Struggling making upgrade decisions...

[cameronh779]

Hello all,

Ill try to summarize. I am struggling making decisions on what upgrades to make and to which component first. Ill do my best to explain.

My computer is ancient. I am aware of that, but I want to get a couple better components to at least be able to game comfortably at 1440 x 900 and maybe less. I don't want the best. I don't want to run on the highest settings. Just have something cheap that I can afford.

Right now the main game I play is World of Warcraft. I have to run on the lowest settings most of the time to avoid dropping below 30 fps in crowded areas. Things and people also seem to load slow and then lag once they do.

I have looked around ebay and watched tons of videos on cheap used gaming computers. But I just can't decide what to do. I usually have 20-50$ to spend at the beginning of each month. I'm taking care of a family member and can't work at the moment. So not only do I have to buy used but I have to buy part by part.

My current specs are under my avatar. I was thinking my first upgrade should be maybe a GPU, but then I think I should get a new motherboard that has BIOs unlocked. But my case only supports Micro ATX. I could go on and on but to make this short I am simply looking for some upgrade advice. And most importantly please note that in my situation saving money and spending more typically isnt an option. I dont want the best. But Id love to play some different newer games at whatever settings smoothly.

Thanks in advance all.

 

[Shou Miko]

If i remember correctly WoW is really CPU depending more than GFX or it was when it game out but I dunno if that changed.

Get Quad-core cpu and a better gfx.

 

[cameronh779]

If i remember correctly WoW is really CPU depending more than GFX or it was when it game out but I dunno if that changed.

Get Quad-core cpu and a better gfx.

I've done research about this and cant seem to find any solid info that WoW utilizes multiple cores. Any recommendations for a better GPU?

 

[Kursah]

To start I'd upgrade your GPU, get the newest you can afford to...saving for several months if you need. I see GTX560's, 570s and 580's on good deals all the time... same with the 600-series. I would try to get a GPU with 2-3GB of memory.

I'd look at getting an Intel Q9550 or Q9xxx-series quad core...great CPU's for their time and still decent today. You could also find a cheap Q6600, which would suffice too.

I would try to get into a P45 board, DDR2 or 3...probably keep with 2 to re-use what you have. Then you could OC the quad core.

 

[FireFox]

I've done research about this and cant seem to find any solid info that WoW utilizes multiple cores. Any recommendations for a better GPU?

May i ask you if you're in EU or USA?

 

[cameronh779]

To start I'd upgrade your GPU, get the newest you can afford to...saving for several months if you need. I see GTX560's, 570s and 580's on good deals all the time... same with the 600-series. I would try to get a GPU with 2-3GB of memory.

I'd look at getting an Intel Q9550 or Q9xxx-series quad core...great CPU's for their time and still decent today. You could also find a cheap Q6600, which would suffice too.

I would try to get into a P45 board, DDR2 or 3...probably keep with 2 to re-use what you have. Then you could OC the quad core.

Thanks for the advice! I've been seeing cheap 4890s and such on ebay. Maybe check it out and see if you can find something?

Yeah they have Q6600s for cheap like 15$ which was my plan once I got a decent motherboard. But people want an arm and a leg for the P45s.

 

[cameronh779]

May i ask you if you're in EU or USA?

I am in the US.

 

[FireFox]

I am in the US.

What a pity.

 

[Kursah]

Well if you can, I'd go for a Q9xxx series... the 9550 and 9650 were the cream of the crop chips... my 9650 would OC so easily.

Also for a good P45 board... I had an Asus P5Q Deluxe that was my favorite stable Core2-era board. P45 chipset, solid features, extremely well built. Gigabyte did decent P35 and P45 boards for more budget-oriented, and back then AsRock was starting to produce better boards as well.

Q6600's can OC too but they're less efficient power hogs that in my experience ran hotter too.

I would go newer than a 4000 or 5000-series AMD...I'd honestly push you to look at 6000 and 7000-series AMD. And look at 500/600-series Nvidia.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for you though!

 

[cameronh779]

The CPUs, GPUs, and such are decent value but to get a decent motherboard is a trick. People want a lot for decent 775s.

Ive been gone and havent upgraded in so long its hard for me to know what cards to look for in particular. Picking a GPU has been the hardest part in this. I'm not familiar with GPUs past the 4800 series. Thats the last time I was really into hardware.

 

[Kursah]

Well I would recommend you save up that spare cash for a few months...get a better GPU first.

 

[LightningJR]

I sold my 670 to my brother for about $75 and that's Canadian dollar, keep your eyes peeled for great deals, shouldn't be too hard to find.

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

Well if you can, I'd go for a Q9xxx series... the 9550 and 9650 were the cream of the crop chips... my 9650 would OC so easily.

