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question on cpu/MB upgrade
I am going to be playing Guild Wars 2 , I know it can be played on lower level computers, what I want to know is if I should upgrade my CPU, MB and ram before it comes out or will what I have run upcoming games for the next couple of years. If I upgrade I want to go to a Core I5 2500k and a z68 series MB(probably Asus brand) Here is what I have, any help would be appreciated.
Case: CoolerMaster HAF922
CPU: AMD Phenom 965BE (standard clock at 3.4ghz
Corsair H60 cpu cooler
MB: Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2h
Video Card : Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1GB
RAM:8gb DDR2 PC800
PS:Corsair TX750W
Comments
Wait another few months, {April 8th if reports are accurate} as Intels new Ivy Bridge CPUs are about to launch. They'll be a little more pricey to almost comparable with the current Sandy Bridge models and won't be getting a huge perfomance update either, but rather they'll be of the new 22nm design and 77w instead of the current 95w.
I too am looking forward to Guild Wars 2, and would like to get a new Ivy Bridge CPU and one of nVidia's new Kepler GPUs!
Any game in the next few years that won't run well on that processor is sufficiently badly coded that it might not run well on a Sandy Bridge processor, either. I don't see any sense in upgrading yet unless you've got a much larger budget than you're letting on. Even if you might need something faster in two years, you might as well wait two years to get it, as better hardware will be out by then.
If you feel the itch to upgrade something, then get an SSD.
You don´t need any upgrade for GW2 at all.
And the CPU and ramis fine for any game, it is only if you do other stuff like 3D rendering you need to upgrade them.
The GFX card might need upgrading later though but you will need when the time for a new one has arrived: When you can´t max out a game. It is the only thing you have that you can consider upgrading. I think you still will be able to max out GW2 on it since it's engine is coded by Strain, but if you notice that you don´t get a better one.
As Quizz said is a SSD not bad either even if you would have more use of one in TOR than in GW2. The SSD cuts down all loading times a lot so it is great when you map travel or go into an instance. It also make your computer boot faster.
My standard take:
Don't upgrade any computer for a game that isn't released yet. Wait until
a) The game is out - you can see if it runs better (or worse) on particular hardware types
b) You've actually bought the game - it may run fine on your current computer, and/or you may end up not liking the game as much as you thought you would.
I saw too many people get burned on FFXIV...
Thank guys for the help, about the SSD I know its alot faster then the standard HD as far as booting up goes, but if all I have is my OS installed on it what other speed gains will I see with it?
Only programs and games installed on SSD gain any performance. So ideally you'd want an SSD large enough for OS, your most commonly used programs, and one or two most commonly used games.
If you play game from normal hard disk, you won't gain any increase in performance or loading times in-game even if you have SSD installed.
EDIT: If you run out of RAM, your computer can use SSD to extend it instead of storing data to normal HD, and then it'll boost the performance dramatically. But running out of 8gbs of RAM isn't likely /EDIT
cool, I kinda thought that, I might just purchase a 60gb for my OS and a 120GB just for games, im still running an old Western Digital 320G and I think its a 5400rpm so it should be a good upgrade
Just get a ~120 GB SSD and put both the OS and some games on it. A good SSD is so fast that having other programs on the same SSD as the OS doesn't cause any performance issues.
This has good reviews or do you know of something better
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167050
That would work. Some other options:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227780
Budget model, maybe faster than the Intel SSD 320, but much cheaper for the same capacity. It's the new Indilinx Everest controller, so firmware bugs haven't necessary been worked out yet, making it less reliable than some other options.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226236
Same capacity as the Intel SSD 320, but a lot cheaper, and also much faster, as that's the second generation SandForce controller. That controller has had some firmware issues that may or may not be fixed by now. But if you're into good user reviews on New Egg, this SSD has them.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442
Also cheaper and faster than the Intel SSD you picked, as well as larger capacity. It does have a known firmware bug that will cause blue screens starting somewhat after 5000 hours of use (and the bug wasn't discovered until people used the SSD that much). There is a firmware fix posted for it, which you'd need to install as soon as the SSD arrives.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147134
About as good as the Crucial M4, but more expensive. It doesn't need the immediate firmware update, though. Crucial, Samsung, and Intel are likely to be the most reliable options.