Want to find the CPU and Graphics card that'll allow me to play some games

[Joker of Muerte]

Im wanting to play Ark: Survival Evolved and maybe a few others. But Ark is the main one right now. The graphics i'd like to shoot for on Ark are High but if i cant find anythign for my price range in that ill settle for medium. Just anything better than the early 2000's lvl graphics Low makes Ark look like hehehe

I can play it on my current stuff but its all on low settings. Is there anything out there that is better than my stuff that wont completely break the bank ?

GeForce GT 520 is my graphics card

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2320 CPU @ 3.00GHz is my CPU

3.2 GHz is my cpu speed
Ram is 10 GB

OS is Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition Service Pack 1 (build 7601), 64-bit

and free disk space is 777.3 GB

The stuff im currently looking at (cuz can Can You Run This/http://www.systemrequirementslab.com ) says

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=ATVPDKIKX0DER for the CPU

and http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-7...=ATVPDKIKX0DER for the graphics card

are the Recommended for when i checked to see what would be best for me to run Witcher 3.

Price range limit would be about 300-500 range for both parts (Ive also never installed a CPU before , i installed a graphics card once though. Will it be a relatively painless process if i follow a guide online ? So since ive never installed a CPU before is probably why i am not able to find something better or cheaper than what i was suggested by that website)


If you can find somethign that runs just as good if not better but cheaper for the graphics card and the CPU then thats great! If not i understand cuz i know if you want the ability to play good graphics you gotta pony up some dough.

[Lathais]

Im wanting to play Ark: Survival Evolved and maybe a few others. But Ark is the main one right now.

I can play it on my current stuff but its all on low settings. Is there anything out there that is better than my stuff that wont completely break the bank ?

GeForce GT 520 is my graphics card

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2320 CPU @ 3.00GHz is my CPU

3.2 GHz is my cpu speed
Ram is 10 GB

OS is Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition Service Pack 1 (build 7601), 64-bit

and free disk space is 777.3 GB

The stuff im currently looking at (cuz can Can You Run This/http://www.systemrequirementslab.com ) says

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=ATVPDKIKX0DER for the CPU

and http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-7...=ATVPDKIKX0DER for the graphics card

are the Recommended for when i checked to see what would be best for me to run Witcher 3.

Price range limit would be about 300-500 range for both parts (Ive also never installed a CPU before , i installed a graphics card once though. Will it be a relatively painless process if i follow a guide online ? So since ive never installed a CPU before is probably why i am not able to find something better or cheaper than what i was suggested by that website)


If you can find somethign that runs just as good if not better but cheaper for the graphics card and the CPU then thats great! If not i understand cuz i know if you want the ability to play good graphics you gotta pony up some dough.

To upgrade to that CPU, or any CPU really, you will need a new motherboard as current CPUs use a different socket type to what you have. The CPU you chose is also last gen and on a different socket than current gen, so could also never be upgraded. However, if you went with that CPU and a motherboard to match it, you would be able to reuse your RAM at least, if you go Skylake, you will need DDR4 RAM. The GPU you chose is also 2 generations old at this point, though it would work, I'd look for at least 950 if you could.

Something like this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($30.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 950 2GB Dual WindForce Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $438.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-26 14:42 EDT-0400

Now you said $500 was max, so that leaves some room, but depending on your current PSU you may want to upgrade that as well. What is the model number on yours and how old is it? If you need a new PSU that will eat up the rest of the budget, if you don't, you could either just save the money or put it in to a better Video Card or a CPU you can OC and an Aftermarket Cooler. choices, choices.

[Joker of Muerte]

my Model number is : h8-1237c

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03152381

it says my computer was released in 9-Jan-2012 so about 4 or so years old? Is that good or bad or okay enough to work with ?

Would that be a PSU that i would need to upgrade to a new one ?

Also i do not know what skylake is ?

[Rokom]

my Model number is : h8-1237c

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03152381

it says my computer was released in 9-Jan-2012 so about 4 or so years old? Is that good or bad or okay enough to work with ?

Would that be a PSU that i would need to upgrade to a new one ?

Also i do not know what skylake is ?

Your CPU isn't great, but it should be passable. That graphics card is atrocious, though. You will also probably need to get a new PSU since prebuilts usually put in pretty shoddy ones.

I'd recommend getting this PSU and a GTX 950. I wouldn't upgrade anything else at the moment unless you want to go ahead and build a whole new computer.