Also for a good P45 board... I had an Asus P5Q Deluxe that was my favorite stable Core2-era board. P45 chipset, solid features, extremely well built. Gigabyte did decent P35 and P45 boards for more budget-oriented, and back then AsRock was starting to produce better boards as well.

Q6600's can OC too but they're less efficient power hogs that in my experience ran hotter too.

I would go newer than a 4000 or 5000-series AMD...I'd honestly push you to look at 6000 and 7000-series AMD. And look at 500/600-series Nvidia.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for you though!

I would add preferably 7000 series GCN card, better driver support+GCN dx12 ready microarch.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

People want a lot for decent 775s.

A "decent" 775 motherboard is going up in price. You'd be much better off going for newer tech. It does not make sense or cents to buy an old CPU AND motherboard. The only thing you be recycling would be your RAM.
You should, however, be able to grab an i3/socket 1155 motherboard bundle with RAM for $100-125. The first thing you need to do is to save up that money.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

$ 47
http://www.ebay.com/itm/INTEL-CORE-...398886?hash=item36031bf926:g:ak8AAOSwBahU2k1q


$ 80
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SAPPHIRE-DU...964185?hash=item36075ff919:g:wz4AAOSw65FXtQGP

 

[slozomby]

if you're spending more than $20 to put in a Q chip and board. you are paying too much.\

$ 47
http://www.ebay.com/itm/INTEL-CORE-...398886?hash=item36031bf926:g:ak8AAOSwBahU2k1q


$ 80
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SAPPHIRE-DU...964185?hash=item36075ff919:g:wz4AAOSw65FXtQGP

for about $30 more you can have a brand new fx6300 and board.

 

[wolar]

Just to drop this in here, with my pc (4590 + 970) with max settings i wasn't getting stable 60fps , ashran was unplayable so i had to drop some settings down.
I did not test if it was GPU or CPU problem though , i think it is a CPU problem as my brother with 4790k + 970 was getting higher fps (Gpus clock was about the same).
So i'm thinking an option in the settings puts alot of stress on the CPU .

 

[Jetster]

WOW is GPU depended now. You can run a 4th Generation Pentium dual core and a GTX 960 and 100 FPS on 1080 Ultra

And Newegg has had HD6970 for $60 before

 

[Cvrk]

What a pity.

LOL! ....i dont know why. but it made me laugh ) good one. But why ? He has all the best pc parts prices in the world. You wanna see pitty, come to Romania.

Cameron i feel your pain. Cuz it seems we are graphics card brothers! Your cpu is kinda bad, well everything is kinda bad. And since you live in the US , here in E-W Europe i'd figured all americans have i7's with 2 video cards watercooled oc'd at max, with very pretty lights! I guess i was wrong. There is somebody in the Unitated States that has a shittier rig than i do.

My only extremely blunt advice is to get a new computer. A 1150 mobo with i5 5k ,some ram,a bronze certified psu, a gtx ish' card (why not even the R7 https://goo.gl/bqlX42) and you are very good to go. As a matter of fact , this was pretty much my dream rig 2 months ago. No joke. Until recently i saved some money and decided to go bonkers with RX & skylake & be!quite & freesync etc . Don't look to much at those benchmarks. A i5 5k is still the future ,slap a 256 bit card on it and your gaming at medium settings for 3 more years!

However this is not what you whant to read (hear). Maybe get the second-hand HD 6790 ? Your not gonna have a bottleneck, and surely get a good price

 

[FireFox]

LOL! ....i dont know why. but it made me laugh ) good one. But why ? He has all the best pc parts prices in the world. You wanna see pitty, come to Romania.

I said pity because if he was in Europe i could provide him some hardwares from a Machine that i have laying in a corner collecting dust.

I built the Machine let's say just for fun/hobby/crunching/test

Motherboard:
Asus Rampage IV Extreme socket 2011

Ram:
8GB Ram DDR3 1333 Kingston Hyperx blu

CPU:
Xeon E5 2670

Cooler:
Dark Rock Pro 3

The Machine when i was building it

The Machine in the corner:

The Machine collecting dust:

I bought it used on Amazon, the seller told me that some parts on the board were missing but the board worked/work.


Parts missed:

The Bracket where the cooler is mounted was missed too but i managed to install the cooler and the Machine works without any kind of issues, even i used it as main Rig

The Original mosfet was missing:
Problem Solved:

Cooler bracket missing:
Problem solved:

 

[Cvrk]

@Knoxx29 i LOVE IT! It looks amazing! I am about to build the new rig using the Dark Rock 3 myself. I see the fan goes on top of the ram. I will use Corsair Vengeance LPX with a height of 34 mm. Do you think its gonna fit under the fan ?

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Looks like your system specs have changed???????

 

[FireFox]

Now i got what you mean

 

[cameronh779]

Thanks to an anonymous source. My system specs have indeed changed. Been busy playing Legion is why i havent posted. Nice to have something nice.