New build - it's been a while...

[-Ever-]

TLDR:
I'm curious what's changed since I built this computer, and how much I should spend on my next computer that will run max-setting Diablo 3. My standards are much different than yours, so I'd value a more experienced and global opinion, rather than that of someone who might over-nitpick the details. (IE, "dood you gotta get the new Over-9000GTXXX," versus, "dude, you used to have a freaking 8600GT. Just buy the 6870 and you'll run max settings at 60fps with a room full of spells being cast and skeletons exploding.")


Longer:
I like to research things and knowing that I made a sound purchase. That said, I'm about to upgrade for D3, and I'm older now. I don't have the time or energy to put towards countless hours researching what in reality are minute differences between similar CPU's and GPU's. I'd simply like to buy a computer that will run it at max settings, in multiplayer with a lot of simultaneous on-screen action, and on a great monitor. That's about it.

I don't doubt this has been asked before me. I guess the reason I'm making my own post is because I'm wondering if I need to upgrade monitors. If I need to get 2560x1400. And what will be required to do this without hiccuping in multiplayer like it did during the beta. Thus, please take a peek at my current computer below and let me know what I should upgrade to go from this to "max settings" in D3, monitor included. Any fast-track update on what's happened between this generation of build to now gets bonus-points!

Lastly, what kind of bonus am I going to see between upgrading my computer and monitor (~27in, 2560x1400), and just upgrading my computer and keeping this monitor (24in 1920x1200)? I think this will be one of the major factors in whether I go budget or go big.


Intel Core2Duo E6400 2.13ghz (OC'd to 3.12ghz)
Nvidia GeForce 8600GT 256mb
2gig DDR2
Monitor: Dell 2405FPW (max res 1920x1200 16:9)
See sig for details

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Diablo 3 and web browsing
2) What's your budget? Not sure. <$1k. But my post isn't specifically about what to buy, rather trying to start a convo on current upgrade options
3) Which country do you live in? USA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, GPU, RAM, PSU, MOBO, case
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? 1TB 7200 HDD
6) Will you be overclocking? Perhaps
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? 2405FPW 1920x1200
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? 1 month
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? I enjoy having up-to-date Ins/Outs for peripherals
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? 32bit Win7

 

[Dangman]

If the case, PSU, HDD, and OS are transferable, then you're looking at $1000 to $1100. Without those, probably $1500. Maybe less than $1000 depending on where you live.

You basically need to upgrade the CPU, mobo, RAM, and GPU. You didn't list the PSU or case so please list those so that we can get a better idea if you need to upgrade those as well.

If you want detailed parts recommendations, please answer the stickied "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST!" so that we can help you better.

 

[-Ever-]

Thank you. Updated original post.

 

[Prav]

delete

 

[Prav]

I think 1920x1200 is a fantastic gaming resolution so I wouldn't worry about upgrading your monitor.

Based on the current market, a decent computer gaming system is going to consist of the following:

$180-230 Intel i5 processor. i7 is not needed for most gaming and AMD is not competitive except in a limited number of high core utilization games and apps. Unless you have special needs, i5 is the choice.

$100-220 motherboard. you should probably budget at least $150 for a quality mid range unit

$40-$100 RAM 8gb or 16gb. there is no reason to buy anything less unless you are on an extreme budget. Ram is very cheap these days.

$150-600 GPU. This is where is gets interesting. Good GPUs for 1200p 60Hz gaming are relatively easy to find. You can find one for D3 at the minimum recommended here, but with your budget I would spend $250+ with at least 2GB VRAM and as much as $400+ if you upgrade monitors.

$80-150 PSU. Quality $650-850W units are in this price range. Top end is prices for modular units. You can certainly spend more on extreme efficiency models.
$50-250 Case. This is completely personal preference. I think the sweet spot for cases is 100-150 but $50 units can get the job done.
$30-$$$$ Cooling. Basic air cooling will get you everything you should need out of your hardware. If you want to push your gear hard or require extra silent operation, water cooling units are available in tons of variety from off the shelf to full custom.

$125-300 SSD. Now is a great time to by an SSD. 128gb units are reasonably priced at $125. Still optional but a nice upgrade to any system.
$100 64bit OS. You will want this to take advantage of all that ram.
$50-150 each Keyboard and Mouse
​

A computer to run D3 isn't going to be that demanding so you could go with the minimum values listed here and have a great system for that. Spending more than that can be useful to future proof your rig or provide customization.
Since you wont be building for a month and are not sure exactly what you want yet, it really isn't possible to recommend the best parts but those prices are a good guideline. Prices exclude combo discounts you may be able to take advantage of, such as Microcenter CPU/MB bundles.

 

[Dangman]

Just to add on to what Prav said:

$180-230 Intel i5 processor. i7 is not needed for most gaming and AMD is not competitive except in a limited number of high core utilization games and apps. Unless you have special needs, i5 is the choice.​

The varying price is main due to main factors:
1) Whether or not you live near a Microcenter: That store offers major discounts on CPUs and motherboards if you buy certain CPUs. You can easily save $90 on the CPU and mobo if there's a MC nearby.

