Computer upgrade for Diablo 3

[ilkka]

Hi!

I built my computer several years ago for HTPC use, but now it's since been moved to general desktop usage. Now with the release of Diablo 3 I'm considering upgrading the computer to try gaming again. I know that my integrated graphics is not up to par, but otherwise I'm not sure. The cpu might be a bit too slow as well.

I am torn between buying a new graphics card or upgrading the whole system to an Intel-based system with integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics. Which route would you recommend?

To the required questions:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Internet, organizing photos, office apps and trying Diablo 3

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
As little as possible but as much as required. If it goes much above 200 euros, then the upgrade will be hard to justify since I'm not sure how much I will actually play Diablo 3.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Finland, so ordering from Finnish or other EU-merchants.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Some, but not probably all, of these: motherboard, cpu, graphics card, memory.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Some of these:
Case: Antec NSK2480
Power supply: 380w Antec Earth Watts 80 plus power supply that came with the case
Motherboard: Asus M2NPV-VM (AM2, integrated geforce 6150, DDR2)
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 5050e
Memory: 2x1GB and 2x512MB DDR2 memory, for a total of 3 GB with no available slots for upgrades.
Hard drives: 750 GB Western Digital Green Power
Others: mouse, keyboard and 1080p monitor.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Don't expect to.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Full HD, 1920*1080.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Next month or so.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
No special needs.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Currently running Windows 8 Release Candidate and will buy it once it arrives.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Dangman]

The CPU will probably hurt you but you're better off just buying a new GPU. The HD 6770 will fit your needs just fine.

 

[bigdogchris]

Keep in mind that Diablo 3 does not require much of a CPU at all. Check out this set of benchmarks by Tom's. The CPU scores across a wide range of models were almost identical. The GPU being used was a GTX 580 @ 1080p, so GPU bound is out of the question. D3 just doesn't need much horsepower.

For your day to day task, your system is just fine. The CPU is likely enough for D3 if you make a couple adjustments to the GPU and memory.

I would just grab a newer GPU, say a AMD 7770, which should run on 1 PCI-E power adapter and a 350 watt power supply (as long as your not running a bunch of fans/hard drives). You could even try stretching it to a 7850 which in theory could run on a 350 watt PSU also, but it would be very close to needing a better PSU.

Also grab 4GB of ram (1x4 or 2x2) matching pairs and install the x64 version of Windows 8.

For under $200 (7770 & memory) you could be playing Diablo 3 on a budget.

 

[Zepher]

I've got Diablo 3 installed on my nephews pc, AMD x3 and gt240 video card.
I'll fire it up and see how it plays.
I gave him a guest pass to play and he likes it.
He is only 4 so if the game stutters he'd probably not understand why and not say anything to me about it.

Edit, game is unplayable to me at 1280x720 with low settings on that pc. Really bad lag.