Upgrading pc for upcoming games (crysis2)

[apok101]

Hi, im new to this forum and dont know too much about computers as far as hardware goes and i was hopping to get some help upgrading my old dell xps 720 that i bought a few years back. My goal is to be able to run crysis 2/battlefield 3/Rift and other upcoming titles on high-very high settings.

Here are my current specs:

-intel Q6600 2.40ghz quad core cpu
-nvidia 680i mobo (i think)
-2gb ddr2 ram
-250gb HD + 1tb external HD
-5.1 xfi extreme gamer sound card
-Stock dell xps 720 case
-nvidia 8800gtx 768mb video card
-1000 watt power supply

I would like to use the same case, hard drives, sound card, mobo (if its not too outdated) and cpu if i can. My budget is to be determined im not sure how much i feel like dumping into a pc yet but im open to all suggestions. If you need clearer specs on the parts listed ask away, i can open up the pc and get the serial numbers and do some research.

So what can i do with this old dell? Is it worth upgrading or should i just build a whole new pc? Wich parts, if any can i keep without creating a bottleneck?

These are my questions please help me out and thank you in advance for youre time.

 

[~Darkseeker~]

i doubt you'll be able to run Crysis/2 at high settings unless you replace most/all of your computer. Remember, as far as games are concerned, a computer is only as fast as it's slowest component. A fast CPU can be cancelled out by overly slow or small amount of RAM.

Also, the motherboard specifies a maximum speed and specific socket of CPU, as well as a specific type (e.g. DDR2 SDRAM) of RAM. Could you be more specific on the mobo model? 680i is just the chipset. But an educated guess based on the fact that it uses DDR2 memory would suggest it is a couple years old. Keeping your mobo would mean you could only use DDR2 RAM, and probably a limited amount of it too. I'm not sure on the spec that Crisis 2 requires, but there's a good chance since it's a future release that it will only go to high/very high settings using DDR3 memory. Also, since in the last year or so, Intel and AMD have introduced Hex (6) core i7s and Phenoms, it seems plausible to say that the game would be optimised for such chips.

Anyway, if i was in your position, i'd stick it on Ebay to help fund a new build. Building a rig for a future release is always tricky since no one is ever sure exactly what the specs needed to run it are (or maybe i'm just ignorant to such things). But, your mobo is going to limit your options for upgrading most components, and even if newer components are compatible with it, various bus speeds can bottleneck performance. E.g. if the CPU considerably outclocks the frontside bus, or if the RAM is considerably slow compared to the processor.

 

[detox1]

Electronic Arts Germany has posted the minimum system requirements for the game on the official Crysis Facebook page...

>A Core 2 Duo or Athlon 64 X2 processor clocked at 2GHz
>2GB of RAM
>A GeForce 8800 GT or Radeon HD 3850 with 512MB of video memory
>9GB of hard-drive space
>DirectX 9.0c - compatible audio

 

[~Darkseeker~]

what i meant detox, is the spec you would need to run it at high spec isnt usually documented until after release.

minumum spec is plastered all over everywhere, pretending it's easy to run :<

 

[apok101]

i doubt you'll be able to run Crysis/2 at high settings unless you replace most/all of your computer. Remember, as far as games are concerned, a computer is only as fast as it's slowest component. A fast CPU can be cancelled out by overly slow or small amount of RAM.

Also, the motherboard specifies a maximum speed and specific socket of CPU, as well as a specific type (e.g. DDR2 SDRAM) of RAM. Could you be more specific on the mobo model? 680i is just the chipset. But an educated guess based on the fact that it uses DDR2 memory would suggest it is a couple years old. Keeping your mobo would mean you could only use DDR2 RAM, and probably a limited amount of it too. I'm not sure on the spec that Crisis 2 requires, but there's a good chance since it's a future release that it will only go to high/very high settings using DDR3 memory. Also, since in the last year or so, Intel and AMD have introduced Hex (6) core i7s and Phenoms, it seems plausible to say that the game would be optimised for such chips.

Anyway, if i was in your position, i'd stick it on Ebay to help fund a new build. Building a rig for a future release is always tricky since no one is ever sure exactly what the specs needed to run it are (or maybe i'm just ignorant to such things). But, your mobo is going to limit your options for upgrading most components, and even if newer components are compatible with it, various bus speeds can bottleneck performance. E.g. if the CPU considerably outclocks the frontside bus, or if the RAM is considerably slow compared to the processor.

This is what i thought, i guess i will have to build a new comp, any idea how much my xps720 would be worth. Also with a budget of lets say 1000$ what should i get?