Cheapest upgrade possible

[Hotthree]

I have a Computer I built in highschool that is really old. Basically built when 9800 pro's were good.

I have it sitting around I decided to upgrade it for my little brother.

What I'll need is:

Motherboard:
Cpu:
Ram:
Graphics card:
Harddrive: (optional I do have a 75gb hdd in it that would be ok)


What im asking for yall to do is build the cheapest possible thing that could run WoW and other games that are not that demanding.

 

[tiraides]

The resolution and level of visual quality that you wish to achieve are what ultimately determine what video card we recommend. Assuming that you're using the default visual settings, what resolution are you using?

For a 1680x1050 or lower resolution, here's one such idea:

$101 - AMD Athlon II X2 250 and Biostar A880G+ combo
$35 - G.Skill Value Series 4GB DDR3 1333 DIMM
$35 - *RECERTIFIED* Western Digital WD6401AALS/R 640GB SATA 3Gb/s HDD
$90 - XFX GS-250X-YDFV GeForce GTS 250 512MB
$45 - Corsair CX430 V2 430W PSU
=====
$306 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

You could go cheaper, but you run the risk of a severe performance drop. The GTS 250 is the cheapest video card that I would recommend for WoW as its recent expansion packs increased the graphics requirements for decent gameplay. If you're playing at a 1920x1080 resolution, I recommend spending more money on a video card at the very least.

The recertified WD hard drive is much faster than your current hard drive, but I don't know whether it was NewEgg or Western Digital itself that certified the drive. It has a 90-day warranty, compared to a 3-year warranty on a brand-new drive, so take that into consideration.

Even for a cheap build as yours, I recommend a new power supply. If your old PSU was purchased around the same time as the 9800 Pro, then there's a good chance that it may not be able to handle the power requirements of the GTS 250. But not all PSUs are the same, so I went with one from a well-known vendor of good PSUs in Corsair.

 

[Hotthree]

Ok I like the cpu and mobo you chose.

What about the graphics card though. Whats the 250 equivalent on the ati side? I am just wanting to know to see if i could spend 10-20 bucks more for a 1gb version or little better card.

Hows the 250 match up to a 430-450 nvidia?
What should I look for? Core clock? stream processors? memory clock etc?


Thanks

 

[E4g1e]

Ok I like the cpu and mobo you chose.

What about the graphics card though. Whats the 250 equivalent on the ati side? I am just wanting to know to see if i could spend 10-20 bucks more for a 1gb version or little better card.

Hows the 250 match up to a 430-450 nvidia?
What should I look for? Core clock? stream processors? memory clock etc?


Thanks

For the graphics card, the two AMD GPUs that are the closest to the GTS 250 in performance are the HD 5750/6750 and HD 5770/6770. Both are equal to or slightly faster than the GTS 250, but they are also slightly more expensive than the GTS 250, in part because they have double the VRAM amount as the GTS 250 tirades linked to.

As for the GT 430 and the GTS 450, the GT 430 is slow. In fact, it's a bit slower than even a GT 240 DDR3, let alone a GTS 250. The GTS 450 is roughly equal in performance to the GTS 250.