So my friend wants a new computer for Civilization V

So, as the title says, my friend wants to buy a new computer for when Civ V comes out, and he's asked me to help him find parts for one. Unfortunately, I haven't really been paying much attention to newer stuff, so I'm not quite sure what he should get. Therefore, I've come to ask everyone here ;).

Here are the parts I've selected so far:

Motherboard : ASUS P7H55-M Pro mATX H55 LGA1156 DDR3 PCI-16 PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 HDMI DVI VGA GBLAN Motherboard

Processor: Intel Core i3 530 Dual Core Processor Clarkdale LGA1156 2.93GHZ Hyperthreading 4MB Cache Retail Box

RAM: Corsair CMV4GX3M2A1333C9 4GB DDR3 2X2GB DDR3-1333 CL9 Dual Channel Memory Kit

Now the thing is, he's very intent on not spending more than $ 80 on a video card (which I'm not even sure is possible for playing modern games). I'm guessing what comes integrated into that i3 is probably garbage for games too.

Anyone have any suggestions/comments .etc?

Thanks!

Newegg has a gigabyte 9800GT for $60 after rebate. Link

You can find GT240's and 5670's for that price. Not heavy hitters, but decent enough for low resolutions, lower eye candy.

If you go used you can find some pretty good deals on 4850's, 8800/9800GT's, GTS250's, etc.

Under $100 will still get a pretty powerful GPU.

lol... i think your best bet is to ask him for his budget, and sneak a 5770 in there... maybe flip over to an AMD quad core (which, will completely own an i3 on many levels) and use the money there to sneak in a 5 series card or a 4 series card with it to give him a little more eye candy.

Ya, I was thinking maybe a 9800 GT or something like that. I've been using an 8800 GTS since mid-2007 (probably the most value I've gotten out of any computer component ever), and I've yet to encounter anything it simply cannot play :p. How does a 9800 GT compare with that?

Also my friend says he wants this thing to be potentially upgradable in terms of CPU, so I'm not sure an AMD CPU would be the best route for that.

I would also recommend going AMD for the pricerange it looks like you're looking at. If his budget now is (I'm guessing) ~$800CAD, chances are quite small that he will later want to drop $400 to upgrade the CPU to something crazy. Also, tbh, dropping a top-of-the-line CPU in a sub-$1,000 system is just gonna introduce other bottlenecks.

What is his budget now (if you know)? I'm not familiar with the requirements of Civ V, but any new game I would be very hesitant of running it on an i3.

I would recommend this combination instead:
AMD Athlon II X4 640 : $116
ASRock M3A770DE MBB : $65
Mushkin Blackline 2x2GB DDR3-1600 (7-9-7-24) : $99

While the Althon II x4 640 isn't exactly the most powerful thing in the world, it'll nicely outperform that i3 and later he could upgrade to a Phenom II x4 or x6 if he wants to. Plus, that comes out to $50 lower than the i3 config, so that $50 could be diverted to the GPU instead, upgrading to at least a 5750 ($140), or maybe even a 5770 ($167).

EDIT:
I found the recommended specs (I ignore 'required' specs, as generally if you only meet those, gameplay is useless). I would not want to run that with an i3 if it were my choice.
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/65031

The only thing that I noticed was the OP mobo is mATX while that ASRock board is ATX. I'm assuming it's going in an ATX case and won't be a problem at all, but I thought I'd mention it just in case.

Personally, I can never understand the brand new bare-minimum 'gaming systems' that people put together. Yeah, it boots, but it runs games with minimized graphics at minimum frame-rates. A friend of mine just built a new system and skimped on every component against my advice...my netbook could probably give it a run for it's money.:rolleyes: His incessant complaining about performance and pitiful benchmarks falls on deaf ears now.

I would suggest, if your friend has the money to spend on a new gaming system, that he just wait and save up a bit more money to afford something good. Buying a cheap component now only to replace it soon after is a waste of money when that money could have been allocated towards a superior component in the first place.

-OR-

If he's already got a functional system, simply upgrade it until the 'plunge' (mobo+cpu+ram) needs to be made. I would start with a decent GFX card, assuming his current mobo has a pcie x16 slot. That's how I've kept my desktop performance above average on a budget, and I've never had to drop huge sums at once.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ownaginatious

Also my friend says he wants this thing to be potentially upgradable in terms of CPU, so I'm not sure an AMD CPU would be the best route for that.

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Actually AMD is keeping up with the am2/am3 sockets for a while now they would be the one to look for on upgrading your processor without having to upgrades your motherboard (a BIOS update needs to be added for newer processors but beats buying a new one). The Intel processors keep changing sockets limiting your board to that generation (being i3, i5 and a few i7s). So if he's looking to upgrade on the cheap I'd look at AMD processors for future upgrades.

Hmm, perhaps AMD would be a better option then. There is basically zero chance of upgrading what he's got.

Here are his current specs:

AMD Athlon x64 Socket 939 Single Core at 2.2 GHz
2 GB (667 Mhz I think) RAM.
A8N-SLI standard motherboard
7950 GT video card

Is a 7950 GT still considered good? lol

Perhaps he can reuse that video card.

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to mention. His budget is ~$400 CAD. He already has a case, harddrive, monitor and all that - so he only really needs a CPU, Motherboard, RAM and GPU (if the one above actually sucks :p)

First gen Fusion will drop into AM3 boards. He's MUCH better on upgrades on AMD.