PC doesn't even meet minimum spec :(

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Once upon a time I always had an up to date PC and upgraded every year. It would appear though that 6 years have flown past and I can't even play Sim City as my graphics card doesn't have enough memory.

Current spec:
Power Supply:
Corsair HX 620W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-620HXUK)

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

Heatsink:
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)

Motherboard:
Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

RAM:
OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ2P800R22GK)

Graphics Card:
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)

Main HDD:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache

Case:
Coolermaster 200 v2 case

Monitor:
Samsung 226BW 22" monitor

The PC is used mainly for web browing, Office etc, but once in a while I will get an itch to game again, so don't want to spend silly money on something that is used infrequently for gaming. Suggest a budget of £400 maximum?

 

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AMD,

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £99.95
1 x Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £59.99
1 x Adata XPG Xtreme v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C10 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U2133XC4G10-2X) £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
Total : £249.31 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Intel,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-3225 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (55W) - Retail **High Performance IGP** £109.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
Total : £286.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Thanks. A few questions:

- What about graphics card
- Will my current PSU and case be suitable
- Is it worth me spending a bit more to get an i5?

A bit more than I wanted to spend but I have come up with the below so far:

Intel Core i5-3470 3.20GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail Intel Core i5-3470 3.20GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £155.99
(£129.99) £155.99
(£129.99)
MSI GeForce GTX 650 Black Knight OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card MSI GeForce GTX 650 Black Knight OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £91.99
(£76.66) £91.99
(£76.66)
Gigabyte Z77M-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard Gigabyte Z77M-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £86.99
(£72.49) £86.99
(£72.49)
Adata Premier Pro SP900 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (ASP900S3-64GM-C) Adata Premier Pro SP900 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (ASP900S3-64GM-C) £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
Sub Total : £391.61
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £80.32
Total : £481.93

 

[Abyss]

You probably aren't going to need a GTX-650 to run Sim City - although, maybe you run more high spec games?

Also, the max. RAM you'll need is 8GB; 16GB is for ultra high gaming and for rendering, encoding etc.

Cheers. I want to future proof as much as possible. Is there a halfway house?

 

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This is the favourite spec so far. More than I planned! Any final thoughts? I have taken on board the thoughts around using integrated graphics but would prefer to future proof for other games, and I might dust off flight simulator X if I have a new pc!

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £187.99
(£156.66) £187.99
(£156.66)
Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
(£94.16) £112.99
(£94.16)
MSI GeForce GTX 650 Black Knight OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card MSI GeForce GTX 650 Black Knight OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £91.99
(£76.66) £91.99
(£76.66)
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £69.98
(£58.32) £69.98
(£58.32)
Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Edition - from XP SP3 / Vista / Windows 7 Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Edition - from XP SP3 / Vista / Windows 7 £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £19.99
(£16.66) £19.99
(£16.66)
OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.16) £16.99
(£14.16)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) £8.99
(£7.49) £8.99
(£7.49)
Sub Total : £496.59
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £101.32
Total : £607.91

 

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Thanks.

Yes its a V2 from back in the day (http://archive.arstechnica.com/reviews/1q00/cmatcs/whole.jpg)