[Haz9]

I built my system at least 6 years ago if not longer and I haven't used the desktop in 4 years. Diabolo 3 is coming out and I would like to play it on my desktop but I fear I might need to build a new system unless I can figure out a way to meet the system requirements:

AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 5600+ 2.8 GHz
NVIDIA® GeForce® 260 or ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 or better
2 GB RAM

What I have now is:
ASUS A8N SLI Premium
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ OC'd to 2.5Ghz socket 939 Manchester
2 Sticks of 1 GB PC 3200
Nvida 4 Geforce Graphics Card (Not sure the exact model, will check tonight)

My question is, can I do one of the following?
1) Put in a new socket 939 chip say an AMD X2 4400?
2) Overclock the current chip to 2.7GHZ and hope for the best?
3) Purchase a laptop with an i5 (i know its Intel) and HDMI is to the TV and off we go?
4) Build a new system but not blow the bank

Sorry for the long winded post. I appreciate your help!

Haz

[Frakk]

Don't get a Laptop unless you want to spend a fortune on a Gamer Laptop.

I would suggest you start from scratch, that 64 X2 5600+ is going to be the absolute minimum for that game and if your going to run a lower end GPU it would struggle, your current Motherboard limits you to what you can sit in its socket. i'm not even sure a Socket 939 will fit an Athlon X2 5600+, i think there AM2 sockets.

Do you have a budget for a new build?

[EarthDog]

1. That is a slower chip than the one you have, right?
2. Try it.
3. a laptop that can play games well is NOT cheap. Think $1k+
4. if option 2 does not work, then this is the best course of action IMO.

[Frakk]

Originally Posted by EarthDog

1. That is a slower chip than the one you have, right?
2. Try it.
3. a laptop that can play games well is NOT cheap. Think $1k+
4. if option 2 does not work, then this is the best course of action IMO.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 2.8 GHz is a faster chip then what he has right now (AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+)

Edit,- Manchester is the first 2x CPU, its 90nm

[EarthDog]

Oops, I read the requirements as what he currently had.

[Frakk]

lol

[Haz9]

Originally Posted by Frakk

Don't get a Laptop unless you want to spend a fortune on a Gamer Laptop.

I would suggest you start from scratch, that 64 X2 5600+ is going to be the absolute minimum for that game and if your going to run a lower end GPU it would struggle, your current Motherboard limits you to what you can sit in its socket. i'm not even sure a Socket 939 will fit an Athlon X2 5600+, i think there AM2 sockets.

Do you have a budget for a new build?

I figured i should start from scratch. I could use the same chassis at least lol.
I will need a new MB, Chip, RAM, PSU and Graphics card to support this game.
I want to plug it into the LCD HDTV via HDMI. so i would like a graphics card with HDMI output at 1080p

SIDE NOTE: 'I wired my graphics card with a DVI to HDMI cable and running red alert 3 (LOL) was choppy unless I brought down the settings Not to mention its hard to read the text at the big resolution settings '

My budget for what i mentioned above would be say $500-$800 tops.
Is it possible to be able to put my TV tuner card back into the new MB? It currently plugs in via old school PCI slot.

[EarthDog]

Most all GPU's have HDMI or DVI to HDMI out and of course support 1920x1080 res.

If the mobo you buy has a PCI slot, sure.

[Haz9]

Sounds great.

Anyone have suggestions for a new build? MB,CPU and Graphics Card suggestions?

I considered going Intel this time but I just want something inexpensive but has great performance.

[Frakk]

CPU

AMD FX-4100 Will do the job just fine and is good for Overclocking

Core i3-2100 Single core performance on this is better than the one above but only has 2 cores and will not Overclock.

MOBO

For Intel ASUS P8H61-M LE/CSM (REV 3.0) i know very little about Intel motherboards.

For AMD ASRock 970 PRO3

PSU

RAM

GeForce GTX 560 Ti

Radeon HD 7850 2GB

That comes to about $550 / $600, no case / Optical drive / HDD.

add about another $150 - $200 on for those.

This is just a suggestion of what roughly your looking for, that system will work well for gaming, having said that the CPU's there are the weak links, i would consider getting an i5 or an FX6### / FX8### depending on your preferences.

[Haz9]

That sounds good Frank. Maybe something with an i5 or FX chip like you said might be worth more.

