For all those who are considering upgrading or new builds... READ THIS

[Squilliam]

ssj12 said:

Squilliam said:

Cpu limited games? Anything that has Simulator in the title.

Partially CPU limited games? - Strategy

One rule - Buy a GOOD PSU - a GOOD CASE - you will keep these two for years, you don't want a noisy horrible but fast computer do you?

 General rule of the thumb for value gaming - Spend twice as much on the GPU as the CPU. For example if you want a 9800gx2 - Buy a 3ghz dual core. 

If you want an 8800gt - Buy an AMD X2.

It has served me well that rule.

Best CPU for a budget? - AMD X2 4600+ Black edition! $87 on Newegg. Overclock it to hell and back with a decent cooler.

Otherwise go for the best 45nm cpu with a friendly multiplier. I haven't used many intel chips so I don't know how they overclock.

I also saw some cheap deals on the 8800gts - they are going end of life, I saw one for $160! with MIR.

 

 

 Not totally true. You can get away with spending cheap and getting a low-end GPU as long as you have no plans of playing high-end current generation PC games. 

My 8400GS can run UT3 on meduim but I can't run Crysis. If I upgraded to the 9500GS when thats released I could probably pull off running Crysis on low but would I want to? no. Why? I can run most games. In a few years buy another low-end card for cheap and be able to run the highest end games of the years past at elast on meduim. 

If you want to live a year behind the curve it is a viable way of doing it I suppose. Buy your games and your parts when they hit end of life.

However if you're a multiplayer gamer and you want to be a part of that, its simply not an option to go that far behind unless you stick with older releases.