The 'help me choose hardware to run PA' megathread

well, is this the right spot to give the Dxdiag?

Only if you want to upgrade your hardware.
Just make a new thread.

oh, I'm new to this so...

After 2 months of nightmare with the other supplier I managed to get my money back and order my PC at another supplier. It's here now and guess what's downloading

So I'm looking into building a new computer not exclusively to play PA but its definately something I want to make sure runs well on it. So I went over to PC part picker and went through parts etc... and would like to get some feedback on what I have so far.

Spoiler

CPU: AMD FX-6200 3.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($99.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Prime SD1484 90.3 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver Ceramique 2 Tri-Linear 25g Thermal Paste ($5.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($60.66 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($73.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GT 630 4GB Video Card ($83.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Raidmax ATX-321WB (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($46.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($40.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN781ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($14.50 @ Mwave)
Case Fan: Enermax UCTB12 42.1 CFM 120mm Fan ($7.99 @ Directron)
Total: $529.02
[\spoiler]

Hi, so I see your going for a budget build. I hate to say this as an amd user, but you should probably go with an Intel processor. recent benchmarks put a haswell core i3 ahead of the fx8320 in the majority of workloads and way ahead in games. If you do go amd don't get the 6200 either as that's a bulldozer based part. The 6300 is a newer piledriver based cpu that costs about the same.

Final thought, if you can stretch to it spend more on the Gpu. A gt 630 is real entry level kit, the integrated graphics on a modern Intel cpu will likely keep up with it. If your looking for best value many of the Radeon cards are better. As a minimum look at the r7 250x, or preferably the 260x. Both these cards will mop the floor with a 630 whilst not costing that much.

Thanks for the info. So I looked back, read some more reviews and I switched out the following parts.
AMD FX-4350 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor replaces the AMD FX-6200 3.8GHz 6-Core Processor
ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard replaces the ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 ATX AM3+
Sapphire Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card replaces MSI GeForce GT 630 4GB Video Card

Yeah that should perform much better.

Hi guys, I want to play PA and I'm trying to figure out if I can acceptably get away with what I have.

I have a inspiron 530 and unfortunately it is the socket 775 variant motherboard that does not support quads. So how much hurt will I be feeling with the fastest dual core I can put in here? I can get an E8600 relatively cheaply, about 25 dollars which is just a tad bit cheaper than a new motherboard and CPU. I have 8gb of ram, so that should be no problem most of the time. I will also need to upgrade the video card as I just have some craptastic dx9 card in there now. I'm looking at ATI cards simply because they're so much cheaper, I see people posting 5850's on anandtech for the 35-45 range and I've already seen a 5770 run PA just fine. The cheapest GT 460 I can find is in the 50-60 range.

How's your internet connection? If it's good then you can play all your games online, which removes a lot of the work off your pc. For online play an e8600, 8gb of ram and a hd 5xxx series card should be fine for medium settings. One thing to keep in mind, you may need to upgrade your psu for a higher performance graphics card. Also don't buy second hand for psu. If you need a decent supply for cheap look at the corsair cx range. A cx 500 can be picked up for around 40 quid. Don't be tempted by an unbranded 'oem' supply with a high rating for very little money (eg 750 oem psu, £20) as those things are terrible. Ideally look for a supply with a single high current 12v rail (the cheap supplies will quote 4 x 10A 12v, whereas you really want 1 x 40A to run a stable gpu).

Strangely enough, I already have a pretty decent 550w cpu. My computer is kind of a hodgepodge of finds and trades over time >_> And yeah my internet connection is pretty decent, 30-50 down and a consistent <30ms ping to the closest ookla servers.

I figure if I can save some money, I can then afford to put some money into a small SSD too, which will just be a boon all around for more than just PA.

Thanks for the quick response

In that case I think you'll be fine. For context I run PA fine on my laptop, which is a first gen i5 460m (dual core with HT @2.4ghz), 8gb ram and a lowly GT 420m gpu (about same raw performance as an old HD4670 I had some time ago). By fine, I get a comfortable 40+fps at game start at 1366 x 768 resolution, low settings. Late game it manages to maintain 20fps unless the map is very big- which for PA is perfectly playable (unless you want to take on someone in the top 10 at 1 v 1 at any rate ). I think that a desktop Core 2 duo 8600 should be faster than that, everything else will be just fine.

Out of interest if you did want to build new, your best bet is pick up a cheap Intel motherboard and get your mits on a Haswel (4xxx seriese) Core i3, though that will invariably cost quite a bit more than your thinking.