Minor computer upgrade.
November 6, 2013 4:33 AM Subscribe
I'm looking to upgrade my 2012 computer to be able to run some mid-range games. I'm not expecting anything spectacular. Is there a way to do this for $100 or less? I know upgrades tend to be expensive, but I'm hoping a minor upgrade to this computer won't cost as much as upgrading to the best-of-the-best out there because Technology Marches On and such.
I don't know if it's helpful to list what games I'd like to play, since I'm guessing I won't be able to play them for anything under $100, but I'll do so just in case:
Dragon Age I + II
Neverwinter (and other free MMOs of that sort)
Sims 3
Skyrim and Secret World (these will not run at all. Not sure if it's too much to hope for to run them on bare-bone settings, but I'll list them anyway.)
At the moment I can play Dragon Age 1 and 2, but the game lags horribly. If I can run those games with reasonable frame rates I will be happy. I can also run Sims 3 but only on the bare bones settings. I'll be honest and say that since the games I'm playing are kind of old I'm hoping there's a cheap way to run them with kick-ass settings. But if there isn't I'll be happy with any improvement; baby steps.
Since I have no idea what I'm doing/what information is needed, I'm going to paste some information from dxdiag:
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 650 Processor (4 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 7936MB RAM
Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4200
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Note that I'm not including the cost of a new power supply (if needed) in the cost.
TIA!
If it's not possible in my price range, feel free to suggest what price range I need to be looking at to get this done. Thanks!
I don't know if it's helpful to list what games I'd like to play, since I'm guessing I won't be able to play them for anything under $100, but I'll do so just in case:
Dragon Age I + II
Neverwinter (and other free MMOs of that sort)
Sims 3
Skyrim and Secret World (these will not run at all. Not sure if it's too much to hope for to run them on bare-bone settings, but I'll list them anyway.)
At the moment I can play Dragon Age 1 and 2, but the game lags horribly. If I can run those games with reasonable frame rates I will be happy. I can also run Sims 3 but only on the bare bones settings. I'll be honest and say that since the games I'm playing are kind of old I'm hoping there's a cheap way to run them with kick-ass settings. But if there isn't I'll be happy with any improvement; baby steps.
Since I have no idea what I'm doing/what information is needed, I'm going to paste some information from dxdiag:
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 650 Processor (4 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 7936MB RAM
Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4200
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Note that I'm not including the cost of a new power supply (if needed) in the cost.
TIA!
If it's not possible in my price range, feel free to suggest what price range I need to be looking at to get this done. Thanks!
A 3.2 Ghz quad-core processor and 8GB of RAM will be able to handle pretty much any modern game you throw at them - the limiting factor there is definitely your graphics card, and you can easily find an upgrade for under $100. My recommendation would be a Radeon 7770 - it's just barely still in two figures (well, there's a rebate, but rebates are always dicey) but it's recent and powerful enough that it'll keep chugging along for years as new games get more and more demanding.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 4:58 AM on November 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 4:58 AM on November 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The Radeon HD 4200 is an integrated graphics card, built into your motherboard, and integrated cards are never the best for gaming. They'd run up the cost of the motherboard in a market where nobody who wants real gaming power wants it integrated on a pricy motherboard. It also borrows (a fairly pitiful amount) from your 8GB of RAM, whereas a standalone graphics card has its own dedicated RAM just for the GPU.
There should be a decent graphics card out there for $100. It's been a while since I Shopped for one, but there have always been ones in the $50-100 range, the $200ish range, and then the premium ones in the $400ish range. When the new lines come out, every card drops from one price group down to the next, and the cycle is renewed. $100 is considered a budget-card, so that's a term you should keep an eye out for, but you want a new budget card, not last year's budget card.
Tom's Hardware has always been where I start my search for the best card. Always check the dates on articles, because the same model card will be great in year 1, and still around years later (yours is mentioned in articles back to 2010). Here's a review of best new cards from October 2013, sorted by budget.
Keep researching your candidates, and find head-to-head comparisons of any candidates you discover-- someone somewhere has tested them against each other, no matter what cards they are. I'm not sure if ATI Radeon is still hot shit, or if nVidia GeForce is back on top, but they're both good companies who've had their times in the sun.
posted by Sunburnt at 5:03 AM on November 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
There should be a decent graphics card out there for $100. It's been a while since I Shopped for one, but there have always been ones in the $50-100 range, the $200ish range, and then the premium ones in the $400ish range. When the new lines come out, every card drops from one price group down to the next, and the cycle is renewed. $100 is considered a budget-card, so that's a term you should keep an eye out for, but you want a new budget card, not last year's budget card.
Tom's Hardware has always been where I start my search for the best card. Always check the dates on articles, because the same model card will be great in year 1, and still around years later (yours is mentioned in articles back to 2010). Here's a review of best new cards from October 2013, sorted by budget.
Keep researching your candidates, and find head-to-head comparisons of any candidates you discover-- someone somewhere has tested them against each other, no matter what cards they are. I'm not sure if ATI Radeon is still hot shit, or if nVidia GeForce is back on top, but they're both good companies who've had their times in the sun.
posted by Sunburnt at 5:03 AM on November 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Integrated graphics? Eeesh. Do Not Want.
Throw $100-150 at a new graphics card, assuming your motherboard will accommodate one. Some MBs with integrated graphics save money by not including the relevant expansion slots. Check first.
