New build for fallout and Deus Ex from a guy whos been away a while

[das müffin mann]

hey folks i've been away for a few years for medical reasons and i haven't been keeping up to date on my tech news. So i'm asking all you wonderful folks what would be the cheapest way for me to upgrade my rig (or an entirely new build) so i can spend my days wandering the boston wasteland or wrecking Illuminati bitches with some super badass augments. My system is a bit dated and i know it can't handle either atm, especially with the way they're meant to be played. I'm browsing around the forums but at this point some recommendations would be awesome. i'd like to spend around $600-$900, the cheaper the better. Cheers guys.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Skylake i5 6600k, low end z170, 8gb ddr4 2133, gtx960

You can keep a lot of what you ahve. Like Case, monitor, PSU, hard drives. I would just upgrade everything else + add an SSD. Or hell, the 920 is still pretty capable. You could just add an SSD and a GTX980 and call it a day.

https://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

 

[64K]

Do you plan to stick with that 1440 x 900 monitor or are you looking at upgrading to 1080p soon?

 

[das müffin mann]

right on, with that in mind i'm thinking the most economical route would be to double up the ram and swap the gpu. About the gpu, is evga still a pretty solid manufacturer? i was also maybe thinking about switching up the motherboard, i could use a little more room/slots to expand and the design of the board i have, though awesome, it's a bit of a tight fustercluck. As for the monitor, i will be upgrading that as well, although that's secondary atm. but if you have any recommendations on that i would be pretty stoked. i've always had a pretty positive experience with Samsung, and i would like to go a bit larger 21'+

 

[MxPhenom 216]

right on, with that in mind i'm thinking the most economical route would be to double up the ram and swap the gpu. About the gpu, is evga still a pretty solid manufacturer? i was also maybe thinking about switching up the motherboard, i could use a little more room/slots to expand and the design of the board i have, though awesome, it's a bit of a tight fustercluck. As for the monitor, i will be upgrading that as well, although that's secondary atm. but if you have any recommendations on that i would be pretty stoked. i've always had a pretty positive experience with Samsung, and i would like to go a bit larger 21'+

Switching motherboards, you will have to upgrade everything. There is not a single X58 board available anymore for retail. And yes EVGA is good. I am a big fan of the MSI Gaming cards after a build I recently did with one. Probably nicest quietest cards I have ever used.

 

[AsRock]

Wait until they are released is always the best option.

 

[peche]

Skylake i5 6600k, low end z170, 8gb ddr4 2133, gtx960

You can keep a lot of what you ahve. Like Case, monitor, PSU, hard drives. I would just upgrade everything else + add an SSD. Or hell, the 920 is still pretty capable. You could just add an SSD and a GTX980 and call it a day.

https://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

reusing some parts could be the better idea, no doubts...
2 options...
#1 new motherboard, + new processor+ new ram +SSD + new video card.
Z170 + intel skylake proceesor,+ DDR4 ram kit + SSD+ GTX 970

#2 reuse your build, just add a SSD + new video card, best option GTX 970...! for sure, you quite interesting case, also quite enough PSU and that i7 still pretty capable....

right on, with that in mind i'm thinking the most economical route would be to double up the ram and swap the gpu. About the gpu, is evga still a pretty solid manufacturer? i was also maybe thinking about switching up the motherboard, i could use a little more room/slots to expand and the design of the board i have, though awesome, it's a bit of a tight fustercluck. As for the monitor, i will be upgrading that as well, although that's secondary atm. but if you have any recommendations on that i would be pretty stoked. i've always had a pretty positive experience with Samsung, and i would like to go a bit larger 21'+

replacing motherboard means mostly a new build, which is not a big upgrade and notable difference may be minimum,
also EVGA still a great manufacturer, im big fan of Gigabyte motherboards and video cards,

Wait until they are released is always the best option.

maybe cannonlake next generation ....

 

[das müffin mann]

yeah i think i'll just add some ram, a ssd, and a new gpu. at least for now. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[64K]

If it were me I would grab a 970 and a nice 1080p monitor. Cost around $500. A 970 is plenty for 1080p but a bit of overkill for your present monitor.

