Is it worth upgrading my PC, or should I get into consoles?

[TheNiceGuy]

Hi all
I used to play quite a bit of games, but for a few years now I just play one, the online BattleField series. I'm not interested in playing more games, I'm happy with a full BF server, thats it. Simple.
My current PC (in my sig), is getting a bit old, and one of the RAM dimms died recently. Also, full BFBC2 servers within reasonable ping range (I'm in Japan) are few and far between now.
My current PC is fine for everything I do, except the BF game. So I figure I have two options:
1) upgrade my current PC enough to play BF3 reasonably well. I don'y need top-end perforfance, just resonably playable. I want to reuse as much hardware as possible. And I imagine decent performance on my small monitor is not that hard to accomplish.
2) Try an online console.

I think option #1 is best, as I am used to it, and a PC can be used for other stuff. I haven't played console games in a LONG time, so not sure what I'm missing, thus the question. But as for gaming, its gotta be online as I find it superior to play with real people.

So as for upgrading.... please keep in mind that its usualy best to shop within Japan for me due to shipping issues - unless you know of a better source.
There is a discount online site in Japan called "Kakaku" from which I ordered parts and built my last 2 PCs. I also want to get W7, which will require a new license I'm afraid (my current OS is non-upgradeable). The program alone is about $250, so I thought of buying a prefabbed Lenovo desktop unit like this which has W7 included for about $550. Seems much cheaper than any parts build I can do:
http://kakaku.com/item/K0000308475/spec/#tab
I don't know the MB with that, but it has an i5, and 4gb RAM (only 2 lots on MB, max 8gb), W7 of course, 500gb HDD, etc. "HD intel graphics" which I assume is nogood, so add on a SAPPHIRE HD6850 1G GDDR5 GPU for about $150.
http://kakaku.com/item/K0000161695/spec/#tab

So all in for total upgrade is about $700.

Will that play BF3 OK? Is there a better upgrade path for me?
Thanks for your help.

 

[AFurryReptile]

You may not realize, but the console versions of BF3 are extremely stripped-down. They can only host HALF the amount of players the PC versions can.

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Thanks for the heads up. Sounds like PC is the way to go.

 

[exar333]

If you have a MC nearby, you could get a great gaming PC for not much $$$.

i3-2100 + cheap H67 MB ~$120
8 GB DDR3 ~$40
AMD 6870 ~$140AR

Thats only $300 and would be a great system, along with your existing PSU + HDDS to build on later. Don't forget you could sell your existing DDR2, CPU, and MB for >$100 and end-up with a net cost of only ~$200 (or less).

It's a great time to build a budget system.

 

[tokie]

If you have a MC nearby, you could get a great gaming PC for not much $$$.

i3-2100 + cheap H67 MB ~$120
8 GB DDR3 ~$40
AMD 6870 ~$140AR

Thats only $300 and would be a great system, along with your existing PSU + HDDS to build on later. Don't forget you could sell your existing DDR2, CPU, and MB for >$100 and end-up with a net cost of only ~$200 (or less).

It's a great time to build a budget system.

Why do people keep talking about MC? Do you not realize how few of us actually live in the northern US?

The OP even mentioned that he is in Japan and you ignored it.

OP: I am thinking of ditching PCs as well. I think I may wait or the next generation of consoles though (2013).

 

[CPA]

I have a PS3, haven't touched it in over a year. Gaming on the PC is just better right now.

 

[CPA]

Why do people keep talking about MC? Do you not realize how few of us actually live in the northern US?

The OP even mentioned that he is in Japan and you ignored it.

OP: I am thinking of ditching PCs as well. I think I may wait or the next generation of consoles though (2013).

there's an MC in Houston. They're not just up north.

 

[mindcycle]

I'd start with more ram and a graphics card upgrade. You're CPU is going to be a bit of a bottle neck, but something like a 6770 or even a 6750 would be a decent upgrade. Don't expect to max out BF3 unless you also upgrade your CPU, but I would imagine it would play just fine at a lower resolution and some setting lowered with the above mentioned upgrades.

There's a new generation of consoles coming out within the next few years so I wouldn't bother going that route unless you prefer using a controller for FPS games for whatever reason. To me there is no comparison between a decent PC with m/kb control and a console when it comes to FPS games.

 

[veri745]

there's an MC in Houston. They're not just up north.

OP is in Japan...

