$800 to play with

[slimj091]

You can pretty much get an entire new PC, with possibly a new housing as well or you can keep your old one. I would advice an intel i5 3570k with at least 8gb or 16gb ram (ddr3 is so cheap nowadays) with an amd 7850 (really good price/performance ratio), its between mid-high end range. . Might as well get an SSD while you're at it! SSD will probably be the most noticable upgrade for you anyway, it significantly speeds up your entire system. You can easily buy a 128ssd with your budget. Crucial m4 or the new samsung 840 series.

did you bother to ask him if he wants to overclock? if he has no plans to do so you just suggested he spend more money for something he won't use. 16gb is a waste if all he is doing is light duty gaming. you wouldn't even come close to needing more than 8gb for Crysis 3 on ultra. I will agree that the 7850 is a nice card, but we have to look at what he wants to do and games he want's to play, and his budget.

an Ivy bridge I5, with an 7850 won't leave much room for quality in the rest of the machine. if he really has his heart set on an intel machine i would suggest an Ivy bridge I-3 (or better yet just wait until intel releases Haswell) and a 650 Ti. that will leave money for a nice quality modular psu, mobo, an Intel SSD (which imo are the best ssd's on the market), and perhaps a nice case with room for cable management.

---------- Post added 2013-01-14 at 11:58 PM ----------

Yes.

Explanation on things:
AMD Processors only work with AMD Motherboards
Intel Processors only work with Intel Motherboards
-> These are marked as "Sockets" such as AM1, AM2, AM3 etc. Or 1136, 1155, 2011 for Intel.

AMD GPUs work on any Motherboard
Nvidia GPUs work on any Motherboard
-> There are some slots on your Motherboard that are called "PCI-E", these have classes, 1, 2 and 3 being the latest, you don't see PCI-E 1 anymore really. PCI-E 2.0 and PCI-E 3.0 are used a lot these days. Also these PCI-E slots have speeds, 16x, 8x, which determines their speed basically. You want to place your Graphics card usually on the highest speed available, so PCI-E 3.0 16x would be the fastest, however PCI-E 2.0 16x will only be 1-2% slower if your GPU is very high end. You can use the x8(or lower if your Motherboard has them) for other PCI-E cards that include Sound Cards, Network cards or even SSDs.

So when you are looking at Motherboards for your PC, the most important things are:
1. Socket -> So your CPU fits in
2. RAM Support -> Your RAM will work on it
3. PCI-E slots -> The most modern Motherboards usually use PCI-E 3.0, but PCI-E 2.0 will work fine unless going for a really high end build(involving 2-4 Graphics cards that are already top-end)

if you are talking about a single gpu you are correct. however there are some AMD mobo's that do not support SLI, while the same boards have full support for Crossfire.

and for the second bold. you will only find PCI-E 3.0 on intel boards currently, but as we aren't even close to fully utilizing PCI-E 2.0 yet AMD has not launched support for 3.0 yet. the difference between 3.0 and 2.0 is more bandwidth that you won't use.

[yurano]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xBGN

This would be my take on the build, with a bit better PSU and AMD GPU instead of Nvidia.

A 7850 isn't better than a 660. If you were to go AMD of the same tier, you'd grab a 7870.

[n0cturnal]

A 7850 isn't better than a 660. If you were to go AMD of the same tier, you'd grab a 7870.

[.IMG]http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/Catalyst_12.11_Performance/images/perfrel.gif[/IMG]

AMD 7850 is about $50 less though.

[yurano]

AMD 7850 is about $50 less though.

If you want to play the 'opposite upgrade' game, the 7770 is $90 less than the 7850.

The 660 fits a 3570K better than a 7850 for CPU bound games and allows for adequate utilization of the budget. In any case, you shouldn't go 3570K with a 7850 since you'd be spending more on your CPU than GPU, a big no-no for gaming computers.

[n0cturnal]

If you want to play the 'opposite upgrade' game, the 7770 is $90 less than the 7850.

The 660 fits a 3570K better than a 7850 for CPU bound games and allows for adequate utilization of the budget. In any case, you shouldn't go 3570K with a 7850 since you'd be spending more on your CPU than GPU, a big no-no for gaming computers.

The 7770 is also way less powerful while the 7850 is the best price/performance card this generation.

[Skarsguard]

I agree you can get a 2gig XFX 7850 for 169 on Amazon atm (after rebate) your not going to get a 660 for anywhere around that range.

[yurano]

I agree you can get a 2gig XFX 7850 for 169 on Amazon atm (after rebate) your not going to get a 660 for anywhere around that range.

No, but the 660 is more powerful than the 7850. Whats your point?

The 7770 is also way less powerful while the 7850 is the best price/performance card this generation.

And the 7850 is less powerful than the 660.

The best price/performance card is the 7770 according to Techpowerup's performance chart.

7770 $107 - 45% for 0.42 %/$

7850 $170 (according to skarsguard) - 69% for 0.406%/$

If you're ok with Zotac, then 660 $195 - 80% for 0.41%/$ still better than the 7850. Zotac is considered approximately equivalent to XFX/Sapphire.