But that price point will get you an entirely adequate card, as the rest of your system appears to be okay.
posted by valkyryn at 5:41 AM on November 6, 2013
Throw $100-150 at a new graphics card, assuming your motherboard will accommodate one. Some MBs with integrated graphics save money by not including the relevant expansion slots. Check first.
But that price point will get you an entirely adequate card, as the rest of your system appears to be okay.
posted by valkyryn at 5:41 AM on November 6, 2013
You want to read Tom's Hardware "Best Graphics Cards For The Money". They have one every month and I've linked to the October 2013 version.
For that, it recommends the Radeon HD 6570 DDR3 ($52.99) which falls comfortably in your budget.
However, if you're willing to go slightly over, then the Radeon HD 7770 (at $109.84) is recommended.
They also have a nice graphics card performance hierarchy chart, which can give you a rough indication of how one card compares to another.
posted by mr_silver at 5:49 AM on November 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
For that, it recommends the Radeon HD 6570 DDR3 ($52.99) which falls comfortably in your budget.
However, if you're willing to go slightly over, then the Radeon HD 7770 (at $109.84) is recommended.
They also have a nice graphics card performance hierarchy chart, which can give you a rough indication of how one card compares to another.
posted by mr_silver at 5:49 AM on November 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
Best answer: n'thing everyone else. I looked at your 8GB of RAM and your processor, and didn't understand why on earth you wouldn't be able to run Secret World, until I looked up that video and saw that it was integrated. I'd expect that an under-$100 video card would allow you to run everything you listed.
posted by tyllwin at 7:47 AM on November 6, 2013
posted by tyllwin at 7:47 AM on November 6, 2013
Best answer: Yeah, that total versus available memory thing? Essentially, that means all your computer is letting your integrated video have is 256mb, which is ridiculously little in this day and age. A new video card is not going to be expensive anyway, but I really wonder--do you know how to get into your BIOS? You may be able to allocate it more of your RAM. With 8gb, you could probably throw a full gigabyte at video without feeling much of it, and at least for some of the older games on that list you might see a difference. But I'd probably still go ahead and buy a new card if I had the cash.
posted by Sequence at 7:58 AM on November 6, 2013
posted by Sequence at 7:58 AM on November 6, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks everyone!! Had no idea I was sitting on something that could run Skyrim (!) and Secret World (!!) for around two years now and hadn't taken advantage of it when I could have for ~$100. Kind of kicking myself for that but oh well, better late than never. I ended up finding the card mentioned in the first post for $75 and ordering that.
posted by Autumn at 10:36 AM on November 6, 2013
posted by Autumn at 10:36 AM on November 6, 2013
Well if you can find a good deal on a GTX 650 Ti instead of the 550 I'd recommend that.
The current generation are numbered 7xx, 6xx were the previous gen, and 5xx the one before that.
So for a wee bit of future proofing, if you look hard enough you can get the newer model within your budget too.
eg this refurbished GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2GB 128-bit GDDR5.
That's an extra 1GB of video RAM and a newer model.
Looking at slickdeals: non-refurb 1GB GTX 650 Ti have already had a bunch of deals in the past month dropping below the $100 mark, so if you can wait till Black Friday I think it's a given that there will be decent models [EVGA/MSI] available for $80-$90.
posted by xqwzts at 12:32 PM on November 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
The current generation are numbered 7xx, 6xx were the previous gen, and 5xx the one before that.
So for a wee bit of future proofing, if you look hard enough you can get the newer model within your budget too.
eg this refurbished GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2GB 128-bit GDDR5.
That's an extra 1GB of video RAM and a newer model.
Looking at slickdeals: non-refurb 1GB GTX 650 Ti have already had a bunch of deals in the past month dropping below the $100 mark, so if you can wait till Black Friday I think it's a given that there will be decent models [EVGA/MSI] available for $80-$90.
posted by xqwzts at 12:32 PM on November 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Your processor is fine, your memory is better than fine (4 gig is pretty much all you need right now), your video card needs an upgrade - a GTX 460 1 gig will play everything you want to at high res (1920x1080) and good framerates, speaking from personal experience.
If you don't get one of the cards recommended here then either spend some time and educate yourself a little on the insane, arcane world of video card terminology or come back with another question before you actually buy one.
Looking at your list, I'd also consider investigating Witcher 2 and the Mass Effect series (2 is the best, but it's a continuing story).
posted by Sebmojo at 2:11 PM on November 6, 2013
If you don't get one of the cards recommended here then either spend some time and educate yourself a little on the insane, arcane world of video card terminology or come back with another question before you actually buy one.
Looking at your list, I'd also consider investigating Witcher 2 and the Mass Effect series (2 is the best, but it's a continuing story).
posted by Sebmojo at 2:11 PM on November 6, 2013
Ah - didn't read the thread, you've already got one :) good luck.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:11 PM on November 6, 2013
posted by Sebmojo at 2:11 PM on November 6, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
I actually got my son a MSI nVidia GeForce GTX550 Ti Cyclone OC 1GB DDR5 2DVI/Mini HDMI PCI-Express Video Card N550GTX-TI CYCLONE OC in 2011/2012. Added it to a PC with similar, and probably lower specs than yours, and he plays SkyRim with maxed settings.
That looks to go from $100-$150.. you might be able to find something with simlar specs, or even that one one sale, since it's an older model. He did need a new power until, but you can get those relatively cheaply at TigerDirect if you catch a sale.
posted by rich at 4:45 AM on November 6, 2013