 

[mindcycle]

So as for upgrading.... please keep in mind that its usualy best to shop within Japan for me due to shipping issues - unless you know of a better source.
There is a discount online site in Japan called "Kakaku" from which I ordered parts and built my last 2 PCs. I also want to get W7, which will require a new license I'm afraid (my current OS is non-upgradeable). The program alone is about $250, so I thought of buying a prefabbed Lenovo desktop unit like this which has W7 included for about $550. Seems much cheaper than any parts build I can do:
http://kakaku.com/item/K0000308475/spec/#tab
I don't know the MB with that, but it has an i5, and 4gb RAM (only 2 lots on MB, max 8gb), W7 of course, 500gb HDD, etc. "HD intel graphics" which I assume is nogood, so add on a SAPPHIRE HD6850 1G GDDR5 GPU for about $150.
http://kakaku.com/item/K0000161695/spec/#tab

So all in for total upgrade is about $700.

Will that play BF3 OK? Is there a better upgrade path for me?
Thanks for your help.

That looks pretty good to me. With an i5 and a 6850 you're looking at being able to run BF3 at high quality settings at over 30 fps average most likely. I'm not sure how much system ram will come into play but if you can up that 4GB to 8GB you'll probably be better off in the long run. Especially with W7. Ram is cheap so i'd at least see if that's an option.

Here's a decent article where you can compare some benchmarks for BF3 with various video card configs.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,3063.html

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Thanks for the comments fellas.
As I mentioned, I'm looking for a cheap upgrade. I'm just not that into PCs anymore. Something to play BF3 reasonably.
IIUC, W7 is not that big of a difference from my current Vista 64, at least for my goals? I could reuse my Vista64. If so, then I did some number crunching on that site I linked earlier. Not sure if this is a good combo, I just based it on price and availability on that site. All in for 36,000 yen, thats about $420.
HD6850 - 12000yen
i5 2500k - 17000yen
biostar H61 MGC - 4000yen
cheapy DDR3 PC3-10600 4gbx2=8gb RAM - 3000yen

That sounds like a reasonable price to me. Assuming it all works well together.
What do you think?

BTW, prices are usualy jacked in Japan across the board for everything, except maybe tofu, alcohol, and cigarettes. I assume there is no "buy direct" from china type discounts going on currently in the PC world due to copyright issues? I ask because I was very surprised to find huge discounts on radio controlled vehicle gear (my other hobby) if you buy direct form many companys in china such as HobbyKing, as opposed to a local dealer.

 

[janas19]

I think you should buy a console.

 

[RoboChobo]

If BF3 is your game of choice then its gotta be PC. With a good audio system and mid to high range computers, you won't be disappointed. If I were you, I would save up more cash then upgrade but with $700 already available, you can already build a pretty good budget rig.

Right now I've been playing, Battlefield 3, you can't imagine how chaotic it is on a 32 vs 32 map & how much fun it is, even thought I am getting owned left and right.

 

[mindcycle]

IIUC, W7 is not that big of a difference from my current Vista 64, at least for my goals? I could reuse my Vista64.

Get away from Vista if you can. Horrible OS.. W7 is a lot nicer.

 

[Red Hawk]

o as for upgrading.... please keep in mind that its usualy best to shop within Japan for me due to shipping issues - unless you know of a better source.
There is a discount online site in Japan called "Kakaku" from which I ordered parts and built my last 2 PCs. I also want to get W7, which will require a new license I'm afraid (my current OS is non-upgradeable). The program alone is about $250, so I thought of buying a prefabbed Lenovo desktop unit like this which has W7 included for about $550. Seems much cheaper than any parts build I can do:
http://kakaku.com/item/K0000308475/spec/#tab
I don't know the MB with that, but it has an i5, and 4gb RAM (only 2 lots on MB, max 8gb), W7 of course, 500gb HDD, etc. "HD intel graphics" which I assume is nogood, so add on a SAPPHIRE HD6850 1G GDDR5 GPU for about $150.
http://kakaku.com/item/K0000161695/spec/#tab

So all in for total upgrade is about $700.

Will that play BF3 OK? Is there a better upgrade path for me?
Thanks for your help.

Just a note -- you can get a Windows 7 OEM version for around $100 than the full version. You won't be able to transfer it to other PCs (it's tied to your motherboard, I think) but it's a good deal less expensive.

 

[janas19]

If BF3 is your game of choice then its gotta be PC. With a good audio system and mid to high range computers, you won't be disappointed. If I were you, I would save up more cash then upgrade but with $700 already available, you can already build a pretty good budget rig.

Right now I've been playing, Battlefield 3, you can't imagine how chaotic it is on a 32 vs 32 map & how much fun it is, even thought I am getting owned left and right.

Q: Would you plop down the cash on a new PC just for BF3? If games is what OP wants, a PS3 has far more.