 

[peche]

yeah i think i'll just add some ram, a ssd, and a new gpu. at least for now. Thanks for the help guys!

let us know how was the upgrade,

If it were me I would grab a 970 and a nice 1080p monitor. Cost around $500. A 970 is plenty for 1080p but a bit of overkill for your present monitor.

about the monitor with your budget you can get a better one, i love 1920x1280 by the way, my 22" Flatron works flawless!

Regards,

 

[silentbogo]

I have a similar rig, so I'd suggest an SSD, GPU and RAM upgrade.
3x2GB DDR3 is relatively cheap. Ask around TPU, someone may have a cheap used kit.
SSD's are going down in price too. Get a 250GB EVO 850 and you should have enough even to run Fallout 4 off it, if Bethesda decides to use that old static location loading. ~$90
4GB GTX 960 is ~$200-220. EVGA is still kick-ass, but as @peche said, MSI Gaming series is very cool.

Spend the remaining budget on a good monitor, because 900p only looks good on a 15" Mac, and 1080p is slowly going into history. Aim for a decent 1440p.

Your CPU is still fine. I upgraded mine just because it runs cooler.

 

[peche]

and 1080p is slowly going into history.

not agreed....

 

[MxPhenom 216]

reusing some parts could be the better idea, no doubts...
2 options...
#1 new motherboard, + new processor+ new ram +SSD + new video card.
Z170 + intel skylake proceesor,+ DDR4 ram kit + SSD+ GTX 970

#2 reuse your build, just add a SSD + new video card, best option GTX 970...! for sure, you quite interesting case, also quite enough PSU and that i7 still pretty capable....


replacing motherboard means mostly a new build, which is not a big upgrade and notable difference may be minimum,
also EVGA still a great manufacturer, im big fan of Gigabyte motherboards and video cards,


maybe cannonlake next generation ....

He saying wait till the games actually release before making a choice on upgrades.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Spend the remaining budget on a good monitor, because 900p only looks good on a 15" Mac, and 1080p is slowly going into history. Aim for a decent 1440p

While I agree, 1440p is great (it will end up being my next upgrade), 1080p is by no means going into history. It's still a great resolution.

According to Steam hardware survey, IIRC, it is still the largest resolution percentage among gamers, with the next biggest being even smaller, 1366x768 (I think thats the right resolution).

OP, if you get 1080p, something like a 970 will be perfect and last you awhile. If you go to 1440p, then a 980 would be a better choice. 970 can do it but it will not last as long.

*edited to correct 1320 to 1366.

 

[Bo$$]

Samsung make some very nice 27 inch PLS monitors, otherwise sounds like you have a good idea of what to add

 

[silentbogo]

I usually don't like making analogies, but here's one:
if you make a survey about cars, and you determine that today a majority of drivers on earth have a 2005 Honda Civic, you don't go and by a 2005 honda civic.
And just like cars, you don't upgrade your monitors every year or two - you keep them until they are completely outdated and you buy the best you can afford.

So I disagree - if you switch from 19" 1440x900, then 1440p is the way to go. 1080p on a 23" screen is bigger, but image quality is the same.
4K is still too expensive even to be considered.

P.S. Also according to Steam the most popular videocard is Intel HD4000 IGP, which is exactly my point

 

[RejZoR]

To be honest, overclock that Core i7 920 and buy a new graphic card like R9-390X or GTX 980 and you'll be good to go. Maybe some extra RAM but I think even 6GB is still perfectly fine.

 

[RejZoR]

P.S. Also according to Steam the most popular videocard is Intel HD4000 IGP, which is exactly my point

And you know this is BS. It's most popular just because in hybrid systems, this is what Steam sees. Just because it comes with the most CPU's it doesn't mean people actually use these to game. Frankly, you can't exactly game with such crappy GPU to begin with. Statistics are greatly skewed because of how Intel delivers GPU's with their CPU's and it's not realistic at all.

 

[silentbogo]

And you know this is BS. It's most popular just because in hybrid systems, this is what Steam sees. Just because it comes with the most CPU's it doesn't mean people actually use these to game. Frankly, you can't exactly game with such crappy GPU to begin with. Statistics are greatly skewed because of how Intel delivers GPU's with their CPU's and it's not realistic at all.

