Ok....advice for PC upgrade?

[Harpospoke]

Sure I'm getting ahead of myself here...but it never hurts to plan.  I can't be the only one.

I've not bothered with updated my PC since CoH shutdown.   It works fine for stuff (like this) I do now.

But I'm pretty sure I'll need to get one that can run CoH "comfortably".   Doesn't have to be top Ultra-mode...but maybe 75% of that would be nice.   No "gaming rig" needed here.   I'm ok with slightly out of date video cards.   I figure if it came out 2 to 3 years ago it should work ok.

Is that possible with a $500-$700 budget?   The last time I did this, I just had it built online and sent to me...got exactly what I wanted without extra fluff I don't use.   I think I got it from PCUSA.

Any advice or tips from those who really know what runs this game best?

[Aggelakis]

The main things with City are video card and RAM. Even budget rigs these days should run City fairly well. Maybe not at Super Max Ultimate Awesome Uber Graphics, but even low/mid video cards these days come moderately close to high end cards when Ultra Mode came out. Or you could get one of the high end cards from Ultra Mode's release for pretty darn cheap these days. RAM is also dirt cheap.

[Harpospoke]

The main things with City are video card and RAM. Even budget rigs these days should run City fairly well. Maybe not at Super Max Ultimate Awesome Uber Graphics, but even low/mid video cards these days come moderately close to high end cards when Ultra Mode came out. Or you could get one of the high end cards from Ultra Mode's release for pretty darn cheap these days. RAM is also dirt cheap.

Thanks.

I went and looked at PCUSA.com and even their cheap rigs are far faster than mine.   I noticed they didn't come with video cards though...so that would add $150+ to the price.

I'm also still using Win XP.   All I seem to hear is horror stories about the newer OS.

[The Fifth Horseman]

You will need Win 7 x64 for reasonably current drivers and the ability to use more than 3.5 GB of RAM. Not recommending Vista or 8, but 7 is fine. (using XP on my laptop, 7 at work and on home desktop)

My current configuration is i3-4130, 8 GB of 1600 mHz CL9 DDR3 RAM and a Radeon HD 7770 on a MSI Z87-G43 motherboard. Runs CoH on Ultra in Full HD smoothly, it takes cranking up anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing several levels in order to make the graphics lag.

The CPU, RAM and mobo are all somewhat overkill for CoH alone, got then at discount prices tho, with in mind for a more thorough upgrade a year or so down the line - hence the higher-end motherboard.

If you're building on a budget, consider retaining some parts from the existing rig. What's your current setup? If your optical drive and hard disk(s) are using SATA interface, they're keepers. Power supply should be decided basing on power and brand (you'll be fine with a 400-450 watt unit, but getting no-name power supplies is a gamble with your hardware at stake). If your current setup uses DDR3-1333 or DDR3-1600 memory, those modules could be kept as well.

I'd say you'd be fine with G3420 or G3240 on a B85 motherboard, 4 GB of DDR3 and a Radeon 5770 or 6770. If you want to keep build costs as low as possible, consider using second hand parts .

[Harpospoke]

You will need Win 7 x64 for reasonably current drivers and the ability to use more than 3.5 GB of RAM. Not recommending Vista or 8, but 7 is fine. (using XP on my laptop, 7 at work and on home desktop)

My current configuration is i3-4130, 8 GB of 1600 mHz CL9 DDR3 RAM and a Radeon HD 7770 on a MSI Z87-G43 motherboard. Runs CoH on Ultra in Full HD smoothly, it takes cranking up anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing several levels in order to make the graphics lag.

The CPU, RAM and mobo are all somewhat overkill for CoH alone, got then at discount prices tho, with in mind for a more thorough upgrade a year or so down the line - hence the higher-end motherboard.

If you're building on a budget, consider retaining some parts from the existing rig. What's your current setup? If your optical drive and hard disk(s) are using SATA interface, they're keepers. Power supply should be decided basing on power and brand (you'll be fine with a 400-450 watt unit, but getting no-name power supplies is a gamble with your hardware at stake). If your current setup uses DDR3-1333 or DDR3-1600 memory, those modules could be kept as well.

I'd say you'd be fine with G3420 or G3240 on a B85 motherboard, 4 GB of DDR3 and a Radeon 5770 or 6770. If you want to keep build costs as low as possible, consider using second hand parts .