 

[Wyndru]

Get away from Vista if you can. Horrible OS.. W7 is a lot nicer.

Vista works fine for me, even with the same games that I run on my Windows 7 box. People forget that Windows 7 (v 6.1) is built on Vista (v 6) just with a bunch of GUI changes. Stability wise they are the same (since Vista's service packs that is). All of the bad press that it got before the service packs destroyed it's image in the common public though.

While I prefer 7 over Vista because of the GUI changes, I wouldn't call Vista a horrible OS, even for gaming. If you don't have the money for an OS upgrade I'd give Vista a shot, I've never had any issues with gaming on it.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Vista works fine for me, even with the same games that I run on my Windows 7 box. People forget that Windows 7 (v 6.1) is built on Vista (v 6) just with a bunch of GUI changes. Stability wise they are the same (since Vista's service packs that is). All of the bad press that it got before the service packs destroyed it's image in the common public though.

While I prefer 7 over Vista because of the GUI changes, I wouldn't call Vista a horrible OS, even for gaming. If you don't have the money for an OS upgrade I'd give Vista a shot, I've never had any issues with gaming on it.

I use vista at home and win7 at work. Vista seems fine to me too. Maybe slightly prefer win7,but sure would not pay money to upgrade

 

[mindcycle]

While I prefer 7 over Vista because of the GUI changes, I wouldn't call Vista a horrible OS, even for gaming. If you don't have the money for an OS upgrade I'd give Vista a shot, I've never had any issues with gaming on it.

You're right. Performance wise there isn't too much of a difference. I prefer 7 over Vista mainly because of the GUI changes, like you. I still absolutely hate Vista though.. It just seems really clunky and unintuitive to me. But then again, I use a Mac with OSX 10.6 as my main work computer, which is far superior to anything Microsoft could possibly come up with IMO. To bad gaming on OSX completely sucks..

 

[imaheadcase]

If you are just into bf3. Get a console.

Its seriously not worth upgrading a PC for one game.

Since you want a cheap upgrade path. It would be different story if you did not care cost but want best system for bf3.

 

[thespyder]

If you are still considering a console, one thing I can comment on from my own experiences. Targeting with controller is no where near as precise as with keyboard and mouse. And most consoles don't have gradiant adjustments to compensate for a lot of games. I haven't played BF3 so I don't know if it is like that with that game. But something you may want to check out before making any decisions.

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

OP is in Japan...

Houston, Japan!

Seriously tho, if it's noticeably more expensive, I would go the console route. PC gaming can be/is cheap in the states, so a lot of us take it for granted, but console gaming is a lot of fun too.

Even Battlefield 3 is fine on consoles, yes, the number of players in a match is but in half, but DICE cuts down the size of the maps on consoles to keep the players closer to each other as well, so it evens out in its own way.

 

[Zenoth]

Even if you don't do much gaming in general I think that the PC platform is still viable and affordable, there's plenty of reasons to not "leave" the platform behind definitively in favor for going exclusively with a console (or more than one). On the other hand, the current generation of consoles is old, and also affordable because of that. To be honest I believe that PC gaming as a whole is more accessible via affordability since the past couple of years than ever before.

In your case, TheNiceGuy, if you're happy with a full server for whichever game is concerned, then sure, stay with that one. But if your PC has technical issues or cannot run it as smooth as you'd like to, then the point from what I believe is that the amount of money you'll spend to "fix" or "upgrade" your PC "just enough" so that you reach the game-play quality that you seek, or one that is "sufficient" wouldn't be high. In fact I guess that buying a completely new console could end up being more expensive than just buying new PC memory sticks, or something similarly simple (not a full PC upgrade of course, that's different).

In the end, ultimately, having both a gaming-capable PC (not necessarily top of the line, but something that gets the job done) and perhaps one of the three current generation consoles would be best. If there are financial reasons that would restrict your PC gaming experience so much as to practically "force" you to consider console gaming exclusively then I guess there's not much to do in such a situation, but then again I firmly believe that "decent" PC gaming and console(s) are of similar pricing after a while, since they (PC platform and consoles) have been tightly linked together since the past few years.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I really don't think it should ever be an "either/or" situation. There's good/bad sides to all of it. If all you are interested in is BF3, pretty much it's a waste of money no matter which route you go.

 

[Childs]

You could probably get away with a 460 1GB/68xx and another 2GB of RAM. Especially at your monitor resolution. If you play BF enough, it would even be worth a new PC. I mean, if you spend enough time doing something, you might as well spend the money required to do it well. And if you're a long time PC gamer and never really played consoles, aiming with the controller will never feel right.