Perfect PC for running Garry's Mod?

[dummyok2]

I'm looking for something that can run Garry's Mod on settings as high as possible. I like to use it for taking pics. Visuals are most important and I only need enough fps to be able to work on what I'm doing in peace. And seeing the system requirements, I think it shouldn't need much!

I'm looking at these:
Windows 8.1 Bing
AMD Dual Core A4-4020 3.2Ghz
AMD Radeon HD 7480D 2GB
4GB RAM

Windows 8.1 64bit
Intel Celeron Quad Core J1900 2Ghz
AMDRadeon R5 235 1GB
4GB RAM

I heard those are not gaming cards, but they should be more than enough for Garry's Mod. And I bet Garry's Mod also doesn't make use of multiple cores, so I'm especially having my eye on the dual core one. I currently have a single core Intel Celeron 2.60Ghz, with Radeon HD3450 512MB and 2GB RAM. So I thought anything is a major improvement at this point. Even the current PC can run Garry's Mod pretty well mostly...on High settings, except for Shadows, which I haven't considered important. But with things like Depth of Field on, it becomes almost unplayable. There's also this graphics mod called Life Mod A Realistic Post-Processing Effects Modification-something and most of it's advanced tabs are locked on my current PC. I'm expecting the new PC to remove these problems. My current PC is already making it look like not that much is needed for an improvement. So...thoughts? Focus is on Garry's Mod. Other than that, I don't use a PC for gaming much.

 

[Archgaull]

What is your budget, and what country are you in? Also, I assume you don't need a monitor/keyboard and mouse, just the OS and PC itself?

 

[dummyok2]

What is your budget, and what country are you in? Also, I assume you don't need a monitor/keyboard and mouse, just the OS and PC itself?

1st, I'm interested in knowing how these PCs would handle an old game like Garry's Mod and the Source engine in general(that's all I need, by the way...I have a very specific requirement for a cheap, temporary PC). Anyone with experience or any experts around?

I'm not interested in building a PC, just looking to get something temporary that's better than my current PC. I live in Estonia. I'm going to say my budget is €300, since that is what both of those PCs cost. I'm already eyeing an €800 PC for later. Honestly, I'd like my original post as a primary focus. I know everyone on the internet is usually eager to help a newbie just build a PC right away But I'm just eager to get a quick temporary PC from the store that's better than my current PC. And these 2 are very nice and easy to get my hands on from my favorite electronics store. I would just like someone with experience or some experts to tell me how good these would be for what I'm mainly upgrading for. I have no desire to play modern games on PC or anything like that. I do that on other systems. Most of the things I'd be using the new PC for would be 5+ years old.

Oh, and I am looking for a new monitor as well eventually(perhaps soon) for being able to squeeze out those higher resolutions for Garry's Mod, which would be nice for pictures, I think. And well, the PCs I mentioned would come with extra keyboards and mouse.

 

[Archgaull]

Well, the option is always to do it super cheap right away, but if you get it on the correct platform, then you have the option to upgrade in the future. For example, a Pentium G3258 and ASRock H81M-DGS are only €118, would run Garrys Mod with little trouble, and at the same time allows you to upgrade to a Core i5 processor in the future, without changing motherboards.

However, between those two computers above, I would choose the second option. The graphics card is slightly better, and the quad core processor will help as well.

 

[dummyok2]

Well, the option is always to do it super cheap right away, but if you get it on the correct platform, then you have the option to upgrade in the future. For example, a Pentium G3258 and ASRock H81M-DGS are only €118, would run Garrys Mod with little trouble, and at the same time allows you to upgrade to a Core i5 processor in the future, without changing motherboards.

However, between those two computers above, I would choose the second option. The graphics card is slightly better, and the quad core processor will help as well.

That does sound like a good idea. Well, I would like to get one of the PCs mentioned right now, but I'd keep the old one for upgrading. Ready to replace as much as necessary. Might come here to ask for recommendations regarding that! But getting stuff together for an upgrade might take time and I'm looking to get that new PC as soon as possible. That's one of the reasons I wanted to get a quick pre-built.

Ah, yes, the quad core has been recommended before. But I'm just afraid of the fact that Garry's Mod may use only one core and then perform worse than the dual core would. And the graphics card seems to have less VRAM than the 1st option. Or does that not matter/am I looking at it wrong?

 

[Archgaull]

It does have less VRAM, however, while that is usually a good indicator, it's not always the case.

 

[Flash101]

Garry's mod isn't a particularly demanding game. I could run it at almost full settings on my old laptop which had Intel Integrated HD Graphics.

However, it sort of depends on the server. I used to own a server community and I realised that most of the gameplay you'll get from garrys mod will be third party.

A server owner could load their server with highly demanding scripts/graphics and your settings won't make much difference.

Having said that, any average power PC should be fine running gmod at full settings so long as you're not trying to run it in 4k across 3 different monitors haha!

But if you're upgrading your PC then I suggest making it as powerful as you can budget for because other games require a lot more than gmod and if you're spending money you might as well get something you won't regret a year or so down the line.