Project Reality Forums

Hi all,

It's been a long time since I considered myself a 'gamer' - personally, I never thought I'd see the day; I'm usually far too busy these days to sit down and play something, and whenever I do I browse over let-down title after let-down title and ultimately decide I can't be bothered.

I've been waiting for BF3, given the success of BF2/PR and hoped it would offer something different than CoD / BFBC... So far I'm not convinced, but it's the best on offer, right?

I played some of the BETA last night and my 'auto' settings were quite high, with AA off etc. It played fine but wasn't brilliantly responsive, so I dropped all settings to low to get a better result. The game still looks superb but if I'm going to be sinking time into BF3, I'd like to get the most out of it.

I don't have megabucks to spend, I can't piece together a PC myself, and it's been that long since I upgraded that I'm totally out of the loop with what hardware is good these days.

I'm hoping you can help me?

Back in 2008/9 I upgraded my PC to the following:

Mobo: Asus P5K-E WiFi-AP s775 1333mh
Processor: Intel Q6600 Quadcore CPU 3.0gHz
RAM: 8GB TwinX DDR2 (think it's 444 or 666mhz) - 2 sticks of 4GB each.
GFX Card: Radeon HD 5800 512MB
HDD: 500GB SGate SATA2
Fan: Asus Silent Knight II MultiCPU
PSU: Corsair HX 520W Modular PSU

I also own a legit copy of Windows 7 Home (x64-bit)

As I say, I'm not a massive gamer these days but the games I do play recently all run relatively well on high settings, but seeing as I have a bit of cash to spend these days, I might as well see what can be done with it.

Ideally, I'd hope to get something ready built to save messing around/potential breakages.

It may well be that only a few things need upgrading and the rest is fine, but if getting a whole new system I'm not looking at anymore than ?600 - less if possible.

Could anyone help out?

Please only techies/people in the know reply; this will be a considerable purchase for me and I don't want to make it based on unsourced/skant advice. Thanks.

Im in the same boat here, my mac wont be able to handle this on the settings i would prefer to play on

I could just go and buy myself one of these babys:

Custom Build PC | Gaming PC | Desktop PC | Gaming Laptops PC - MESH Computers - Award Winning Since 1987 - Customise your Colossus Blitz

But i dont have a spare ?1700 lying around, heres me hoping i can build something just as good maybe around half the price???

Thread moved to the hardware support forum

Your processor should be fine to cope with BF3 as its a reasonably fast Quad core, also upgrading the CPU means upgrading the motherboard and ram, which can be costly.

I would consider upgrading your GPU, possibly an Nvidia 560GTX-570GTX(the 580 is overpriced) or even an AMD 6950 or 6970 would easily handle the game.

I know a single 570GTX Overclocked to 800mhz can run at around 40-50fps on ultra.
(owning two myself, the second gets the frame rate going 90-120)

Another path to take would be the sit and wait game, for the latest 600 series from Nvidia, and the 7000 series from AMD, due for release in Q4 this year, so possible December, maybe Jan next year if it runs a bit late. These will do two things.
1. Make the current gen cheaper,
2. Better performance if willing to pay standard prices

I'd personally go for option 2 =]


If you did upgrade your GPU, you will have to upgrade the PSU as well, as 520W just wont give enough juice for the power hungry powerhouse cards . Id suggest a 750W corsair PSU, good reliable, and gives you that wiggle room, as well as improved efficiency (PSU's are most efficient at 50-60%, tail off quickly after 80%)


With power supplies and graphics cards, theyre pretty much plug and play now-a-days. As long as your motherboard can support a 16x PCI-E 2.0 slot, you're good to go. The PSU may take a bit of fiddling with wires etc, and may make the case a bit more messy, but again, simply plug the correct cables into the correct holes and away you go =].


EDIT: some parts with prices
OC'd 570(will have roughly the same performance as a standard 580, for a lot less cash, but possibly a bit more noise)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1280mb-e ... -plusfree-

AMD6970
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-xfx- ... i-dvi-hdmi


Corsair power supply. 750W, and modular (you plug in the amount of cables you need, less mess)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/750w-psu ... 12v-quiet-


I also suggest scan as a retailer as they have great service and quick delivery, also they can supply an "installation warranty" which basically means, if you break it while fitting, they'll replace it. Although pretty impossible to break something while fitting as long as your don't hit it in with a rock or something..

[quote=""'[R-CON"]Pantera;1674111']But i dont have a spare ?1700 lying around, heres me hoping i can build something just as good maybe around half the price???[/quote]
You can build a great PC for half the price, just don't expect it to hammer through any mountain of a game you throw at it (i.e. BF3 Ultra Maxed with 64xAA and 120 FPS). I personally built a great PC for around $800 USD (see system specs).


[quote="Pedz""]Your processor should be fine to cope with BF3 as its a reasonably fast Quad core, also upgrading the CPU means upgrading the motherboard and ram, which can be costly. I would consider upgrading your GPU.[/quote]
I agree. Most games nowadays do not benefit from ultra awesome CPUs, but rather ultra awesome GPUs. Unless you are really bent on upgrading the entire system, I would simply upgrade you GPU and PSU. If not, then you will want to build a system around either an i5 2500k or an i7 2600k (the only real difference is that the i7 has Hyper-threading aka 8 virtual cores, a feature useless for gaming but adds an extra $100).