[slayerbuffy]

my Model number is : h8-1237c

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03152381

it says my computer was released in 9-Jan-2012 so about 4 or so years old? Is that good or bad or okay enough to work with ?

Would that be a PSU that i would need to upgrade to a new one ?

Also i do not know what skylake is ?

Yes you need a new PSU.
Yours is 300 watts, recommended on the card you picked is 400 minimum, recommended on the other posters comment is 350. You can get a good 500-600 watt psu for about $50.


Skylake is the newest cpu's from intel. Honestly you can go with the last gen Haswell and be just fine. Skylake is not a huge jump in performance and in general costs quite a bit more, since you also need to use DDR4 with it, while if you got a Haswell such as a i5-4690 you can keep using your 10GB of DDR3 ram.

Here is a comparison of that new cpu Lathais mentioned, against the 2 year old last gen cpu, which outperforms it.
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i...l-Core-i5-4690''

Newer isnt always better unless you get comparing the higher end CPU's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116989

You also have many more motherboards to choose from (you need a new one regardless) so you have more in the range of prices to choose from with Haswell.

[Joker of Muerte]

hmm...So get that 2 year old lastgen you mentioned, the PSU and the Card mentioned by the other poster, a new motherboard... OH! Would i be able to keep everything else i have in my computer ?

But first start off wit the PSU and the card and see how it runs so far ?

Im I looked on new egg and im not sure which of these would be the best : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...384%2050001157

What do yall think? Would i have to get a new case as well ? ( my price range was just a number to help me get an idea of what it could possibly cost . I'll save up for almost any price but ill go for the cheapest that'll get me the best results . Like if there was a 200 dollar , a 125, and a 86 dollar peripheral computer thing . The 200 offers good performance, the 125 offers similar if not better, and the 86 offers almost as good. i'll go for the 125. Kinda understand what im trying to mean here ?)

[Cows For Life]

Wait a bit and see what Polaris 11 and the Nvidia equivalent have to offer in the next couple of months.

[slayerbuffy]

I'll give a more detailed reply later tomorrow when I wake up. I'll try and setup some builds on newegg and such. About 4 years ago I built a average gaming rig for a friend for $600 (This was for the Case, and every single component needed inside it to run) so honestly, you could possibly do a whole new custom system within your budget while keeping your original RAM, HDD, DVD drive and such, gain better performance and not have to upgrade to the newest tech being Skylake and DDR4

[Lathais]

Yes you need a new PSU.
Yours is 300 watts, recommended on the card you picked is 400 minimum, recommended on the other posters comment is 350. You can get a good 500-600 watt psu for about $50.


Skylake is the newest cpu's from intel. Honestly you can go with the last gen Haswell and be just fine. Skylake is not a huge jump in performance and in general costs quite a bit more, since you also need to use DDR4 with it, while if you got a Haswell such as a i5-4690 you can keep using your 10GB of DDR3 ram.

Here is a comparison of that new cpu Lathais mentioned, against the 2 year old last gen cpu, which outperforms it.
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i...l-Core-i5-4690''

Newer isnt always better unless you get comparing the higher end CPU's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116989

You also have many more motherboards to choose from (you need a new one regardless) so you have more in the range of prices to choose from with Haswell.

The reason I say to go with Skylake isn't because of the performance increase. Yes, it costs a little more to get in to right now, but it's more a just in case something fails after warranty period is up. By the time the warranty period is up, Socket 1150 Motherboards will be rare and therefore more expensive. Socket 1151 Motherboards still be common and plentiful. Yeha, he'd need new RAM, but in the build I posted that all fit within budget with a new PSU. I guess he could just go with Haswell, but it's really not going to be a whole lot cheaper:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($99.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 950 2GB Dual WindForce Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $439.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-27 09:13 EDT-0400

See, the Haswell Refresh Equivalent of the Skylake CPU I posted in previous uild and a mathing motherboard are actually more expensive. This comes out at the same price as the other build and the other build had RAM included. Better off going with Skylake, since you need a new motherboard anyway, update to the latest.

- - - Updated - - -

I'll give a more detailed reply later tomorrow when I wake up. I'll try and setup some builds on newegg and such. About 4 years ago I built a average gaming rig for a friend for $600 (This was for the Case, and every single component needed inside it to run) so honestly, you could possibly do a whole new custom system within your budget while keeping your original RAM, HDD, DVD drive and such, gain better performance and not have to upgrade to the newest tech being Skylake and DDR4

The i5-4690 cost more than the i5-6500 now, due to it no longer being made. The Motherboards for both are about the same still, though the older socket will slowly start to rise as it becomes scarcer as the 4690's have. No real good reason not to go to the latest when you already need a new motherboard.

