Budget upgrade

[TheStig]

Hey guys, wanted to run my budget upgrade by you.

First of all, let me tell you what I have now.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.3Ghz
3 GB G.skill DDR2 PC-8500
WD 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
Nvidia GeForce 8600 512 MB
Gigabyte motherboard (too lazy to look up which one, but i think it's beside the point.)

The goal of my budget upgrade is to have an updated motherboard with support for PCI Express 3.0 and the LGA 1155 socket type so that I have room to upgrade the processor and video card later on down the road. Right now I run CS:S very smoothly and in the future would like to run CS:GO, however those are the only games I would likely play. Otherwise I use my computer for general productivity stuff (email, research, etc)

The upgrades I'm looking at are:

ASRock H77M LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive

I think this gives me a significant upgrade from what I have now while still allowing me some room to upgrade. Obviously the video card I have now will be a little out of date but I don't have the coin to buy a new one just yet. What do you all think?

 

[Dickfor.]

maybe instead of the ssd, just stick with the HDD and upgrade the i3 2100 to something that has a little more juice

 

[Ghonzo]

Is there a particular reason why you want a Mico ATX mobo from a a ATX mobo or is your case small??

I would recommend getting a Z77 mobo.

HDD>SSD imo right now for your setup. Get a WD Black Caviar 500gb.

You can try to get a 2500k for extra power.

 

[PaJaMaS]

atleast u know how to upgrade ur comp!

 

[Dickfor.]

Is there a particular reason why you want a Mico ATX mobo from a a ATX mobo or is your case small??

I would recommend getting a Z77 mobo.

HDD>SSD imo right now for your setup. Get a WD Black Caviar 500gb.

You can try to get a 2500k for extra power.

he already has a perfectly fine hard drive, thats the point i was trying to make...

 

[TheStig]

maybe instead of the ssd, just stick with the HDD and upgrade the i3 2100 to something that has a little more juice

I guess this makes sense. The drive I have now isn't terrible, though it is SATA II and I eventually want to go to SATA III. Once I get the processor/mobo upgraded the SATA III SSD could be a nice upgrade down the road.

Is there a particular reason why you want a Mico ATX mobo from a a ATX mobo or is your case small??

I would recommend getting a Z77 mobo.

HDD>SSD imo right now for your setup. Get a WD Black Caviar 500gb.

You can try to get a 2500k for extra power.

No particular reason I chose Micro ATX except that I apparently can't read...haha

Thanks for your input so far guys

 

[v.Kamikaze]

The upgrades I'm looking at are:
$70 - ASRock H77M LGA 1155
$120 - Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz
$30 - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600
$100 - SAMSUNG 840 MZ-7TD120BW 120GB SSD

So your budget is $320?

The goal of my budget upgrade is to have an updated motherboard with support for PCI Express 3.0 and the LGA 1155 socket type so that I have room to upgrade the processor and video card later on down the road. Right now I run CS:S very smoothly and in the future would like to run CS:GO, however those are the only games I would likely play. Otherwise I use my computer for general productivity stuff (email, research, etc)

If you currently run CS:S very smoothly, what performance improvements are you looking for with this upgrade?

I think this gives me a significant upgrade from what I have now while still allowing me some room to upgrade. Obviously the video card I have now will be a little out of date but I don't have the coin to buy a new one just yet. What do you all think?

Upgrade when you need it, not before you need it. Computer parts are always either getting cheaper or newer/faster products replace older ones at the same price points. Since all you play right now is Source, I'd highly suggest saving that $320 and adding to it, so you can do a real upgrade instead of several mini upgrades. You can sell your old parts as well, to help offset the upgrade costs.

Source and GO aren't very demanding games. If you really want to upgrade and get better gaming performance, you're best bet would be to upgrade your video card.

$170 - HIS Radeon HD 7850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI-E 3.0 H785F1G2M

A Radeon HD7850 would give you a significant upgrade from your GeForce 8600GT while still allowing you some room to upgrade. Save the remaining $150 and put it towards a Z77 + i5 down the road, or a Haswell based system if its that far down the road.

 

[TheStig]

Good advice. I won't be able to do a full budget build for another 2 and a half years, so I think I would be better served saving some money now. Do you think GO will be playable with my specs?