Upgrade Direction

[TheFairy]

Hi All, first post pse be gentle. I run my pc from a media centre case connected to a 1080p 37" panel. I normally only watch 720p stuff and play games in lower res's.

I have at the moment an FX55, 2GB Ram, ATI x1950gt, few hds. Its all in a Thermaltake Bach Media Lab VB8001BNS Case.

Now I need to start thinking about upgrading. I tend to play older games, BFV, BF42, Q3 etc as I'm an oldie , but would like to be able to play GTA4 PC with my son etc.

Ideally my budget will be around about £400, under if poss. I'm reading conflicting advice on wether or not a Quad Core is needed, though looking at the feedback on GTA4 it seems it is.

So basically I need some peeps to quote me happy. I need :

CPU
MOBO
Gfx Card
PSU
Ram
Poss Soundcard ( I have an old Audigy, will newer xifi give me dolby digital over my 5.1 system using optical?)
500gb+ HD

It'll prob be after xmas before I take into the upgrade though.

 

[Glaucus]

If you have a 5.1 system with optical a sound card is a waste. Just take it from the onbaord digital out.

If you not going to upgrade for a few years I would certainly go quad. However now's a rubbish time. I would wait for the phenom2's to be released as these look promising. But we wont know till we get some proper bench marks.

 

[Paul2506]

Even peeps with top spec computers are having probs running GTA 4 m8.
But yea same,If your not thinking about upgrading till after crimbo,Then i would wait out for now