[slayerbuffy]

It costs more not due to it not being made, but that it performs better and is still a very good CPU.

That aside, as for the motherboard. We don't know, or well at least I don't know, if his current case can support a normal size ATX motherboard, and as such in the LGA1150 side of things, would recommend him this instead.

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigaby...rd-gab85mds3ha

$40.
Thats for a Micro ATX board that will surely replace his current uATX board without issue.
With either chipset, no need for a $100 board regardless to be honest when making a budget build.

So, cheaper. Not by a ton, but he get's a new and good PSU along with better performance for less.
And of course yours could also be cheaper by lowering the motherbaord cost, and including a PSU.
We could go in circles all day with builds.

I get what you are saying about the parts later on, but how often do Motherboards or CPU's die?
I work in a data center, and it is not very often.
Heat is the main issue in those failures, as long as he keeps his shit clean, he shouldn't have any issues. That goes for any build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 950 2GB Dual WindForce Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($37.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $417.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-27 17:58 EDT-0400

[Lathais]

It costs more not due to it not being made, but that it performs better and is still a very good CPU.

That aside, as for the motherboard. We don't know, or well at least I don't know, if his current case can support a normal size ATX motherboard, and as such in the LGA1150 side of things, would recommend him this instead.

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigaby...rd-gab85mds3ha

$40.
Thats for a Micro ATX board that will surely replace his current uATX board without issue.
With either chipset, no need for a $100 board regardless to be honest when making a budget build.

So, cheaper. Not by a ton, but he get's a new and good PSU along with better performance for less.
And of course yours could also be cheaper by lowering the motherbaord cost, and including a PSU.
We could go in circles all day with builds.

I get what you are saying about the parts later on, but how often do Motherboards or CPU's die?
I work in a data center, and it is not very often.
Heat is the main issue in those failures, as long as he keeps his shit clean, he shouldn't have any issues. That goes for any build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 950 2GB Dual WindForce Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($37.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $417.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-27 17:58 EDT-0400

Ok, going with a mATX and a Bxx Motherboard instead of Hxx, a little lower quality, but yeah should be fine for his needs. Doing the same thing in Skylake though:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($27.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 950 2GB Dual WindForce Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($37.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $440.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-28 13:05 EDT-0400

$23 more to be in the current gen. Probably worth it.

[Joker of Muerte]

Hmm ... Will your build be able to fit in my case Lathais ?

If I have to get a new case, would it cost much? What should i look for in the case to make sure its a good one as well.

[slayerbuffy]

He listed a Micro ATX board, same as my list so it should fit in your current case just fine.

If you buy a new case, you can get pretty much any "Mid Tower ATX" computer case you want, just go for looks and cost.
Here is a basic example that will work with any size motherboard.

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/therma...-ca1c200m1nn00

[Joker of Muerte]

okay! Im sorry i did not understand that then. Thank all of you so very much. I'm going to begin saving right away.

[Blackmist]

Welcome to the fallacy of the upgradeable PC.

Typically the only things worth upgrading after you've bought it are RAM and Graphics Card. And if you bought an off-the-shelf PC then it's RAM only, because they fit the absolute minimum dog shit Power Supply, and the motherboard might not even have a PCI-E slot.

And Ark was ridiculously demanding the last time I ran it. With 8GB RAM, i5-750 and 5870, it would barely start on minimum settings, and still performed terribly. I actually laughed out loud when I heard it was coming to Xbox One.

[slayerbuffy]

Fallacy? Ya, no.

For one a i5 750 is pretty damn old by now. I had a i7 920 and finally swapped it about 2 years ago with a i7 4790k.
Along with changing out my 5870 for a r9 290X

However, I was able to keep my old corsair PSU, my 6gigs of ram, my case, all my hard drives, my mouse/kb, my mic.
It's your choice if you wish to do a full new build, and ya you are more limited with a store bought system to begin with, but the upgradeability/customization with PC's has always been great and is in no way a fallacy.

I eventually did sell off most of my old system, I now have new everything with the exception of my old hard drives (some new ssd's) and my 7 or so year old corsair 850watt psu.