2) Whether or not you're actually overclocking: Unlike the C2D days where virtually every single C2D based CPU could be OC'd, these days Intel has split up the overclocking capability among three categories for the current gen of CPUs:

• No-overclock capable (Core i3 CPUs)
• Limited overclock capable (Regular Core i5 CPUs)
• Full Overclock capable (Any Core i5 or i7 CPU with the letter K at the end i.e 3570K)

So the pricing between the limited and full overclock capable Core i5 CPUs vary a bit.

$40-$100 RAM 8gb or 16gb. there is no reason to buy anything less unless you are on an extreme budget. Ram is very cheap these days.​

Note that with Intel CPUs, the RAM voltage should not exceed 1.5V as voltage higher than that may cause damage to the CPU. In addition, Intel CPUs do not see that much of a performance increase from either lower latency RAM or higher speed RAM. As such, a CAS9 DDR3 1333 RAM will feel the same as a CAS7 DDR3 1333 set and/or a CAS9 DDR3 2133 set. The CAS9 DDR3 1333 RAM set will be cheaper so thats usually what we go for.

$50-250 Case. This is completely personal preference. I think the sweet spot for cases is 100-150 but $50 units can get the job done.​

I recommend the following cases:
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite Black ATX Case
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
$88 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$80 - Corsair Carbide Series 300R ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$100 - Antec 1100 ATX Case
$115 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$120 - Fractal Design Define R3 Arctic White ATX Case
$120 - Fractal Design Define R3 Silver Arrow ATX Case
$125 - Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl ATX Case
$120 - Lian Li PC-9F ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$130 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$130 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Black Finish w/Orange Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - Antec P280 ATX Case
$140 - Antec Performance One Series P183 V3 ATX Case
$140 - Corsair Obsidian Series 550D ATX Case
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-WA ATX case
$150 - Silverstone TJ04B-EW ATX Case
$160 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$164 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$178 - Silverstone RV02B-EW ATX case
$162 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$220 - Silverstone FT02S-W ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case
$270 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Full Tower ATX Case

$125-300 SSD. Now is a great time to by an SSD. 128gb units are reasonably priced at $125. Still optional but a nice upgrade to any system.​

The Intel 520 series, Crucial m4 series, Samsung 830 series, and Plextor M3 series SSDs are the main SSDs that we recommend due to their reliability and stability.

Also, you don't need to upgrade the monitor as you're only playing Diablo 3. AMD CPUs aren't that great of an option for the money. While AMD CPUs can provide acceptable performance, often times there will be a faster Intel CPU in that price range.

Any fast-track update on what's happened between this generation of build to now gets bonus-points!

Man, that's six years of computer hardware advancements. Might as well ask for a fast-track update of the United States history between the time Columbus "discovered" America and now.

But I'm bored:

• Since your current CPU, there's been two more generation of Intel CPUs, 5 if you include the "tock" aspect of Intel's CPU release strategy.
• Since your current GPU, there's been 5 generations of Nvidia and AMD/ATI GPUs.
• Since your current RAM, DDR3 is now the main RAM standard and is ridiculously cheap at this point in time. Way cheaper than DDR2 RAM's lowest price points. In fact, we've been more RAM than necessary for a lot of people due to how cheap RAM is.
• SSDs are now seeing more wide-spread adoption.
• Games now require more and more VRAM. 1GB is the standard amount of VRAM for most gaming video cards. Though 2GB to 3GB of VRAM are becoming more prevalent especially in light of games like BF3 and Skyrim that can use far more than 1GB of VRAM.

 

[-Ever-]

Thank you for the replies everyone. I really appreciate that you took the time to answer my goofy questions!

In the mean time, I'm leaning towards a 7850 and an i5 2500k.

 

[tiraides]

Danny and Prav helped you out pretty well on the system so far. As for your monitor....

Lastly, what kind of bonus am I going to see between upgrading my computer and monitor (~27in, 2560x1400), and just upgrading my computer and keeping this monitor (24in 1920x1200)? I think this will be one of the major factors in whether I go budget or go big.

... How badly do you want the greater resolution? In addition to upgrading the monitor, you'll have to buy at least one high-end card -- ideally, at the level of at least a GTX 570 or an HD 6970 -- if not two. (If you want to play one of the more graphically intensive games with all of the available bells and whistles, you seriously need to consider a CrossFire or an SLI setup.) And if you were thinking about going with a 650 watt power supply with your current (proposed) build, then you'll have to up it to at least 750 watts, if not more.

Considering all of that, how often were you going to play games at that resolution? Which games were you going to play at that resolution? Your money and your motivation are going to determine whether or not gaming at a 2560x1400 resolution is worthwhile for you.