Tribes Ascend Rig

[dauntlessds]

Please spare me your opinions of the game... I hear it from everybody all the time. I know it's in BETA and that means nothing is final but as it stands the System Requirements for this game are as follows:

Minimum requirements
OS: Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista or Windows 7
Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Althon X2 2.7 GHz
RAM: 2GB (XP), 3GB (Vista, Win7)
Graphic card: ATI or Nvidia graphics card with 512MB video ram or better and Shader Model 3.0+ support. (ATI Radeon 3870 or higher, Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT or higher).
Sound card: DirectX compatible sound card
Hard drive: 10 GB free

Recommended system requirements
OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
RAM: 4GB
Graphics card: ATI or Nvidia graphics card with 1GB video ram or better and Shader Model 3.0+ support (Nvidia GeForce GTX 560+ or ATI Radeon 6950+).
Sound card: DirectX compatible sound card
Hard drive: 10 GB free

Source:http://hi-rez.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/269/kw/tribes%20specs/sno/1

How does this apply to all of you? I need your help on building a rig that can support this game as CLOSE to recommended as possible. My wife loves this game and I would love to make this a possibility for her as her Dell Dimension XPS Gen 2 cannot in any way support this game. It comes so close but finding a compatible graphic card has been hard and the last card gave her barely 30 FPS at severely tweaked settings in the config file.
So... the catch? I have a budget of $550-$600.
I need only the Mobo, CPU, GPU, RAM, and PSU. I have 2 SATA HDD's ready for RAID 0 and 2 Optical Drives and a Sound Card (even though I think on-board sound would do just fine.)

I know this is tough and I really am not trying to be lazy about this but I am just worried about compatibility because that has been my downfall as of late. I can't wait to hear the responses. I am going to post what I have come up with so far.

I am having a hard time getting that price down from $634.94
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=14581414

 

[AntiZig]

1. you did not mention you need a case for this build... and that case you picked is ridiculous price (size too)
2. PSU is way too expensive
3. I don't believe that CPU will give you the performance you're looking for
4. ram is good, should be plenty
5. no comment on the mobo, don't have a feel for them.

one of the things you fail to mention is how upgradeable do you want this rig to be?

for a budget build I'd look into something like fx4100 if you want an amd platform or i3 so you can upgrade to ivy bridge later.

I won't give you links to which parts I think are better because I don't look at these things every day, there are people with far more experience here than me. But I doubt many will disagree with my statement.

I hope this will give you some pointers until somebody comes along who can link you a whole build easily

edit: for instance I think this PSU will suit your build much better - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

 

[AntiZig]

Ok, I decided to check how doable it is with your budget, looks to me as very doable.

Here's what I quickly threw toghether:
i5-2300 + H67 mobo combo = $281
Corsair 600W PSU = $69
Gskill 2x2Gb 1600 ram = $29
EVGA 460 1Gb = $149
total = $528
which leaves you with $70 for the case of your liking (that's more than enough for a decent case)

 

[Gman450]

Antizig's list is good.
You can take a look at this too.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i5-overclock-performance-gaming,3097.html

I'd take a i5 2400 though. It's only $10 more than a 2300. But then, you wouldn't be having much money for the case.
Here's a HAF 912
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233&Tpk=HAF%20912

The Xigmantec's casing as it has been listed in the link that I had given you, should also be fine, but a bit too casual.

 

[dauntlessds]

1. you did not mention you need a case for this build... and that case you picked is ridiculous price (size too)
2. PSU is way too expensive
3. I don't believe that CPU will give you the performance you're looking for
4. ram is good, should be plenty
5. no comment on the mobo, don't have a feel for them.

one of the things you fail to mention is how upgradeable do you want this rig to be?

for a budget build I'd look into something like fx4100 if you want an amd platform or i3 so you can upgrade to ivy bridge later.

I won't give you links to which parts I think are better because I don't look at these things every day, there are people with far more experience here than me. But I doubt many will disagree with my statement.

I hope this will give you some pointers until somebody comes along who can link you a whole build easily

edit: for instance I think this PSU will suit your build much better - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

Sorry about that! I remembered typing that I needed a case also but I don't know how I still missed it. Sorry again.
My wife would LOVE the idea of her rig being somewhat futureproof. I really like that rig and I have to just talk her into the Intel. She had a bad experience with a - as she puts it, "In-hell Pentium Poo". She's been an AMD girl ever since. You just can't beat those i-5's and 7's... they are unbelievable. Anyone know how good APU's are? They sounded pretty interesting.

 

[AntiZig]

the APUs as they are today are performing at about the level of i3

let me try to dig up the articles TH did...

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-4100-core-i3-2100-gaming-benchmark,3136.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120.html

those two articles pretty much convinced me that there was no reason to invest into an AMD cpu today. Maybe piledriver architecture will bring competition back or perhaps the claims that FX cpus are lacking something in win7 will be fixed in win8, but that's in the future, and all speculative.

as far as APUs go, if you weren't getting a dedicated GPU they are a good budget solution, but on a cpu to cpu basis i3 beats any APU.

 

[dauntlessds]

Best answer selected by dauntlessds.

 

[dauntlessds]

the APUs as they are today are performing at about the level of i3

let me try to dig up the articles TH did...

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-4100-core-i3-2100-gaming-benchmark,3136.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120.html

those two articles pretty much convinced me that there was no reason to invest into an AMD cpu today. Maybe piledriver architecture will bring competition back or perhaps the claims that FX cpus are lacking something in win7 will be fixed in win8, but that's in the future, and all speculative.

as far as APUs go, if you weren't getting a dedicated GPU they are a good budget solution, but on a cpu to cpu basis i3 beats any APU.

Thanks a lot! I figured as much but appreciate the "straight to the point" aspect of your answer.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey