PC upgrade to play Ashes 2009!

Soldato
Joined
27 Aug 2003
Posts
3,464
I've been asked to upgrade the following spec PC to play Ashes 2009:

Processor - A64 3000+ AM2 (1.8GHz – 1GHz FSB)
Memory - Kingston 2 x 512MB DDR2 533MHz
Video - MSI X1300 256MB DDR2 PCI-E
Motherboard - MSI K9N4 Ultra-F AM2 DDR2
HDD - Seagate 80GB SATA-II
OS - Windows XP Home

I've read that Ashes requires the following:

Processor - 2GHz Pentium or equivalent (3GHz recommended)
Memory - 1GB RAM (1.5 GHz recommended)
Video - GeForce 6800/Radeon X1600 (GeForce 8800GS/Radeon X1900 recommended)

or

Processor - Core 2 Duo E6420 1.2GHz/A64 X2 Dual Core 4000
Memory - 1GB RAM
Video - GeForce 7900 GTX/Radeon X1900

Here is my proposed upgrade:

Processor – A64 X2 5200+ AM2 2.7GHz (£50)
Memory – Corsair 2 x 1GB DDR2 533MHz (£25)
Video – Sapphire HD3650 512MB DDR2 (£35)

Would the above components be sufficient to play this game?

Have I selected suitable/compatible components?

Thanks in advance!
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Mar 2009
Posts
6,589
Location
Nottingham
shame really as this:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - OEM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - OEM £48.99
(£42.60) £48.99
(£42.60)
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel (KHX6400D2LLK2/4G) Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel (KHX6400D2LLK2/4G) £45.99
(£39.99) £45.99
(£39.99)
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4350 1024MB DDR2 PCI-Express Graphics Card XFX ATI Radeon HD 4350 1024MB DDR2 PCI-Express Graphics Card £39.99
(£34.77) £39.99
(£34.77)

£134 without postage and it would bump a fair bit of life into that little PC




Product Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - OEM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - OEM £48.99
(£42.60) £48.99
(£42.60)
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4350 1024MB DDR2 PCI-Express Graphics Card XFX ATI Radeon HD 4350 1024MB DDR2 PCI-Express Graphics Card £39.99
(£34.77) £39.99
(£34.77)
OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Series (OCZ2P800R22GK) OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Series (OCZ2P800R22GK) £29.99
(£26.08) £29.99
(£26.08)

£118 without postage if its possible to get the 4gb on the top spec then do it. It would make the PC last a fair while longer!
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Mar 2009
Posts
6,589
Location
Nottingham
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - OEM (£42.60) £48.99

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB "Low Profile" DDR2 TV-Out/DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (£29.99) £34.49

OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Series (OCZ2P800R22GK) (£26.08) £29.99

Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2) (£7.99) £9.19

Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound (£3.99) £4.59


£127 without shipping

Just realised youll get free shipping so thats £10 saved

Cant really see it being done any cheaper to be honest unless you take the existing am2 CPU cooler, clean it and resuse it on the new chip and forget about getting the Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 CPU Cooler saving £9.19 then the build will be £118 approx and in budget
 
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Soldato
Joined
26 Nov 2002
Posts
6,852
Location
Romford
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Socket AM2
ASUS HD 4670 512MB GDDR3 VGA DVI HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card
Crucial 2GB kit (2x1GB) DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5300

£114.78 inc

Radeon HD 4350 is crap, its only meant for Media Center, and you can re-use your current AM2 cooler, as changes are the newer X2 (brisbane) will run cooler than your old 90nm Athlon anyway.
 
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Soldato
Joined
17 Mar 2009
Posts
6,589
Location
Nottingham
considering im specing from OcUK your obviously specing elsewhere so give the price range and what ocuk has to offers thats the best i came up with

£112.78 exc postage from a leading competitor for the below

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Socket AM2 (2.5GHz) L2 Cache 1MB OEM Processor £42.00
ASUS HD 4670 512MB GDDR3 VGA DVI HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card £50.79
Crucial 2GB DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5300 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5 Lifetime Warranty £19.99

Youll need to add a £3 tube of thermal paste to reseat the cpu cooler too
 
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Soldato
OP
Joined
27 Aug 2003
Posts
3,464
Thanks but it's for a friend and overclocking might be too much hassle.

Turns out his PSU has failed and the case he's using is a bit rubbish. I've come up with the following upgrade:

Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case With CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU £60
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3GHz Socket AM2 2MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed £60
Crucial 2GB kit (2x1GB) DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5300 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5 £22
ASUS HD 4670 512MB GDDR3 VGA DVI HDMI PCI-E £50
LG GH22NS50 22x SATA DVD±RW Dual Layer & RAM Black £16

Does this seem good?
 
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