I was going to wait, but yeah….maybe not! With the Guild Wars 2 headstart only 2.5 weeks away and me seriously under-equipped in the tech department, I decided it’s time to upgrade what has has been a faithful yet ancient rig for gaming standards. I don’t have unlimited funds at my disposal, but I’ll be damned if I play my most anticipated MMO since WoW on a 5 year old PC that lags during crowded events and WvW on lowbie settings!
This is where I’m going to need some help though and what better place to ask than the blogosphere, where people are more or less playing the same games as myself? I started the other night by inquiring about suitable graphic cards on twitter, to run GW2 smoothly on max settings; if I am to replace my entire rig (which I must) however, I need more advice from the seasoned PC builders out there! I’d like a solid, good quality setup with matching components to preferably last me 2 years before the next upgrade. Find below what I’m looking for first and foremost, including current budget limitations and please feel free to comment and share some much appreciated advice (I really am quite the hardware noob!) –
The budget
I don’t intend to spend more than ~1200 Swiss francs, which currently equals 1238 USD. So, for simplicity’s sake let’s say the total of all required components may range up to 1200$ maximum. I would spend more ideally but that’s what I have to make do with for now. Money unpleasantness out of the way, let’s talk components. Here’s what I need:
- New graphics card
- CPU
- Mainboard
- RAM
- Power supply (I assume)
I’ve had a look at Nvidia GeForce 680 and while that looks very sweet, it would cost me almost three times what the GTX-560Ti is currently going for. I hear the latter is a very popular choice among PC gamers and several folks on twitter recommended it for GW2 purposes to me already. I can get my hands on the GTX-560Ti for a mere 250$ where I am (as opposed to 620$ for the GTX-680).
So, I am thinking this is the way to go, only this is where I get confused (bear with me…): which products do I combine for the best performance? And what brands are we talking about? I’ve seen Asus and Nvidia manufacturing these cards as well as CPU, RAM etc. People keep telling me it can vary greatly what you choose to combine here (*SCARED*)?? My preferred local hardware provider currently only lists Asus components, but naturally I’d be willing to order someplace else if it’s of essential difference. ..IS IT?
As for all other components in general to go with the GeForce, I have not the faintest clue yet. I will happily take on board any recommendations or experiences you folks can pass along. Of course I’ve also checked the system specs published by ANet, but I know at least as much about building rigs that it takes a little more in-depth knowledge to create a solid setup. Oh, and time is of the essence of course – the sooner I got my shopping list together, the better!
Thanks everybody who can lend a hand with this and for leaving specific responses (with brand/model specs or nr. ideally) a rookie such as myself cannot misunderstand! Much /love in advance and /halp!! ^^
