PC Upgrades: when, what and why?
So are you are sitting at home drooling over BF3, Medal of Honor:Warfighter or any of the other new games coming up but afraid that your computer will play it as well as angry birds on a 2003 flip phone?
Basically there are 3 options for you. Upgrade, buy new or buy a retro Atari t-shirt at Target and claim that you don’t like ranking and shit so you refuse to play anything released after Call of Duty UO.
No matter what you do it will cost some money and although it is way cheaper to upgrade or buy computers today then it was a few years ago it is still possible to come up with a hefty bill. With this article it is my hope that I would be able to make your wallet hurt a little less and steer you in the right direction for a future gaming nirvana. I should however warn you right here, I am an Intel guy with very little AMD experience so my upgrade views will be based on using an Intel setup.
Lets start with the first and most important question.
#1 Upgrade vs. New Computer
There are basically 2 key parts that will decide if you should upgrade or if you should buy/build a complete new computer.
Lets start with the main one, your motherboard aka mobo main board, circuit board etc. Hint: If it is referred to as main board or circuit board, yeah, you probably need a new computer J
So why is the mobo such a key item in this decision? Well, your mobo is only compatible with certain CPU’s, video cards, ram, hard drives and other items and if it is too old there is not much you can do to really improve it.
Below are some common specifications for motherboards.
Do you need usb 3.0? No, probably not. USB 3.0 is a new standard so if you are buying a new mobo you want it but it will not really do anything for you right now.
AGP vs. PCI. If your mobo uses AGP, yes, you really need to replace it. AGP is not really used anymore and you will have to pay top dollar for an average vidcard. You
Definitely want your mobo to have several PCI-E slots. If your current mobo support PCI-E x2 or higher you should be fine for video needs.
RAM slots, 4gb is ok for a laptop and for most games but it will not give you the top performance. Anything less than that you need to consider a new mobo. A new mobo should support at least 24gb ram (even if you will not currently need that).
IDE vs. Sata. New hard drives requires sata connection. If you current mobo only support IDE you definitely need a new mobo.
CPU! This is the second key part I talked about. CPU aka processor is the little magic chip that calculates everything your computer will do. Unfortunately Intel chips comes with different sockets. This means that you can not just buy a top notch CPU and put it on your old mobo. These 2 have to be matched. My recommendation would be that if your computer use anything lower than quad core or an overclocked dual core then you are in for a new computer. You can of course upgrade if you are on a tight budget but it will mainly be band aids since your cpu will be a bottleneck only allowing the games and remaining computer programs to act as fast as the cpu allows it to. Adding a GTX 690 will not do much as your computer cant handle the information from the video card fast enough.
The reason why I am saying that certain items above would force you to buy/build a new computer is that with certain features you will automatically have a number of other not to attractive features.
Your mobo might not be compatible with a high enough power supply which in turn means that you can not upgrade your video card.
#2 What do you want to achieve with your upgrade?
A: Is it to get your computer overall faster?
B: To make a game look better or respond faster?
C: Is it to be able to play a game at all?
The answer to the question above decides where you want to spend your hard earned money.
Lets go through a few parts and see what they really do for you.
RAM
How much memory do you need? I have 32GB ram in my computer. Does it make BF3 run that much faster than a 12GB or 8GB machine?
No, it does not. It does allow me to run 7 BF3 games at the same time but since I according to my wife suck at multitasking it doesn’t really matter.
I simply have it so I don’t have to kill the 20 projects I have open in Photoshop when I feel for a game. You should not have less than 4GB though.
Cheap upgrade if you got money to burn but not a noticeable effect. 8GB RAM ~$30
A:3
B:1
C:2 (if you don’t meet minimum requirement on RAM you most likely need a new computer)
Video
Yeah, the big beast! How can you possibly play a game unless you have the latest and greatest vid card that cost at least as much as all other parts in your computer combined?
The answer is… perfectly fine. With a GTX 680 I top out BF3 with everything maxed at 210 fps. However, put in mind that a normal cinema movie is played at 24fps. The more fps, the more details you will be able to catch. Considering the difference between a GTX 690 and GTX 560 is about $800 it really is not all that important.
Keep in mind that the memory of a video card is equally if not more important than the cpu speed. Never go less than 1 gb and if possible try to hit a 2Gb card.
Very soon games will require DX11 so if you are looking for a new card, make sure it have it. Good enough card to enjoy a game of BF3? ~$200
A: 1
B: 3
C: 2
Hard drives
WTF? Hard drive? I want my computer faster and better, I look at my pron online, I don’t need more storage!
As a tech junkie I have upgraded my computers to insanity and always got some what disappointed over the small difference each part did.
That is until I bought a SSD drive. Holy F… my computer suddenly booted in 10 seconds, it start a game in no time and I am always first after map change.
This can and will turn your computer into a new machine. Unfortunately fairly expensive running around $1/Gb. This needs to be your primary drive with windows as well as your game on it to make a difference.
A: 3
B: 2
C: 1
CPU
This will decide what above upgrades will actually be able to do to for your comp as it is the brain.
I7 2600K (latest and way enough powerful) ~200
A: 2
B: 2
C: 2
Motherboard
This will decide what above upgrades you can do so it is hard to put a score on it.
Everything you need and more? ~$200
A: 1
B: 1
C: 1
Power Supply
To run a stable game with a high performance video card you would want at least 600w.
Cost is based on how quiet, powerful and energy efficient it is.
This will decide what above upgrades you can do so it is hard to put a score on it.
Do not buy anything below ~$100 unless it is a major sale going on.
A: 1
B: 1
C: 1
Summing it Up
Hopefully the points and text above will help you somewhat in your quest for many good hours of trouble free gaming.
Keep in mind, internet is your friend. With a good sniper software you can get the items above way cheaper on eBay. You can also sign up for emails from Newegg, microcenter and other stores. If you want to pay double, then hit the local non computer specialized store.
