Clueless December 7, 2008 Share Clueless GC Alumni December 7, 2008 Ok...I have asked about this before, but now, it's x-mas time, and my dad has done alot for me, so I wanna upgrade his aging gaming rig for him. Need help picking some stuff, I wanna try to squeeze mobo, cpu, memory, and possibly vid card into this purchase. I can't afford to go top shelf, but I don't want crap either, he will likely use this for 3 years or more. Games he like to play...I know he has Crysis, and I think he wants Farcry2...and he bought Witcher Enchanced Edition and can't even run it. I was looking aroud a bit, but I don't know much about Intel stuff....so the different models confuse me....i'm still an AMD user, but I know he wants Intel. I saw E8500's for a decent price, but I have no idea how good it is and how long it will stay that way. There are so many models...P, T, E...duo, quad....pffft....I dunno...help me out here. Need a decent, reliable mobo and memory too. Vid cards I should be able to pick without much help, but if you know of a good deal...feel free to post it up. Help me make my ol' man's Christmas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfly December 7, 2008 Share dragonfly Member December 7, 2008 Any core 2 duo is good if it starts with an 8 basically I have the 8400 and it's great (OC'd to 3.9, stock is 3.0). Ram you can't really go wrong either, as long as it'll go with the motherboard. I have the Asus P5Q Pro and I like it. No problems here and it goes for just over $100 I think. I like the P45 chipset. For ram, I have the OCZ Reaper ram (PC8500 - 1066 for the speed) and it costs around $90 for 4 gigs (2x2gb), which isn't bad. Again, you can't really go wrong with the ram. Bushwack just posted in another thread that you can get a 260 for $185 right now, if you can afford it. If not, I'm sure a 9800 or something like that would be fine for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher December 7, 2008 Share Preacher Member December 7, 2008 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811156053 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136149 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814121272 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817159082 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820227199 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813131348 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115037 Good system for $645.52 plus $70 in mail in rebates. Should last for 2-3 years. If you have the cash you can really kick the system into high gear with the 4870 x2 video card. I assumed you would already have the cd drives and the like from his old PC but I went ahead and included a new case and hard drive as he probably could use more hard drive space and a new case makes it like a brand new PC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroDamage December 7, 2008 Share ZeroDamage Member December 7, 2008 what are his current specs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clueless December 7, 2008 Author Share Clueless GC Alumni December 7, 2008 what are his current specs? Not sure exactly...but it's old. Still has an AGP vid card, lol. I do know it's an Athlon XP of some sort...2800+ maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher December 7, 2008 Share Preacher Member December 7, 2008 how much are you wanting to spend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clueless December 7, 2008 Author Share Clueless GC Alumni December 7, 2008 how much are you wanting to spend? I would love to stay in the $400 range...I can go a bit more if it's a deal I can't refuse. He has recently replaced his PSU, and his case and drives are all good too, so I just need CPU, mobo, and memory. Wasn't planning on buying a vid card too..but like I said, if I can find deals and squeeze it all in there somehow then I guess that would just be a bonus. Thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling December 7, 2008 Share samurai nightling Member December 7, 2008 (edited) Well if its an old Vid card, it will prolly bottleneck the newer games with this new CPU, ram, mobo combination. So if you can, I'd just get a cheaper but still more up-to-date video card. That gtx260 deal isnt bad at all, but still might be overkill if you really wanna save money. I also have the P5Q pro mobo, and no complaints at all, plus its not very expensive. Edited December 7, 2008 by samurai nightling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher December 7, 2008 Share Preacher Member December 7, 2008 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16856101064 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814500019 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820227199 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115017 $451.36 - $40 in MIR You will then need the CD drive, OS and hard drive from your Dad's PC but you'll be able to play most stuff If you can up your price another $100 you can go with a more adequate video card though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clueless December 8, 2008 Author Share Clueless GC Alumni December 8, 2008 Ok, so far I am thinking about these, E8400 cpu - 164.99 GA-EP45-UD3P mobo - 104.99 w/rebate OCZ 4GB mem kit - 41.99 Gonna try to get my sister to go in for the card, either a 260 or HD4870 series....they seem to be closely matched from everything I read. Seems the E8400 is still a great cpu compared to the quad cores for gaming...does everyone agree with that? Or is getting into a Q series a better idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroDamage December 8, 2008 Share ZeroDamage Member December 8, 2008 You will need a new PSU too, I am sure. 400 is way too low to build a system that is pretty much completely new from scratch. Very hard to do and impossible from the perspective of making it future proof. I have a used Enermax Liberty 620 Watt PSU here if you want to keep it cheap. 85%+ efficiency Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfly December 8, 2008 Share dragonfly Member December 8, 2008 Seems the E8400 is still a great cpu compared to the quad cores for gaming...does everyone agree with that? Or is getting into a Q series a better idea? They're beautiful pieces of hardware No but seriously, they're totally great for gaming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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