Looking to get a good gaming PC

My current PC is getting old now. It's 2 years old and it still has an ATI Radeon HD 6770, Intel i3 quad 3.1ghz processor and 4GB RAM in it which is starting to be unable to keep up with today's graphics. I've got £600, looking for a job to get more and I'm attempting to get money off Youtube. Of course, Youtube is a terrible place to get money at the moment, and I've only earned less than $5 from ad revenue.

I looked at CyberPower UK and their stuff is extremely expensive, and I don't even know what half the stuff on there even is. I need help looking for good parts at a reasonable price, preferably less than £1000, roughly between £600 and £1000 if possible. The parts should be able to keep up with modern graphics, mainly games like Battlefield 4, but still higher than the specs listed there so it can keep up with future games too.

The link on BF4 links to an image, which is here:


Note that I can't even run BF4 due to the drivers being too old even though the minimum one is actually 3 series older.

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/everything-else/64496-building-an-affordable-gaming-pc-update/

SavageCorona said:

My current PC is getting old now. It's 2 years old and it still has an ATI Radeon HD 6770, Intel i3 quad 3.1ghz processor and 4GB RAM in it which is starting to be unable to keep up with today's graphics.

It's not "getting old" because it's two years old, it's because it's a low tier box with cheaper components.

Belial's option is certainly a good one. Another approach could be looking for something used, maybe on eBay or something, it will cost you less. Just make sure it's in good shape. A third option could be waiting a little more and maybe save another £500, for example?

Jodwin said:

It's not "getting old" because it's two years old, it's because it's a low tier box with cheaper components.

No, it actually ran games fine on maximum for the first year I had it. It's the new engines that require higher specs that are starting to outdate it.

I don't think you really need a new PC. A better graphics card may just be enough to get back into the game. The Radeon HD 6770 sounds just like one of those cheap-o cards that some manufacturers like to put into their prebuilt PCs.

The CPU should still be fine and if you need more RAM you should be able to add some.

The 6770 is a mid-high ranged card of the 6000 series and was a slightly cheaper alternative to the 6900 series. Mine was overclocked to about the power of a 6950, though obviously less powerful than a real one because it's not an actual one. It gets me 300fps in Source engine games up to Left 4 Dead 2 though I had to turn off the AA because that seriously hurts the framerate down to about 30fps due to the Nvidia optimization because of Gaben.Co, but Serious Sam HD gets 300fps avg. as well, and Serious Sam 3 gets about 60-120fps avg. with a couple settings turned down. Overall it's not a bad card for running 1-2 year old games but it's sort of lagging behind in the 2013 games.

I just bought one a few weeks ago (my version of a Steambox) 1 GB video, 3.4 gHz CPU, 8 GB DDR3 RAM, 1 TB HDD all for $250+. It seems to be more than enough.

geo said:

I just bought one a few weeks ago (my version of a Steambox) 1 GB video, 3.4 gHz CPU, 8 GB DDR3 RAM, 1 TB HDD all for $250+. It seems to be more than enough.

I'm still waiting to find out the exact model of your graphic and CPU; those numbers alone mean absolutely nothing.

Athlon II X2
AMD Radeon 5400 XFX R-Series

geo said:

AMD Radeon 5400 XFX R-Series

Yeaaah...that really isn't worth a thing if you're playing any modern 3D games.

SavageCorona said:

No, it actually ran games fine on maximum for the first year I had it.

And I have boxes that still "run games" on maximum after 10 years of use. Of course, it depends on the games ;-)

When building a new computer, don't go for the most budget components of its era: you'll get outdated fast (when you do that, there's even the risk of "investing" in fading-out technologies like DDR2 memory slots or sockets for CPUs that won't receive any upgrades).

Try to aim for the best value-for-money components in the medium-to-high -end tier, this way you'll get a more longeve setup. Avoid stuff like built-in or integrated graphics under any form, including APUs and laptops. Speaking of graphics, keep away from low-end-to-mid tier stuff of ANY generation (including the current) but do invest in mid-to-high end tier stuff, even if it's from one generation ago: it usually stays competitive with MID-end stuff within two or even three generations ahead.

SavageCorona said:

My current PC is getting old now. It's 2 years old

Is this a real thing? Do people really buy new PCs or upgrade at about two years time? My standard computer took a hit with some programs not working, taking extra long to load stuff, and I've had it for seven or eight years now without doing anything to it, but I was sure the reason it's not really on top of it's game came with watching porn.

40oz said:

Is this a real thing? Do people really buy new PCs or upgrade at about two years time?

If they screwed up the setup the first time and it let them down at the first hint of a mildly demanding new game, yeah, it's very possible. It may also happen if they are fux0r 1337 0v3rcl0xx0rz m0dd3rz, but for different reasons. People like Doom Marine don't count, because he actually gets very high-end components with a goal of lasting him a while, so on the long run he's much better off than someone that buys cheap but has to upgrade every now and then.

See my post above. Usually the budget "value for money" stuff uses components that are on their way out of the market, marginal in performance relative to the average for their generation, and will also lack or hinder upgradeability. Especially with gaming, you're after a moving target. If you aim low -spec wise- all of the time, then at some point you'll be missing every mark.

I had to upgrade every 2 years a decade ago when CPU evolution was fast. Nowadays I upgrade when the old one bites the dust. My last system lasted 5 years, from 2007-2012, the one before that from 2004-2007 (although it's still operational but wayyyy to slow) and I went for good parts except for the graphics card where I went budget - but only because I have no real interest in modern games, the card I have is good enough for 90's/early 2000's games which I like and play most - and it's also good to run the most demanding (G)ZDoom maps

And I do not plan to upgrade before this one breaks.

40oz said:

Is this a real thing? Do people really buy new PCs or upgrade at about two years time?

Average people, definitely not. I do some computer "clean up" work for some extra cash and I can tell you there are still people using systems from the early 00s. Oldest I've encountered still being used regularly was an HP system with a Pentium 3, forget the other specs but you can guess...owner wanted me to install Windows 7 on it. (She had XP installed, but that system really should have been running Win98 still. Probably would've made a great retro gaming rig.)

Even my system's getting pretty old. Still runs everything I throw at it good enough for me, though. Only thing I've been disappointed with is that I can't get a steady framerate over 60 in CS:GO since one of the updates, I feel it's making me less competitive, but I don't play enough to really care anymore.