PC upgrade for SC5?

[STAF0S 0]

Sorry if this is off topic. I purchased SimCity the other day and its been great. I built my PC a few years ago and it could use an updating. Id love to run the graphics how they are meant to be displayed. Right now the game is chopping and the detail on buildings is little to none. If anyone could point me in the right direction as to what I need to upgrade as far as hardware it would be appreciated. Here are the current specs on my PC. My graphics card is an Nvidia Verto 8600GS I believe

[STAF0S 0]

sorry my picture didnt upload. Here are some specs:

 

Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

AMD Athlon 64x2 Dual Core Processor 4600+

MSI MS-7325

DDR2

2G RAM

Verto GeForce 8400GS

[fpdlskf 5]

sorry my picture didnt upload. Here are some specs:

 

Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

AMD Athlon 64x2 Dual Core Processor 4600+

MSI MS-7325

DDR2

2G RAM

Verto GeForce 8400GS

 

 

What's your budget?

[jas19illini 2]

I just got a Geforce 650 graphics card and 650W psu and the game runs flawlessly now. I was having the same exact troubles u are before I upgraded last week. Cost about $180.

[tnobles 38]

SC2013 install warned me that although my video card was a newer model, it was too slow. They probably don't know that GeFource has updated the card I have with DDR3 memory. Anyway it works at high settings and I have no problems with it. Newegg is the place to find cards cheap (cost me a whopping $39.00) (and sometimes Amazon). They have a "MSI N630GT-MD4GD3 GeForce GT 630 4GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card" for $80.00, my next card.

 

Here's the specs for system and video card (according to dxdiag);

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130318-1533)
Processor: Intel® Core2 Quad  CPU   Q8200  @ 2.33GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.3GHz
Memory: 12288MB RAM
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 210
Display Memory: 4050 MB
   Dedicated Memory: 978 MB
      Shared Memory: 3071 MB
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

[STAF0S 0]

Thanks guys. My budget would be no more than $300 if I can help it. Having LOTS of trouble running the game tonight

[Catchin22 299]

Honestly your system is old, too old to upgrade it seems. The AM2 socket is severely outdated. Any money you pump into it wont get you far. You're going to be in for a new PSU and a new Graphics card to start, on top of that you need more ram. Because you need a new graphics card that MB is very likely out of date, so there's a new MB and new CPU, new RAM.

 

Here is the cheapest priced system I can spec out for you where I think you wouldn't be wasting any money.

 

EVGA GeForce GTX 650

Corsair Vengeance 8 GB ( 2 x 4 GB ) DDR3 1600 MHz

Intel Desktop Motherboard LGA1155 DDR3 1600 ATX

Intel Core i3-3220 Dual-Core Processor 3.3 Ghz

Cooler Master Elite Power - 460W Power Supply

 

 

Of course you will need a CD rom drive, HDD and Case too. Total cost is around $420. Also, I have an 8800GTS sitting around somewhere doing me no good, it's yours if you want it for $20 plus s/h. It would be compatible with your setup but it is older, and it does suck some juice so you may need to upgrade your PSU anyhow. I may very well have a bunch of ram laying around too I could send for free if you wanted, I would have to check.

[azxcvbnm321 17]

Seems like a solid build for a $300 computer.  What you really need though is a new video card, there are solid video cards for $100.  

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

 

The Radeon 7750, GeForce GTX650 and GeForceGTX 650Ti (for $130) are all solid options.

[STAF0S 0]

thanks for the help everyone, Its hard for me to write back while at work. Ill take a look at the links when I can.

 

I want to maximize the graphics for SimCity and im afraid upgrading my graphics card on my PC wont cut it. I think everything is just a bit too old.

 

Here is a bundle I was looking at over at Newegg. Let me know what you think, and what graphics card would be the best match for this combo. I like the simplicity of combos because it makes life easier for me. lol. If you see another combo that is a better deal or better for my needs please post it.

 

Let me know what you think

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1245724