (The LGA 1155 socket is newer, what you have is 1156 I think). To upgrade the CPU, you might need to buy a new motherboard. You could use this to your advantage and futureproof your PC by going with either an 1155 socket, or go AMD (their 8-Core Bulldozer CPU is actually CHEAPER than a i5-2500k.) Take all this into consideration when planning. Another alternative to that is overclocking, although this requires above average cooling (which is expensive, depending on how good you want it to be. Coolermaster makes a pretty good CPU cooler called the Hyper212+, which is only about $20). You can read more about overclocking HERE if you want to check into it. You might not be up for the risk, though. To each his own. My CPU is currently running at 4.5GHz because of overclocking, though. :awesomeface:

In addition to this, DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT EVER skimp out on the PSU. It is, in essence, the life of the PC in the balance there. If you buy a bad (low cost) PSU, it might die and fry your PC, killing it instantly. Yes, good PSU's are expensive, but there is a reason for that. An overvolt or PSU failure would blow your entire investment. If you can afford it, go for SeaSonic (their PSU's are pretty amazing), Corsair (known to be pretty reliable), or Coolermaster (not sure if they have as good ratings, check the before buying of course). Make sure you are comfortable with the PSU's failure rates before you run out and buy one. When you look at video cards, you might not understand what some of the information means, or something similar. I could explain it to you, if you want to, but you could probably find something on the internet a lot faster. There are also a lot of price categories that tend to show a lot about the video card. Some stuff on the various price categories that have a LOT to do with performance, HERE.

I'm not trying to scare you here, just make sure you understand the risks and consequences before you do all of this, since you bought your last computer from a manufacturer (most likely, seems like you have OEM parts). And if you know all of this already, sorry for telling you again and making you read all of this... Haha.

And here are a few video card recommendations (some AMD, some nvidia; these are mid-range cards that would handle the games you mentioned pretty well, for the most part):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125385 (This one's cooling is amazing, it's similar to mine)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125353
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102924
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127608

And here's a good series on how to build a computer if you want to, and haven't done it before (by newegg, but no, I'm not a fanboy of them. lol):

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPIXAtNGGCw"]Part One[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_56kyib-Ls&feature=relmfu"]Part Two[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxaVBsXEiok&feature=relmfu"]Part Three[/ame]

And again, sorry about the massive post, it did get kind of long, but there is a lot about computers you need to know. :|

 

[Sir Tom Banana]

Well, if it's the same as you found on the link, Tom, then huckleberry and I are right. You don't even have a graphics card! You only need a graphics card and you'll be able to run the games you want. Not at the highest settings, but it'll be a HUGE sight better than what you're seeing now.

Dude, thank you so much. As I mentioned before, I really wasn't into video games when we got the comp. I thought that integrated graphics cards could barely run a video. I'll watch some tutorials to make sure I don't destroy my comp, and then I'll take a look in my computer to see if my dad ever put a graphics card into our comp or if we just have an awesome integrated graphics card.
One last question for everybody: What kind of graphics card do you recommend as an upgrade to my current build?