Build Advice Upgrade Suggestions for BF3

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Leitchy, 5 Nov 2011.

  1. Leitchy

    Leitchy Minimodder

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    Hello all,

    Sold my old PC to a friend who now wish to upgrade it in order to play BF3 a little smoother.

    Currently has:

    Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
    GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
    Asus P5B Deluxe (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
    BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
    Hyper-V 530w

    Basically looking for any 'best bang for the buck' suggestions to at least make the game effortless to run on Low to Medium settings at 720p resolution.

    It's a bit choppy at the moment during open landscape maps and when things get intense.

    Budget would be no more than £150.

    Thank you.
     
    Last edited: 5 Nov 2011
  2. thetrashcanman

    thetrashcanman Angel headed hipsters

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    How much has he got to spend? I'd say stick a quad core, Q6600, should serve him well, and then depending how much he has left to spend either a gtx 550/560/560ti
     
  3. The_Beast

    The_Beast I like wood ಠ_ಠ

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    I'd OC the CPU, get a new GPU and more RAM
     
  4. Bede

    Bede Minimodder

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    Start from scratch, maybe keep the PSU. i3-2100, cheap mobo, 4gb Vengeance RAM, AMD 6870. 775 is a bit rubbish and 2gb RAM is meh.


    Now that I've given you a random cheap build, what is your budget so you can get a more serious response? :p
     
  5. Leitchy

    Leitchy Minimodder

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    Ok,

    So OC CPU seems a good option. Trawling around the review sites this now to see if quad makes a massive difference in BF3.

    Ideally the spend should be <£100 and probably will be scrawling the marketplace on BT for bargains.

    What GPU's do you think I could get second hand to fit within the budget?
     
  6. thetrashcanman

    thetrashcanman Angel headed hipsters

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    I'm pretty sure a quad core is almost a must for BF3, although an i3 2100 with hyperthreading also run's it well, or so I've heard
     
  7. Leitchy

    Leitchy Minimodder

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    By the time I sell the Card and Ram, maybe £50 on ebay.

    So budget would be £150. (Sorry for not stating this in original post)
     
  8. thetrashcanman

    thetrashcanman Angel headed hipsters

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    i'd say sell the CPU as well and whatever you get for it, maybe £20-30, then Q6600 are about £50 second hand, leave's you enough for something like a gtx 460/550, 6870
     
  9. bagman

    bagman Minimodder

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  10. Leitchy

    Leitchy Minimodder

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    Intel board though bagman.

    Thanks Trashcan.
     
  11. bagman

    bagman Minimodder

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    You can't use a i3 2100 on skt 775 intel board, you need skt 1155 intel board.
     
  12. thetrashcanman

    thetrashcanman Angel headed hipsters

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    no problem buddy, happy to help
     
  13. Parge

    Parge the worst Super Moderator

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    Q6600 £50
    GTX 460/6870 £100

    Next.
     
  14. thetrashcanman

    thetrashcanman Angel headed hipsters

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    or NeXT
     
  15. Ratchet219

    Ratchet219 What's a Dremel?

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  16. Leitchy

    Leitchy Minimodder

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    Seems an achievable upgrade.

    Next Question - Would the Hyper V 530w handle this ok? (I'm hoping cards are more power conscious that the 8800GTX was 4/5 years ago now)
     
  17. AoE

    AoE What's a Dremel?

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    is it true you need 64bit to run BF3?
     
  18. Dwarfer

    Dwarfer What's a Dremel?

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    That dual core regardless if over-clocked will bottleneck your BF3 performance. A quad core is a MUST in this game!

    Your gfx card will also be a problem. You should be able to run on low!
     
  19. Fingers66

    Fingers66 Kiwi in London

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  20. Parge

    Parge the worst Super Moderator

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    No. But you do need either Vista or Windows 7
     

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