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Firstly, I know this is a bit unusual. But I do game regularly and yes, my PC is 10 years old now. The only exceptions are the video card which is much more recent as well as a SSD. My monitor is also relatively new and is QHD (which is probably a bit much for my system at 2560x1440). But this is what surprises me, and I'm actually wondering if rather than upgrade my 10 year old CPU/Motherboard/RAM, I might be better off just upgrading to a video card with more VRAM?
Needless to say, I never find any benchmarks for the games I currently play for my PC specs. So I'm not really sure what to upgrade first. Generally I know my CPU/MB/RAM are ridiculously old, and to be honest I'm very surprised at how they still can run the games I play. I tend to lower quite a few settings, but never resolution, which I keep at 2560x1440. My assumption is that for World of Warships, video card is a better upgrade (as 2GB is too little for QHD), but that for Total War: Warhammer, the CPU/MB/RAM need to go. These are the two games I'm most concerned about currently. I spend most of my time in World of Warhips, and it does run acceptably well, even if video settings are quite low. It also does have brief close combat moments where I think I lose out a bit because my PC is slightly less responsive than it should be in close combat, although I'm not sure if it's because it renders more graphic details at close range or the CPU has extra demands. But I don't think it's that major. However, I have never played it on any other PC, so maybe it's worse than I think. I also wonder if I could get away with just getting a fairly similar GPU but with 4GB VRAM instead of 2.
My main components are:
Q6600 @ 3.0 Ghz (oc'd)
ASUS P5Q Pro motherboard
8 GB DDR2 800 RAM
MSI GTX 960 Gaming 2G LE
256 GB Crucial MX100 SSD
Dell Home P2416D 24 WQHD LED LCD Monitor 2560 x 1440 8ms 16:9 DP HDMI VGA
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming. I primarily play World of Warships, and sometimes War Thunder. I probably would play other games such as Total War: Warhammer if it wasn't so slow (i.e. when I increase the game speed, it barely goes any faster as I think my PC is already running as fast as it can to play it at normal speed. Also the PC turns take a while in the strategy part...)
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Rather than say a specific number, since it will vary a lot depending on what I have to upgrade, I do look for high value for performance, most often what enthusiasts would probably only call mid-range.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
United Kingdom
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Either CPU/MB/RAM, or just the Video card. Or perhaps all of the mentioned: CPU/MB/RAM/GPU.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Depends on what needs to be upgraded, but in general since I have to limit my spending I plan to reuse everything not mentioned in the above section. PSU: Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 650W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply with Three 12V Rails. Adequate at the time but that was literally a decade ago (yikes!). It has no problems running the GTX 960.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Generally I like to do some basic overclocking as it stretches my performance vs budget ratio a bit.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
2560x1440, 24 inches.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next decade, hehe!
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Nothing fancy, just good good value for performance.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
64bit Windows 10.
Edit: added PSU
Needless to say, I never find any benchmarks for the games I currently play for my PC specs. So I'm not really sure what to upgrade first. Generally I know my CPU/MB/RAM are ridiculously old, and to be honest I'm very surprised at how they still can run the games I play. I tend to lower quite a few settings, but never resolution, which I keep at 2560x1440. My assumption is that for World of Warships, video card is a better upgrade (as 2GB is too little for QHD), but that for Total War: Warhammer, the CPU/MB/RAM need to go. These are the two games I'm most concerned about currently. I spend most of my time in World of Warhips, and it does run acceptably well, even if video settings are quite low. It also does have brief close combat moments where I think I lose out a bit because my PC is slightly less responsive than it should be in close combat, although I'm not sure if it's because it renders more graphic details at close range or the CPU has extra demands. But I don't think it's that major. However, I have never played it on any other PC, so maybe it's worse than I think. I also wonder if I could get away with just getting a fairly similar GPU but with 4GB VRAM instead of 2.
My main components are:
Q6600 @ 3.0 Ghz (oc'd)
ASUS P5Q Pro motherboard
8 GB DDR2 800 RAM
MSI GTX 960 Gaming 2G LE
256 GB Crucial MX100 SSD
Dell Home P2416D 24 WQHD LED LCD Monitor 2560 x 1440 8ms 16:9 DP HDMI VGA
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming. I primarily play World of Warships, and sometimes War Thunder. I probably would play other games such as Total War: Warhammer if it wasn't so slow (i.e. when I increase the game speed, it barely goes any faster as I think my PC is already running as fast as it can to play it at normal speed. Also the PC turns take a while in the strategy part...)
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Rather than say a specific number, since it will vary a lot depending on what I have to upgrade, I do look for high value for performance, most often what enthusiasts would probably only call mid-range.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
United Kingdom
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Either CPU/MB/RAM, or just the Video card. Or perhaps all of the mentioned: CPU/MB/RAM/GPU.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Depends on what needs to be upgraded, but in general since I have to limit my spending I plan to reuse everything not mentioned in the above section. PSU: Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 650W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply with Three 12V Rails. Adequate at the time but that was literally a decade ago (yikes!). It has no problems running the GTX 960.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Generally I like to do some basic overclocking as it stretches my performance vs budget ratio a bit.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
2560x1440, 24 inches.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next decade, hehe!
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Nothing fancy, just good good value for performance.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
64bit Windows 10.
Edit: added PSU
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