Upgrading my system

[Bigticket38]

Hi all,

I bought my desktop with PCSpecialist 5 years ago now and I am thinking of upgrading it slightly. Now I mainly use my desktop for gaming but do not want the top of the range. My idea would be to boost my current specs for 100-200£. (I dont want top end graphics but with elderscrolls online coming for 2013 I want to get ready for it)

Now I have not been following the hardware world as much as I was 5 years ago so I am absolutely clueless when it comes to it to be honest

My current spec is:

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™2 Quad Q6600 (4 X 2.40GHz) 1066MHz FSB/8MB L2 Cache
Motherboard ASUS® P5N-E SLI: Quad-core CPU Ready, NVIDIA® Dual X8 SLI
Memory (RAM) 4GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)
Graphics Card 512MB GEFORCE 8800GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 500GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 20x Dual Layer LightScribe DVD Writer ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply 800W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£99)
Processor Cooling ASUS SILENT KNIGHT II PURE COPPER ULTRA COOLER (£36)

My idea would be to upgrade RAM and graphic card only at this stage (plus power supply if needed)

Any advice on what to go for?

Many thanks

 

[kickass101]

What i would do is start on a whole new PC because that will make it more future proof. If you grade that spec you will just be wasting your money.

Save for a whole new one would be my advice.

 

[vanthus]

I would suggest the GTX 660 or even the 650,no need to upgrade the 800W PSU and 4GB of RAM would probably be fine.
No harm in getting more ram though if you really think you need it.
Well worth upgrading your existing PC in my opinion.
You should notice a big improvement just by upgrading the graphics card.

 

[Rakk]

4GB RAM would probably be fine.

Also getting more RAM that the motherboard would support may be a bit pricey now cos it's quite old

 

[Karnor00]

Most games are GPU limited, which means that they rely heavily on the GPU and much less on the CPU. For these games you want the best GPU you can get so upgrading the GPU would make a big difference.

Your CPU is fine for these types of games - it's pretty comparable to a AMD FX 4170. See http://www.ocaholic.ch/xoops/html/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=817&page=6 for framerates of a top GPU combined with various CPU's.

However a few games are CPU limited. Skryim is one such game and here there is a big performance drop between a good modern CPU and your CPU - the GPU makes much less difference in these cases (see http://www.ocaholic.ch/xoops/html/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=817&page=8. I don't know about Elder Scrolls online, but if it uses the same engine as Skyrim then your CPU will be far from ideal.

Unfortunately the CPU you have is close to the best you can get in your motherboard. So in order to upgrade the CPU you would need to get a new CPU, motherboard, memory and CPU cooler. And at that point there would be hardly anything left of your old computer.

So really the question of whether you need a new GPU or whole new PC depends on whether Elder Scrolls online will be a GPU or CPU dependent game.

 

[Grimezy]

As karnor has stated, I imagine Elder Scrolls online will be quite heavy on the CPU like most MMO's. I haven't read much about it but I assume there will be lots of big battles with multiple users all focusing on one point. It does seem like a brand new pc would be the best option in this situation.

Then again, you may be able to play on fairly low settings with your current setup if you take the suggestions of Vanthus and Rakk so that could be an option? Would certainly be cheaper than a £800-£1000 pc you'd need to buy to play it on max settings comfortably.

Just found these system requirements... might help make your mind up:

The Elder Scrolls Online system requirements (minimum)
CPU: 2.4 GHz dual-core processor
RAM: 1 GB system memory
Graphics: DirectX 10 compatible card with 512 MB RAM, Nvidia 8000-series or Radeon 3000-series or better.
Operating system: Windows Vista
DirectX audio card
20 GB hard disk space

The Elder Scrolls Online system requirements (recommended)
CPU: 3 GHz quad core processor, Intel Core i5 or better
RAM: 2GB system memory, 4 GB minimum for 64-bit OS
Graphics: DirectX 11 compatible 1 GB graphics card, Nvidia 400 series or AMD 5000 series or better.
Operating system: Windows 7
DirectX audio card
20 GB hard disk space

As you can see the CPU would probably be fine for the minimum requirements but may struggle to achieve higher settings. It would be silly of them to create a MMO that required a godly PC though just to play the thing.