My first "Gaming" Desktop

[McKay]

I've bought an entry level desktop and I was wondering what kind of performance I can expect running modern games at 1920x1080.

I've been a console gamer since 95 and while I've always had a PC, its never really been one truly capable of playing games properly.

The desktop currently has

Intel? Core? i7-3770 3.4Ghz

6GB of RAM

2GB AMD RADEON HD 7770

[123456789A]

I would get a 3770K and up those graphics to a Titan, even if it means going into debt.

[McKay]

Lol I will upgrade it in the future, this is my "bare bones" set up. From what I understand the video card is a bit weak, its why I'm wondering how well the system as a whole will fair. Isn't the Titan for people will multiple monitor setups? I mean surely that much memory isn't going to help otherwise?

[tsupersonic]

You mentioned that you bought it - just to clarify did you build it or buy a pre-built desktop from Asus, Dell, etc.? You'll want to be careful if you bought it pre-built, as these systems generally come with weaker PSU's. Just make sure your build it up to spec. before upgrading.

[McKay]

You mentioned that you bought it - just to clarify did you build it or buy a pre-built desktop from Asus, Dell, etc.? You'll want to be careful if you bought it pre-built, as these systems generally come with weaker PSU's. Just make sure your build it up to spec. before upgrading.

It's a pre-assembled build (an old one I think), it mentions a 600W PSU

Here is a compete list of specs

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c03542305〈=en&cc=us&taskId=101&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=5295991

[tsupersonic]

If it has a Core i7 3770, it's fairly new, less than a year old...A 600 W PSU is good and all, but there are no technical specs on that site that indicate what kind of load you can put on the 12v rail(s). If it was a decent brand PSU, then you could upgrade to a nice video card, but only way you can tell is if you look at the specs of the PSU (should be on the PSU itself)

[Beyond Godlike]

Depends what ur playing. I gaming laptop is about that speed and it works well.

[McKay]

It's gong to arrive on Tuesday so I'll have a look, what's the odds of being able to rip the PSU out and put a new one in?

[Luc2k]

It's gong to arrive on Tuesday so I'll have a look, what's the odds of being able to rip the PSU out and put a new one in?

Unfortunately, it's likely that the system has a warranty for the whole thing and therefore sealed. But if that will not be the case then a new PSU shouldn't be too hard to install as long as you plug everything in its proper place.

[SadJoker]

With another 2GB of RAM and a decent video card, you can expect to play modern games at 1920x1080 with max or high settings.

If you need to, switching out a PSU isn't that hard at all. Just mark or take pictures of what you unplug.

Regarding the warranty, you'll have to look up if upgrading/switching parts will void it.

[PsYcHoKiLLa]

It's got nice specs, to be honest, I would've gone for an Nvidia card or even buy an additional cheaper Nvidia card. A lot of games now use PhysX which can run on your CPU but would be better run on an Nvidia card.

Here's a nice site which will let you know exactly what power of PSU you'll need/want :

http://extreme.outer...culatorlite.jsp

Replacing the PSU is quite easy as long as it's a roomy case, some cases might limit your access to the PSU, making it impossible to remove without removing/replacing coolers, etc. Have a look inside the case and see if you'll have enough room to remove the PSU before you actually do. The plugs for all the different component from the PSU are all universal so a new PSU should be fine.

[Davo]

I have a pre-built OEM HP PC and the only thing I can stress about upgrading it is that space is tight. I put in a bunch of new parts and I had to do a lot of creative thinking in how to make sure everything worked.

[Alwaysonacoffebreak]

First, OEM PC's usually have the crappiest PSU's, no matter what wattage it says on it, most of them will just fry under stress so I'd suggest you to switch that for a decent one.

Secondly like the person above me said the room in the OEM PC box is tight, really tight so you need to get a bit creative fitting new stuff in it.

If it doesn't get out of your budget I'd suggest switching you graphics card to an 79xx series or at least 78xx one (Or what ever Nvidia has in that range). The CPU itself is good enough but if you plan to overclock switch to an K-series one, if not keep the current one. Also stick a couple of more gigs of ram in there and you're good to go.

[McKay]

So nobody knows what kind of fps I can expect? I didn't buy it to get ludicrously high fps at ultra settings, if i did i would have bought one with those kind of specs in the first place. I didn't buy it for that. I'm happy with 30+ FPS at medium/high settings.

[YounGMessiah]

Well you would have to google more so the games and the gpu for revieiws.

I would suggest getting a GTX 680 or 690

[McKay]

Well you would have to google more so the games and the gpu for revieiws.

I would suggest getting a GTX 680 or 690

I've tried googling it however it always seems to be with the 1GB model and either never mentions the CPU or it isn't the same CPU as mine.

[YounGMessiah]

Pretend your cpu is something else like the K version or a 3570.

[tsupersonic]

What games are you playing exactly? There are reviews out there with similar systems, it's a good reference point. You should've gone another path if you wanted performance - buying prebuilt isn't the way to go. It's usually more expensive, and you don't get what you want necessarily. Also, you'd see better performance if you weren't pushing 1920x1080, that card wasn't designed to push games at the highest resolution/details at 1080p.

[McKay]

I've told everyone I didn't buy it to run them all at ultra settings. I said I'm happy with a mixture of medium/high at around 30Fps, games like Sky rim, Borderlands, Mass Effect 3, ARMA 2/3. I didn't buy it for performance, I bought it to be "adequate"my laptops 5650M manages to run these games at 720 on medium settings, some even at 1080 and still maintain 30-40 FPS. I figured a desktop 7770 would spank a mobile 5650 yet from what the impression I'm getting here is it won't even run solitaire.

I can't be bothered to build my own desktop from scratch, I don't have the patience, no matter how many people point out how easy or cheap it is. I have plenty of disposable income and don't mind paying for the convenience. I would compare it so someone saying I'd save money killing and gutting a pig myself, in still just going to buy ready prepared bacon from the butcher.

[YounGMessiah]

Well you've answered all your questions and all supplemental info is on Google.. Just pretend your cpu is something else, I tried to give you ones in the range.

[+PeterUK MVC]

Not all games run fine at 30Fps with the way game engines run a given game but if you don't want high/ultra settings on the really newer gamers then it should be fine for what you want @ 1,920 x 1,080.

[McKay]

Will it being the 2GB model help much over the 1GB model? 90% of the videos I've found were the 1GB version.

[YounGMessiah]

Your GPU is suffice I looked.

[vcfan]

dude,your GPU is fine. you'll be able to hit 30fps on high in 1080p on most games. Some games you may have to go to medium,but the visual difference is nothing major. Your CPU is also boss. I wouldn't spend money on anything right now.Maybe in the future when games start pushing your card,you'll be able to get like a 7950 for cheap,and even then,that card will play all those newer games no problem.