Upgrade Existing Gaming PC or Buy New One?

[helpme123]

Hello, I have a pre built gaming pc that I bought about 5 years ago, in 2009 or early 2010, cant quite remember. I will start by saying I know nothing about computers or hardware or anything.

So I was thinking of upgrading my current gaming pc, (I also use it for everything else as well) and so I posted on a game forum, and didn't get many replies and wasn't really sure what to do. I looked at the cost of some of the parts specified and it was getting a bit too expensive. If memory serves me correctly, I bought this pre built pc for about 1200 AUD. I have not upgraded any part of this computer since I bought it.

For years, some games have been choppy (mainly fps lag) such as COD black ops when that came out, was basically unplayable due to massive fps lag. I recently tried playing it a few months back and its not so bad now. Other COD's like MW2 (which I played on alteriwnet) and COD4 were fine.

I play BF3 a lot, and I have to have it on all low settings, and cant play on servers with more than like 20 people, and only on certain maps, otherwise there is too much lag. Also sometimes the audio cuts out, like the sound of me driving a vehicle, and comes back like a minute later or something...

Recently I decided to download the BF4 demo, and the single player was fine, but the multiplayer was unplayable due to massive fps lag, sound loops and screen freezing etc.


My Specs:
GPU: GeForce GTX 465
CPU: Pentium (R) Dual Core CPU E6300 @ 2.80GHz
Memory: 4GB RAM
Windows 7 Home Premium



I have done some research and realized if I upgraded, an i5 processor and another 4gb of ram would be good. Also a better graphics card. But I don't know which one. Also a quad core CPU.

So my question is basically, should I upgrade this computer? Because if I spend all this money and it still freezes and is just slow in general (which it is now sometimes, not even playing games just doing general tasks, sometimes I have to restart it to make it stop being slow)

I have been looking at some pc's on:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php...h=1411&zenid=db9a4370493fd8f28b8b15830ff94ee7

and they seem to have some good pc's, but not sure if upgrading this one would stop the game lag, fps lag etc, and be able to play games like BF Hardline and GTA V when they come out on reasonable settings without lag?

I talked to a guy on BF4 multiplayer when I played the demo, and told him what was happening, and he said i need: GPU, CPU, RAM, New motherboard, more dedicated video ram.
Don't even know what that stuff is. But is it true i would need all that? Because it seems like if that's true, I might as well just buy a new gaming pc, and keep this one for work stuff like watching movies, internet and school work. Also it would save the hassle of finding someone to put in all the new hardware...

From PC Case Gear.com.au, is it possible to get a good gaming pc for like 1200dollars (AU) that will last 5 years and run games without lag? coz I don't really wanna spend more than that...


Thanks in advance for any help and sorry for the essay

 

[C4C]

I talked to a guy on BF4 multiplayer when I played the demo, and told him what was happening, and he said i need: GPU, CPU, RAM, New motherboard, more dedicated video ram.

That's a whole new computer! haha

From PCCaseGear.com.au, is it possible to get a good gaming pc for like 1200dollars (AU) that will last 5 years and run games without lag? coz I don't really wanna spend more than that...

Yes and no. The builds they have listed are quite good for the money considering they come pre-assembled and ready to game. In the USA, it would be cheaper for us to buy components separately and build it ourselves. Back to PC Case Gear: based on this build (click here) that they have created at $1149.99 AUD, the same parts sitting in a shopping cart come out to $1232 AUD. More expensive then the build they've created for you.

PLUS they give you a 1 year warranty on pre-built models. I'm sorry that the australian market can be a little rough when looking for the best deals, but this site seems to be very reputable for you aussies.

There's a few models to choose from and personally I'd go with this one. The SSD will boot fast, and the R9 280 is a slight bump up from the R9 270X... and you also get 3 free games! hehe

****
TDLR: They've got some good pre-built computers on there. Not the best for your money in the US, but it's good for your money in AU. I recommended the FX Silence 280 above, but the FX Phantom 270X would work well too. Both will be a significant upgrade from what you have. Just my thoughts..

 

[beers]

That's a pretty old system. You'll need to upgrade pretty much everything.

You're a little stuck though because you can't just drop an i5 or similar into the existing motherboard, so you would need a new motherboard. New motherboards and platforms utilize DDR3, so you'll have to buy new memory too. That's mobo, CPU and RAM right there.

You could probably reuse the GPU for light gaming or playing at lower resolutions. I wouldn't trust whatever PSU is in there for a modern build either simply based on crap initial quality and wear over time.

Essentially you'd be replacing everything in your PC except for maybe the GPU and hard drive, and once you upgrade everything else then the GPU and HDD become obvious bottlenecks.

It's kind of a slippery slope but I'd just budget for a new PC altogether.

 

[helpme123]

Ok thanks guys, looks like I will be buying a new pc.I'd try and keep it around the 1200 mark, as this seems a good price for a computer.

@Digxt Thanks for your suggestions, however I read up on processors a bit, and the general consensus was that the i5 is considerably better than the 6 core AMD alternative.

Would a PC like this: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1411&products_id=29781

Be able to play upcoming games like GTA V, BF Hardline etc on high settings without lag?
Also would it last for 5 years roughly? being able to keep up with games?

 

[ninjabubbles3]

Yes, although ideally it would have a GTX 970