Comments on: Top Upgrades For The Cash-Strapped PC Gamer

By: El Sattchmo

El Sattchmo — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:52:40 +0000

Yeah, The last 2 systems i had where AMD but i am going Intel this time round, i pretty much got what u put…. E8400, 4GB DDR2 800, 550 psu and a cheep asrock mobo, I have an 8800GT already ( got as soon as it came out). A good thing to look for when buying new computer parts is Benchmarks. Google the Part with benchmark added to the end of it and see how it stands up against other models. Shoppingsquare.com and Megabuy.com are goI ordered mod sites. y stuff on Thursday and It was send out saturday and monday.

By: W3A53L

W3A53L — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:39:48 +0000

An identical system to what I’m looking at upgrading to. It was going to contain a 8880GT, but with ATI dropping the 4850 at a very attractive price point I think my transition to the ‘dark side’ of PC hardware will be complete (Also using my first Intel CPU after having many AMD systems previously).

By: Yukkione

Yukkione — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:15:15 +0000

I just got the Intel E7200. It’s a new Wolfdale based chip that easily overclocks to 3.8 ghz, and it’s only $130. With my 8899 gts 512 and 4 gb of ram it runs AOC maxed at over 50 fps. (usually over 80fps)

By: Logan Booker

Logan Booker — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:00:33 +0000

@fairplay: Good point: I’ve added an EVGA 750i as the SLI option.

By: fairplay

fairplay — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:47:26 +0000

FYI, the Gigabyte EX38-DS4 Mobo is indeed crossfire compatible, but it is NOT Sli compatible. Just because it has 2 x16 PCIE slots, doesn’t mean it is Sli supported.

By: Ben Abraham

Ben Abraham — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:42:21 +0000

I just put some money down for a new 8800GT and I used Shopbot.com.au to compare prices from a range of Aussie online stores. There’s some great prices out there!

By: Logan Booker

Logan Booker — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:20:19 +0000

@tsengan: Amazing, I know. ;)

Getting a quality PSU is definitely good advice. As long as it's around $100 and 500W, you should be right.

As for budget, I didn't really set one for this. I just selected the parts that provide the best performance for the price. However, you can get the meat of a good PC for ~$500, including a CPU, motherboard, PSU, case and video card.

The reason I focused on CPU and GPU is because they impact performance the most and are probably the most confusing parts to buy. RAM can have an influence, but it's easy to find the cheapest 1GB "Value" sticks of Corsair/OCZ/Geil/etc and just whack them in. Very hard to recommend one over another.

By: tsengan

tsengan — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:04:49 +0000

@Logan: What? Not everyone reads Kotaku/Tomshardware/Anand/Gizmodo/etc every day? I’m shocked. Shocked I say.
One question – what’s the total budget? Is it a whole system overhaul (case/PSU etc)

By: NegativeZero

NegativeZero — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:04:32 +0000

A really good tip that a lot of people tend to neglect when they’re building systems is to get a high-efficiency power supply. A good one will reduce the actual power consumption by minimising wastage, slightly reduce the amount of heat and noise produced by your silicon behemoth, smooth out spikes and drops in power, and as a result increase the life of the components in the system. Our power where we are is very prone to surges, dropouts and brownouts. I used to have a bog-standard Antec PSU and the slightest voltage drop would offline the machine. My current machine using an efficient Seasonic PSU just shrugs that off – it takes at least a few seconds of complete power loss to knock it out. Nice to have, especially if you don’t have a UPS.

By: Logan Booker

Logan Booker — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:33:52 +0000

@tsengan: No-brainers for some, but not others! Like I said, they were choices I made for my brother who, while an avid PC gamer, wouldn't know the first thing about buying a new CPU or video card. I also think many are unaware how far AMD has come with its video cards in recent months.

For RAM, I think 2GB is still the best bet. If you don't plan on overclocking, go with something like Corsair's Value series. That way you can be confident the RAM will be quality and inexpensive, without the risk you take with brands like A-Data.