- Joined
- Dec 14, 2010
Looking at upgrading from onboard GPU to make budget gaming system
I'm looking at upgrading one or possibly two old desktops I have had sitting up in my attic to make one or both capable of playing modern or semi-modern games such as Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4, and Titanfall at medium settings (at a minimum) at 1080p with 45+ fps.
Looking at doing this mainly to increase marketability of this system to include possible gamers on a tight budget, as I know that older PC's are of course worth less when they're several generations behind the current technology. I'd like to try to sell this system (again), but wanted to see if I could increase its value by doing some upgrades from the stock config.
System specs:
System 1:
Dell Inspiron 560
CPU: stock Intel 3.2GHz Pentium E6700, upgrading to C2Q (probably Q8300, Q8400, or Q9400, since the board definitely supports 1333MHz bus CPU's)
Board: LGA775 G43T-DM1 Version: A00
Memory: 2x4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair memory
SSD: Thinking of slapping a Vertex 3 120GB into it, since I have one laying around.
HDD: 250GB WD Caviar Blue
PSU: Corsair HX620 620 Watt (an old Power supply I had laying around from when I upgraded my old PC's power supply like three years ago, figured I'd reuse it for this system since it still works fine and has no obvious bad caps)
GPU: currently using onboard graphics
System 2:
CPU: stock Intel 3GHz C2D, upgrading to C2Q (probably Q8300, Q8400, or Q9400, since the board likely supports 1333MHz bus CPU's)
Board: LGA775 Intel board with Q45 chipset
Memory: 2x2GB DDR2-800 low-profile Kingston memory
HDD: 250GB WD Caviar Blue
PSU: Corsair HX520 520 Watt (an old Power supply I had laying around from when I upgraded my old PC's power supply like three years ago, figured I'd reuse it for this system since it still works fine and has no obvious bad caps)
GPU: currently using onboard graphics
Possible graphics card options I'm looking at currently:
nVidia: GTX 570 ($44.89-139.99), GTX 660 ($67.99-140), GTX 660Ti ($60-147.03), GTX 580 ($41.59-134.09), GTX 760 ($54.99-187.6), GTX 670 ($21.04-170.25)
AMD/ATi: Radeon HD6950 ($41-125), Radeon HD6970 ($48.75-159.75), Radeon HD7850 ($37.64-161.34), Radeon HD7870 ($69.99-191), Radeon HD7950 ($65-209.99), Radeon HD7970 ($110-296.8)
Listing in order of overall performance level: GTX 570 ($44.89-139.99), GTX 660 ($67.99-140), Radeon HD6950 ($41-125), GTX 660Ti ($60-147.03) = Radeon HD6970 ($48.75-159.75), Radeon HD7850 ($37.64-161.34), GTX 580 ($41.59-134.09), Radeon HD7870 ($69.99-191), GTX 760 ($54.99-187.6), GTX 670 ($21.04-170.25), Radeon HD7950 ($65-209.99), Radeon HD7970 ($110-296.8)
So, is there any point in upgrading the graphics capabilities of this PC to make it capable of playing some games, or am I just barking up the wrong tree on this one (or going in the wrong direction upgrade-wise)?
I'm a bit less experienced/informed on the AMD side when it comes to graphics cards, as I've never owned an AMD card. Had a Radeon HD4870 once, but I think that was when they were still ATi. So, suggestions would be welcome there, if some of the cards I have listed are just too low in performance to be relevant, or too expensive to make a good "budget gaming" card.
I'm looking at upgrading one or possibly two old desktops I have had sitting up in my attic to make one or both capable of playing modern or semi-modern games such as Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4, and Titanfall at medium settings (at a minimum) at 1080p with 45+ fps.
Looking at doing this mainly to increase marketability of this system to include possible gamers on a tight budget, as I know that older PC's are of course worth less when they're several generations behind the current technology. I'd like to try to sell this system (again), but wanted to see if I could increase its value by doing some upgrades from the stock config.
System specs:
System 1:
Dell Inspiron 560
CPU: stock Intel 3.2GHz Pentium E6700, upgrading to C2Q (probably Q8300, Q8400, or Q9400, since the board definitely supports 1333MHz bus CPU's)
Board: LGA775 G43T-DM1 Version: A00
Memory: 2x4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair memory
SSD: Thinking of slapping a Vertex 3 120GB into it, since I have one laying around.
HDD: 250GB WD Caviar Blue
PSU: Corsair HX620 620 Watt (an old Power supply I had laying around from when I upgraded my old PC's power supply like three years ago, figured I'd reuse it for this system since it still works fine and has no obvious bad caps)
GPU: currently using onboard graphics
System 2:
CPU: stock Intel 3GHz C2D, upgrading to C2Q (probably Q8300, Q8400, or Q9400, since the board likely supports 1333MHz bus CPU's)
Board: LGA775 Intel board with Q45 chipset
Memory: 2x2GB DDR2-800 low-profile Kingston memory
HDD: 250GB WD Caviar Blue
PSU: Corsair HX520 520 Watt (an old Power supply I had laying around from when I upgraded my old PC's power supply like three years ago, figured I'd reuse it for this system since it still works fine and has no obvious bad caps)
GPU: currently using onboard graphics
Possible graphics card options I'm looking at currently:
nVidia: GTX 570 ($44.89-139.99), GTX 660 ($67.99-140), GTX 660Ti ($60-147.03), GTX 580 ($41.59-134.09), GTX 760 ($54.99-187.6), GTX 670 ($21.04-170.25)
AMD/ATi: Radeon HD6950 ($41-125), Radeon HD6970 ($48.75-159.75), Radeon HD7850 ($37.64-161.34), Radeon HD7870 ($69.99-191), Radeon HD7950 ($65-209.99), Radeon HD7970 ($110-296.8)
Listing in order of overall performance level: GTX 570 ($44.89-139.99), GTX 660 ($67.99-140), Radeon HD6950 ($41-125), GTX 660Ti ($60-147.03) = Radeon HD6970 ($48.75-159.75), Radeon HD7850 ($37.64-161.34), GTX 580 ($41.59-134.09), Radeon HD7870 ($69.99-191), GTX 760 ($54.99-187.6), GTX 670 ($21.04-170.25), Radeon HD7950 ($65-209.99), Radeon HD7970 ($110-296.8)
So, is there any point in upgrading the graphics capabilities of this PC to make it capable of playing some games, or am I just barking up the wrong tree on this one (or going in the wrong direction upgrade-wise)?
I'm a bit less experienced/informed on the AMD side when it comes to graphics cards, as I've never owned an AMD card. Had a Radeon HD4870 once, but I think that was when they were still ATi. So, suggestions would be welcome there, if some of the cards I have listed are just too low in performance to be relevant, or too expensive to make a good "budget gaming" card.
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