It's been awhile since I've upgraded my HTPC... If it works for you, why change it ya know? Recently I purchased Skyrim and my system JUST squeaked by with enough performance to make it doable. I enjoyed the game and the visual experience enough, but I knew days for my current setup were numbered.
Enter today when I'm playing the Guild Wars 2 Beta. Now, I get how the game is not optimized and performance will likely be better than it is currently, but this game I believe will tax my system more than anything else I've done before. And I really want to game this game well.
Let's talk about the problem. Specifically when the game has a significant number of players on screen (think like 50), my FPS drops to like 2-4fps. I mean straight up slide show. Nearly impossible to play at all. It might be all the particle effects as well because battle obviously is the worst. The normal PvE experience with few players on screen and no battle is definitely an acceptable rate (above 24fps). And anything inbetween varies from 15-30.
My current setup I think is in my sig, but to outline it:
I run a 1920x1080 42" LCD
Windows XP 32bit
Intel G33 Mobo
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13 - OCed to 3GHZ
4GB DDR2-800
nvidia 9600GT ~512GBram
I know how to build and I know what's good and a full system upgrade (MicroATX motherboard, i7, 16GB ram, 6870) would cost around 700-800 bucks. 900 when you consider a Windows 7 OEM disc as well. And that's definitely too much.
So the big question is: WHAT DO I NEED TO UPGRADE MOST?
The graphics solution would be $150 or so for a 6870 or equivalent. But would that do it? Is RAM the issue? I could spring for this mobo and this RAM, have 8GB of DDR3 for ~$100 bucks and then pick up Windows 7 for $100. In total that would be a massive upgrade and only for ~$350...
But is the 3GHz Core2Duo just not gonna cut it anymore? Overall, it would seem to me that it should be theoretically fast enough for most things, but is MMO battle just too tasking on a CPU? I don't know, and I'm looking for advice so that I don't waste time upgrading things I don't need.
Bottom Line: I will probably order a graphics card no matter what cause this 9600GT is overdue for retirement anyway, and any card I buy, I can put in any build. So that's done. Beyond that, if needing to upgrade more.... RAM only for $250 and stick with my C2D? Or jump to i5/i7 CPU mobo and RAM for ~$550?
Enter today when I'm playing the Guild Wars 2 Beta. Now, I get how the game is not optimized and performance will likely be better than it is currently, but this game I believe will tax my system more than anything else I've done before. And I really want to game this game well.
Let's talk about the problem. Specifically when the game has a significant number of players on screen (think like 50), my FPS drops to like 2-4fps. I mean straight up slide show. Nearly impossible to play at all. It might be all the particle effects as well because battle obviously is the worst. The normal PvE experience with few players on screen and no battle is definitely an acceptable rate (above 24fps). And anything inbetween varies from 15-30.
My current setup I think is in my sig, but to outline it:
I run a 1920x1080 42" LCD
Windows XP 32bit
Intel G33 Mobo
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13 - OCed to 3GHZ
4GB DDR2-800
nvidia 9600GT ~512GBram
I know how to build and I know what's good and a full system upgrade (MicroATX motherboard, i7, 16GB ram, 6870) would cost around 700-800 bucks. 900 when you consider a Windows 7 OEM disc as well. And that's definitely too much.
So the big question is: WHAT DO I NEED TO UPGRADE MOST?
The graphics solution would be $150 or so for a 6870 or equivalent. But would that do it? Is RAM the issue? I could spring for this mobo and this RAM, have 8GB of DDR3 for ~$100 bucks and then pick up Windows 7 for $100. In total that would be a massive upgrade and only for ~$350...
But is the 3GHz Core2Duo just not gonna cut it anymore? Overall, it would seem to me that it should be theoretically fast enough for most things, but is MMO battle just too tasking on a CPU? I don't know, and I'm looking for advice so that I don't waste time upgrading things I don't need.
Bottom Line: I will probably order a graphics card no matter what cause this 9600GT is overdue for retirement anyway, and any card I buy, I can put in any build. So that's done. Beyond that, if needing to upgrade more.... RAM only for $250 and stick with my C2D? Or jump to i5/i7 CPU mobo and RAM for ~$550?