Yep. That's why I brought it as an example, but this is not the reason IGP is #1.
It's the fact that we, computer enthusiasts, ignore the normal human beings who usually own laptops, and not these huge and scary boxes full of steam and fire
Hence the display resolution clustering: 1366x768 on a mainstream laptop, 1920x1080 on a gaming laptop or a typical aftermarket gaming desktop.
Plus most people create an account install Steam solely to play Dota 2, TF2 and CS:GO, and those work fine on a laptop with Intel HD4000 at 1366x768 | medium settings.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Yep. That's why I brought it as an example, but this is not the reason IGP is #1.
It's the fact that we, computer enthusiasts, ignore the normal human beings who usually own laptops, and not these huge and scary boxes full of steam and fire
Hence the display resolution clustering: 1366x768 on a mainstream laptop, 1920x1080 on a gaming laptop or a typical aftermarket gaming desktop.
Plus most people create an account install Steam solely to play Dota 2, TF2 and CS:GO, and those work fine on a laptop with Intel HD4000 at 1366x768 | medium settings.

Additionally to my prior post, did you see the thread from several months ago and accompanying poll?

It showed that even on our supposedly enthusiast driven site, 1920x1080 is still the largest percentage of monitors.

W1zzard even had a large enough number of people request 1920x1080p for his GPU reviews that he only added it to the resolutions tested LAST YEAR.

Hardly a marginalized laptop-driven resolution. It has quite alot of life left in it.

So when a guy like the OP says he has $600-900 available, and wants to stay closer to $600, it's completely reasonable to advise him to take a 1920x1080p monitor. Most 1440P will eat too much into his limited upgrade budget.

 

[64K]

Yep. That's why I brought it as an example, but this is not the reason IGP is #1.
It's the fact that we, computer enthusiasts, ignore the normal human beings who usually own laptops, and not these huge and scary boxes full of steam and fire
Hence the display resolution clustering: 1366x768 on a mainstream laptop, 1920x1080 on a gaming laptop or a typical aftermarket gaming desktop.
Plus most people create an account install Steam solely to play Dota 2, TF2 and CS:GO, and those work fine on a laptop with Intel HD4000 at 1366x768 | medium settings.

True. The definition of gaming is very broad. You can play older games on integrated graphics and a good bit of newer indy games. Even someone playing Angry Birds or Minecraft are gaming.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I found the thread. 1080p by a large margin. On our enthusist site. Oh the horrors!

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/your-monitor-resolution.206906/

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

I found the thread. 1080p by a large margin. On our enthusist site. Oh the horrors!

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/your-monitor-resolution.206906/

A note to add here is that even the non-tech enthusiasts are defaulting to 1080p. http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

At the time of review, 34.51% of users utilized 1920x1080 resolutions. While this covers all walks of computer gamers, it's rather telling when even enthusiasts choose 1920x1080.


Edit:
I included the link because everybody else seemed to be working off of old understandings. Namely, that sub 1920x1080 resolutions were still the standard for users (due to mobile gaming) and GPU hardware was primarily Intel 4000 integrated graphics (it is still the largest single offering, but at just a little over 4% that's not saying much).

 

[silentbogo]

I guess you guys just missed the point of my 05' Civic analogy.
1080p is a mainstream resolution for devices ranging from phones, chromebooks and laptops, to desktop screens 15-32" in size, to TVs and even projectors.
It's been around for over 8 years now, and that same poll shows that 20% of people here already use a 2K display.

Once again, this is my personal opinion: at this very moment, if I decide to upgrade my screen, I'd rather spend $300-400 on a decent 23-27" 2K display, than waste $150-$200 on a 1080p display of equal size and specs, but with pixel density only 5-10% better than OPs 19" syncmaster.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I guess you guys just missed the point of my 05' Civic analogy.
1080p is a mainstream resolution for devices ranging from phones, chromebooks and laptops, to desktop screens 15-32" in size, to TVs and even projectors.
It's been around for over 8 years now, and that same poll shows that 20% of people here already use a 2K display.

Once again, this is my personal opinion: at this very moment, if I decide to upgrade my screen, I'd rather spend $300-400 on a decent 23-27" 2K display, than waste $150-$200 on a 1080p display of equal size and specs, but with pixel density only 5-10% better than OPs 19" syncmaster.

I do understand your point. That's my next move..eventually. The OP does not have alot of money to work with though. In order to get maximum visual quality AND good framerates on higher than 1080p, he would have to spend alot more money, because it requires a correspondingly more expensive GPU.

I always try to tailor my suggestions to the OP's needs, not my own desires.