Good info.  Thanks!   Especially did not know about the need to move on from Win XP.  (I may miss that the most)

[HEATSTROKE]

 Can I make a suggestion.. build it yourself if possible.. This PC I am on now was my first build.. I got PLENTY of help from Father Xmas and Hyperstrike and others on the official forums.. The build ran be about 1200-1300 dollars ( and you CAN build cheaper than that ) but if I were to try abd buy this build it would be at least 400-600 more (of course that was last years prices)..

I didnt think I could build my own PC.. but I did.. watched the great videos on New Egg..and the best thing about it.. I built it.. I know how it works.. I know whats in it is my config.... If I need too I can add a video card.. an extra hard drive.. etc etc..

Look into building it yourself.. you might get a better rig for the same price you want to spend..

[Harpospoke]

Can I make a suggestion.. build it yourself if possible.. This PC I am on now was my first build.. I got PLENTY of help from Father Xmas and Hyperstrike and others on the official forums.. The build ran be about 1200-1300 dollars ( and you CAN build cheaper than that ) but if I were to try abd buy this build it would be at least 400-600 more (of course that was last years prices)..

I didnt think I could build my own PC.. but I did.. watched the great videos on New Egg..and the best thing about it.. I built it.. I know how it works.. I know whats in it is my config.... If I need too I can add a video card.. an extra hard drive.. etc etc..

Look into building it yourself.. you might get a better rig for the same price you want to spend..

I was actually thinking about that.

I've done it before.  I built a rig for Pro Tools (music recording).   That program is REALLY picky about running on certain things so you pretty much have to put it together yourself.

You're right...I didn't think I could do it.   But I just ordered everything, then got online and followed advice and YT videos....fired it up and it worked!    ;D

[LadyVamp]

I'm still running my rig from the final days of coh.

Basic business desktop: hp pavillion with an amd 840T
Ram:  16GB
Video: evga nvidia 560 Ti
All I had to do was swap the video cards and install a bigger power supply.  That rig ran all settings in ultra mode.  It run gw2 today in the highest settings.  not real issues.

I ran 2 copies of the game at the same time.  Both windowed.  On separate displays driven by one video card.  Also ran, wmp for music, firefox for browsing, notepad for notes, excel for my toon info, pidgen for IMing, ventrillo for chatting and sometimes other apps as well.

[microc]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1419269
all need is the os and another stick of ram most good gaming rigs have 8g of ram.

[microc]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QnLJgs
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QnLJgs/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.97 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus H97M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($98.24 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $496.16
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

[Microcosm]

Coh really didn't need much to run well. But if you are going to build something new and trying  to save a little money, I might recommend going with AMD. Intel may be better at max, but the performance increase you get for the increase in cost is not worth it IMO. I just built a super nice rig for about 1000 (took a few parts from a dead comp), by saving money on things that don't matter as much (like the case). You can definitely build a very nice machine for the price range you listed, just be willing to wait for certain components to go on sale--kind of like the in game market  8).  Newegg seems to rotate some of its sales, so keep an eye out and be patient.

Save money on storage, try a hybrid approach: small ssd for operating system and some programs, bigger hdd for general storage. This can save you some money and still get great performance.
Save money on the case, get what you need and skip the fancy stuff.
Save money by waiting for deals on ram, ssd, and graphics card.
IMO, not a good idea to skimp on motherboard or power supply.

The hardest part is not going "EW SHINEY!!!" and buying things you don't need, like that blue ray writer that copies a movie in 0.5 seconds  ;)

[The Fifth Horseman]

Good info.  Thanks!   Especially did not know about the need to move on from Win XP.  (I may miss that the most)

XP isn't supported any more since a few months ago. Kinda limits our options.

I was actually thinking about that.

You're right...I didn't think I could do it.   But I just ordered everything, then got online and followed advice and YT videos....fired it up and it worked!    ;D

It's also a matter of doing some research first. Took me a month to decide on everything, but I'm quite satisfied with what I got for the money I paid. :)

[Harpospoke]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QnLJgs
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QnLJgs/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.97 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus H97M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($98.24 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $496.16
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Very cool.   

Save money on storage, try a hybrid approach: small ssd for operating system and some programs, bigger hdd for general storage. This can save you some money and still get great performance.
Save money on the case, get what you need and skip the fancy stuff.
Save money by waiting for deals on ram, ssd, and graphics card.
IMO, not a good idea to skimp on motherboard or power supply.

The hardest part is not going "EW SHINEY!!!" and buying things you don't need, like that blue ray writer that copies a movie in 0.5 seconds  ;)

I do tend to get the boring looking cases...but I'll admit some of them look really really cool   :-X

And that two HD option is what is used with my Pro Tools rig....so that's a good idea in general I guess?   

