GuildWars2 PC build

[amigadave]

My 19 year-old Son wants to play GuildWars2, but his PC that we built together when he was about 12 is not up to the task, so I am investigating the least expensive way to upgrade his computer so he can play GuildWars2, and still do his college homework, so I am asking for suggestions.

Should we buy a new motherboard, CPU and video card, or can we get by with just a CPU upgrade on his existing motherboard and the purchase of a new video card.  The goal is to reach a level of performance that allows him to play the game at an acceptable frame rate, but spend the least amount of money (College isn't cheap).

His existing motherboard is a MSI K8N w/nVidia nForce4 chipset and the original CPU we used is an Athlon 64 ADA3000AA4BP @1,800MHz

I can buy an Athlon 64 FX60 @2.8GHz dual core that I am fairly certain will work in his motherboard for less than $100.  I don't know if that meets the minimum requirements for GuildWars2, which state that it needs:

• Windows® XP Service Pack 2 or better
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, Core i3, AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 or better
• NVIDIA® GeForce® 7800, ATI Radeon™ X1800, Intel HD 3000 or better (256MB of video RAM and shader model 3.0 or better)

What do any of you suggest we do?  Attempt to upgrade the old motherboard, or is a new motherboard an absolute requirement?


A new motherboard can be had for about $60 that will accept an Intel Core i3-2120 that costs about $120.


I am thinking that the performance difference might be a lot between a 3.1GHz Core i3 for $120, and an old Athlon 64 FX60 @2.8GHz.


Help!

[amigadave]

Thanks for the replies, but I am trying to spend the absolute minimum to upgrade his existing system, just to play this game he is addicted to.  I will buy him a better system in a year or two, so this is a temporary fix for a specific problem, just to get up to the minimum specs to play GuildWars2 (which is not a very demanding game).

I plan on getting him a RadeonHD 6850, or 6870 video card for $140 to $160 and want to keep the CPU cost as low as possible, so $85 for an Athlon 64 FX57 @2.8GHz, or FX60 @2.6GHz will be less money than a new motherboard @$60 & new CPU @$120.  That is an extra $95 that I don't want to spend, unless it really doesn't make any sense at all to try to use the Athlon 64 FX57 @2.8GHz to try to run GuildWars2.  If it can't do it, or if the frame rate is going to be too slow, even with the new RadeonHD video card, then I will have to spend the extra money and get the Intel Core i3 CPU and new motherboard.  The new motherboard is going to require RAM as well and I don't think the price I quoted for the Intel Core i3 includes the heat sink and cooler fan, so those are other costs that need to be added as well.

Buying a used complete computer might be a cheaper solution, but I don't want to spend $400, or even $364, if possible.

[amigadave]

The new AMD A10-5800k is slated to sell for around $130 bucks, is quad core and has integrated radeon 7660.

That sounds like the best suggestion so far.  I have spent hours looking at different possibilities all over the Net and have still not come to any concrete decision.

The Llano http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106001

ASRock A75 Extreme6 mobo http://compare.ebay.com/like/290773520801?_lwgsi=y<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

Kingston 8GB RAM  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139984

looked like they might meet the minimum specs at a decent price.  $110+$95+$35=$240

I have bought many items from Tiger Direct, NewEgg, Amazon, and eBay, so I am checking everywhere I can for deals.  If I could find a solution for less than $300, that would be great.

I have given up on doing anything with the old existing motherboard, so I need a new motherboard, RAM, CPU and video card if I can't manage to find a combination with integrated graphics that will provide acceptable performance until a discrete video card can be purchased to provide better performance at a later date.

Do any of you think that the above combination will meet the GuildWars2 minimum specs and run at a decent frame rate @1080p resolution on my Son's 23" LCD monitor, until he can buy his own discrete RadeonHD 6xxx, or 7xxx video card?

[amigadave]

Integrated graphics will run GW2 poorly at best.

AMD is better than Intel on chip graphics, but it's still no replacement for a discrete card.

The YouTube link of GuildWars2 running on the exact hardware I am thinking of getting does not look bad at all, though I could not understand the foreign language it was being played in, so I don't know what the text or numbers meant, as I have never played the game.  If anyone knows what the frame rate the game is running at in that video, I would like to know.  I would also like to know what detail settings were being used in that video.

I know what the resolution of the screen was, as I saw that much, and it is smaller than what my Son would like to play it at, but he can live with a smaller resolution until a couple of months later, when he can afford to upgrade to a discrete video card that can run the game at 1080p and 30fps or better at a medium or better detail level.

The only other question is about this AMD APU and it's capabilities to run this game when coupled with a video card that is in the $180 to $250 range.  I would not want the AMD APU to hold back the game when using a good video card.

@koaftder,

Thanks for the tip on getting faster RAM.  I will keep that in mind when I am ready to order the parts.

Anyone want to argue for using an Intel Core i3 instead, even though this will cost more, not counting the required purchase of a video card immediately, as the built-in GPU of the Core i3 could never play GuildWars2 at an acceptable frame rate?  I know that any version of the Core i5 would be the best route to take ultimately, but that pushes us too far out of our price range to even consider.

[amigadave]

Hi Amigadave,

Have you looked at the new i3-3225?

It has the HD4000 IGP that has, up until now only been available in the K versions of the Ivy Bridge i5's and i7's.

I'm going to use one of these in my mini itx HTPC!

Cheers

Yes, I looked at all the Core i3 products as well as some Core i5 CPU's, but for what we are trying to accomplish, the AMD APU products are a much better fit, plus they provide twice the video performance and a lower cost than the Intel equivalents.

I still like the products I outlined earlier in this thread.  The only thing I will change is possibly switching to the A10 model APU's and a FM2 motherboard, if they are priced within my budget.

I also like the Hybrid CrossFireX technology that allows us to add a discrete video card into one of the PCIe x16 slots and Windows7 Pro will see the video card in the PCIe slot, plus the video card portion of the APU, as one combined video card that is more powerful than either of the individual video cards are alone.

Same principle as system builders who buy a CrossFire, or SLI capable motherboard and install only one video card when they first build the system, but later they add an identical 2nd video card and enable the CrossFire, or SLI mode to use both cards together as one more powerful video card, when they have the money to add more performance.  That makes more sense than removing the existing video card and selling it at a loss, then buying a more expensive and more powerful video card to replace the one that was removed.  In fact, the CrossFireX technology can even support 3 video cards working in tandem, but I don't know if the Hybrid CrossFireX is able to support 3 video cards, with 2 of them being real PCIe cards and the third being the video card portion of the A8, or soon to be released A10 APU's.