Being the best performance/price card doesn't mean you should pick it. The i3-3220 is a better performance/price CPU yet we only recommend it for low budget builds (the increased cost of a Z77 motherboard and heatsink is included with the price of 3570K).

Going 3570K + 7850 means you're spending a lot more on your CPU than your GPU. Such a build will be severely bottlenecked by the GPU, a bad idea.

[n0cturnal]

No, but the 660 is more powerful than the 7850. Whats your point?



And the 7850 is less powerful than the 660.

The best price/performance card is the 7770 according to Techpowerup's performance chart.

7770 $107 - 45% for 0.42 %/$

7850 $170 (according to skarsguard) - 69% for 0.406%/$

If you're ok with Zotac, then 660 $195 - 80% for 0.41%/$ still better than the 7850. Zotac is considered approximately equivalent to XFX/Sapphire.

Being the best performance/price card doesn't mean you should pick it. The i3-3220 is a better performance/price CPU yet we only recommend it for low budget builds (the increased cost of a Z77 motherboard and heatsink is included with the price of 3570K).

Going 3570K + 7850 means you're spending a lot more on your CPU than your GPU. Such a build will be severely bottlenecked by the GPU, a bad idea.

The 7850 has gone up in price since I last checked and the 660 has gone down so that skews the price/performance ratio I guess.

7770 is out of the question for anything except really low budget builds, it just doesn't bring enough performance.

There is nothing wrong with going 3570K + 7850, it really depends on what games you want to play and at what settings and resolution.

Having a more powerful CPU can also be a big deal when it comes to other things than pure gaming.

[yurano]

The 7850 has gone up in price since I last checked and the 660 has gone down so that skews the price/performance ratio I guess.

There is nothing wrong with going 3570K + 7850, it really depends on what games you want to play and at what settings and resolution.

Having a more powerful CPU can also be a big deal when it comes to other things than pure gaming.

Its been like that for a while now. Thats the whole point.

For gaming, why bother with the 3570K if you're only going 7850. You can get away with a significantly cheaper FX-6300 or i3-3220.

Unless its mentioned, CPU heavy tasks shouldn't be assumed on gaming forums. The CPU heavy tasks are either professional or video related.

[n0cturnal]

Its been like that for a while now. Thats the whole point.

For gaming, why bother with the 3570K if you're only going 7850. You can get away with a significantly cheaper FX-6300 or i3-3220.

Unless its mentioned, CPU heavy tasks shouldn't be assumed on gaming forums. The CPU heavy tasks are either professional or video related.

Not really, 2 weeks ago you could get a 7850 2GB for $150.

Most people I know buy powerful CPUs since they don't need to change them as often as a GPU. A CPU like 3570K will last you 5+ years with overclocking, 2-3 years in you can get another mid-end GPU and get a huge increase in performance.

There are also games like simulators that run much better on a powerful CPU, as well as people that want to stream and such.

Even for someone that will only be playing WoW I would recommend a 3570k + 7850 over something like a 3220 + 660ti/7950.

[Deleted]

yes for games like wow more than 2 cores aren't a good ideea
HOWEVER - i think you should tell us your current system - if you have an AMD dual core - probably you have an AM2 - AM3 socket, so you could change the processor and but a better amd processor with 100 $ or smt, and then a buy a real good video board (hd 7000) add some ram and an SSD and you can run ANY game
so you should find out what pc you have (right click my computer, go proprierties and you will see exactly what you have... and write here
but I suggest to get some dude to see your pc and help you

[yurano]

Not really, 2 weeks ago you could get a 7850 2GB for $150.

And the 660 was lower as well during holiday sales: Zotac 660 $170 Dec 17, EVGA 660 $180 ~Dec 27, ASUS 660 $195 most of December, and PNY 660 $190 Dec 15.

There are also games like simulators that run much better on a powerful CPU, as well as people that want to stream and such.

You're making too many assumptions trying to support a CPU heavy build.

Even for someone that will only be playing WoW I would recommend a 3570k + 7850 over something like a 3220 + 660ti/7950.

And the 3570K + 660/7870 will top both of those systems for World of Warcraft.

[Algearond]

You should be more then good. I built two computers last October for myself and my wife, both run Ultra at 40-60 FPS, and that included a new 22 inch monitor and surround sound.

[n0cturnal]

And the 3570K + 660/7870 will top both of those systems for World of Warcraft.

I was under the impression that the budget was limited, and also 7850 runs WoW fine at ultra.

[Titan2k10]

Lot's of information flying around here. Thanks!

[Deleted]

i suggest you take your pc(without moitor and keyboard) and go to a computer store(one who has a service will be best) - show them your pc, tell them how much money you have and that you wana play games like wow, and they see what system you have and they will fix you an upgrade (probably will keep the hard disk, case, power) and with the extra components you can donate them to the forum users (like me )