XP isn't supported any more since a few months ago. Kinda limits our options.

Yeah...I noticed the support ran out.   

I guess the consensus is that Win 7 isn't so bad?   My gf hates hates hates Win 8...curses a lot. 

[The Fifth Horseman]

IIRC the price of a G3258 with the cooler would near or exceed an i3-4130. YMMV on what's better.
I'd recommend a 2x4GB memory kit, to take advantage of the small performance boost you get in dual channel. 1866 mHz isn't worth it IMO, see http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell/7 - differences are within at most 5%, unless you're using integrated graphics.

Very cool.   I do tend to get the boring looking cases...but I'll admit some of them look really really cool   :-X

This is what I've picked for my current PC: http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/chassis/comrade/
Boring, practical and with style that has exactly no "LOOK AT ME" attention grabbing.

I guess the consensus is that Win 7 isn't so bad?   My gf hates hates hates Win 8...curses a lot.

8.1 might be good, but I haven't had any experience to confirm or deny.

[HEATSTROKE]

 Here are my simple thoughts..

  Get a case that will allow you to expand and maintain good airflow. I like Corsair cases. Maybe sure the cause will allow you to expand in the future should you want to add another video card.

  Definitely do a SSD and HD.. I have Windows 7 ( didnt want 8 ) loaded on my SSD and use my 1TB drive for storage.

  DO NOT skimp on the Power Supply.. get a good reliable one and possible buy a little more than you might need ( so you have room to expand )

  Get a good xpu cooler.. My old PC had terrible airflow and the thing always ran hot.. My normal Saturday session could run for 6-8 hours straight...

[Fridgy Daiere]

I'd say you'd be fine with G3420 or G3240 on a B85 motherboard, 4 GB of DDR3 and a Radeon 5770 or 6770. If you want to keep build costs as low as possible, consider using second hand parts .

From experience, the 5770 with 4GB RAM gets laggy during raids, GM fights, and in iTrials unless you take the graphics down to 'Performance' levels.  Granted, this was also with DDR2 memory.  For everything else, you could run in low-med Ultra Mode.

Edit: This was also with a dual-core 3.0 GHz processor and Win 7 64 bit.

[Harpospoke]

Awesome info here.   I'll admit I don't fully understand some of it, but it gives me something to build on.

Now...here's hoping I need to use this info.   :)    The minute I hear "We're back!", I'm starting the new rig.

[Fridgy Daiere]

  Get a case that will allow you to expand and maintain good airflow. I like Corsair cases. Maybe sure the cause will allow you to expand in the future should you want to add another video card.

If you ever even think you might want to add a second video card, microATX is probably not the best way to go; the second PCI express slot (where included) only runs at x4 IIRC.  Price/performance might suffer there.

[The Fifth Horseman]

If you ever even think you might want to add a second video card, microATX is probably not the best way to go; the second PCI express slot (where included) only runs at x4 IIRC.  Price/performance might suffer there.

The bandwidth thing is also true for full ATX mobos - Z87 IIRC can do x8 on two slots simultaneously. Anything more simply isn't available within the $500 to $700 budget - the motherboards required for it cost $200 by themselves.
It's more practical to have one more powerful GPU than two weaker ones anyway, considering power use and cooling.

From experience, the 5770 with 4GB RAM gets laggy during raids, GM fights, and in iTrials unless you take the graphics down to 'Performance' levels.  Granted, this was also with DDR2 memory.  For everything else, you could run in low-med Ultra Mode.

Edit: This was also with a dual-core 3.0 GHz processor and Win 7 64 bit.

Reasonably sure that has to do with the GPU.
As far as CPU, I'm not sure the game ever received support for anything beyond dual core - and it was not too CPU-heavy either, IIRC it ran fairly comfortably on Core 2 Duo T7600 @2.2 gHz. From personal experience, the RAM also wouldn't be much of an issue.

[Fridgy Daiere]

The bandwidth thing is also true for full ATX mobos - Z87 IIRC can do x8 on two slots simultaneously. Anything more simply isn't available within the $500 to $700 budget - the motherboards required for it cost $200 by themselves.
It's more practical to have one more powerful GPU than two weaker ones anyway, considering power use and cooling.
Reasonably sure that has to do with the GPU.

Thanks for clarifying!  I'm dealing with this as well since Happ is working some madd OT and wanting a new rig.  His "budget" (and I use the term loosely here!) is ~$1000.  The build as it sits now is here:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/FPMZ99

Any suggestions are welcome!