I am thinking this just for the sake of more power:

MOBO: ASUS P8Z77-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z77
Video Card: ASUS ENGTX550 TI DC/DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 550 Ti
Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core
HDD: Corsair Force Series GT 2.5" 90GB SATA III Internal Solid State

Taxes and Shipping: $881.40

I'd like it to be $650 taxes and shipping. So:
1. is there another i5 I can substitute for?
2. are solid state hard drives really worth it or stick with my SATA 2 for now?

[Frakk]

Originally Posted by Haz9

That sounds good Frank. Maybe something with an i5 or FX chip like you said might be worth more.

I am thinking this just for the sake of more power:

MOBO: ASUS P8Z77-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z77
Video Card: ASUS ENGTX550 TI DC/DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 550 Ti
Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core
HDD: Corsair Force Series GT 2.5" 90GB SATA III Internal Solid State

Taxes and Shipping: $881.40

I'd like it to be $650 taxes and shipping. So:
1. is there another i5 I can substitute for?
2. are solid state hard drives really worth it or stick with my SATA 2 for now?

SSD Drives are very expensive, they do make system loading ect faster but there not worth that money IMO, + you will soon run out of 90GB of space..

Your better off with the sata 2 for now, wait for a while SSD's will come down in price.

As for the 3570K, that the best i5 there is for Gaming or anything els.

The GPU, seriously the GTX 550ti will play your games well, but pretty low end.
if you can afford that bit more go at-least a GTX 560 / Radeon 6870, the best bang for there money are the GTX560ti or better still the Radeon 7850.

The GPU is the most important part for gaming

[Haz9]

Originally Posted by Frakk

SSD Drives are very expensive, they do make system loading ect faster but there not worth that money IMO, + you will soon run out of 90GB of space..

Your better off with the sata 2 for now, wait for a while SSD's will come down in price.

As for the 3570K, that the best i5 there is for Gaming or anything els.

The GPU, seriously the GTX 550ti will play your games well, but pretty low end.
if you can afford that bit more go at-least a GTX 560 / Radeon 6870, the best bang for there money are the GTX560ti or better still the Radeon 7850.

The GPU is the most important part for gaming

You are right. GPU is the most important part but its the part i get lost at the most! So many brands, and i have to go by the approved GPU's list on the Diablo 3. http://us.battle.net/support/en/arti...supportedvideo

Also, your comment on SSD is very true and i will stick with my SATA 2 for now.

Is there a less expensive good motherboard with the same socket you can recommend? ASUS P8Z68-V LE LGA 1155 Intel Z68 any good?

[EarthDog]

Im on the other side of the SSD and feel its the most noteworthy upgrade to how a PC 'performs' (meaning lightning fast boot, game load times, and desktop responsiveness). 90GB is a decent size to throw an OS and a few major apps/games on it to make it worth it.

If you dont have one, you cant really express the differences well.

[Haz9]

Originally Posted by EarthDog

Im on the other side of the SSD and feel its the most noteworthy upgrade to how a PC 'performs' (meaning lightning fast boot, game load times, and desktop responsiveness). 90GB is a decent size to throw an OS and a few major apps/games on it to make it worth it.

If you dont have one, you cant really express the differences well.

Do you notice that much of a difference with game load times and windows boot up from a full shut down?

[EarthDog]

Im literally up on my desktop in 10 seconds from cold boot. Even with my raptor I was almost 40 seconds.

As far as games it helps with level loads and such, yes. But installs of applications go much quicker, and just the overall desktop experience is a lot better with an SSD.

[Frakk]

Originally Posted by Haz9

Do you notice that much of a difference with game load times and windows boot up from a full shut down?

ED is right, but if its a case of spend it on a better GPU or an SSD i think ED would agree the later makes more sense.

An SSD will not improve your Graphics or FPS, a better GPU will.

In an ideal world you should get both a better GPU and an SSD, if its one or the other its better GPU hands down, its faster load times vs better Graphics.

[EarthDog]

Oh absolutely Frakk. If you need more FPS, then a better GPU is the way to go obviously. Just noting that there are HUGE benefits from an SSD. Just depends on what you are trying to get out of your system/where you are trying to improve it.

[Frakk]

Is there a less expensive good motherboard with the same socket you can recommend? ASUS P8Z68-V LE LGA 1155 Intel Z68 any good?

For that you should go here http://www.overclockers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=4 I just don't know.

We can best help you if you have things in mind and then ask us what we think

[EarthDog]

That Asus board is fine. boards do not matter much in this generation of chips as overclocking is on the CPU, not bclk/FSB/HTT.