Are these Gaming PC specs good?

Answer 1

System Specs (as provided by question writer):
Processor AMD Phenom(tm) II N870 Triple-Core Processor
Manufacturer AMD
Speed 2.3 GHz
Number of Cores 3
Video Card ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Series
Manufacturer ATI
Chipset ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Series
Dedicated Memory 384 MB
Total Memory 2.9 GB
Memory 5.9 GB
Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition Service Pack 1 (build 7601), 64-bit
Service Pack 1
Size 64 Bit
Edition Home Premium
Display Maximum Resolution 1366 x 768
DVD HL-DT-ST DVDRWBD CT30N ATA Device
CD HL-DT-ST DVDRWBD CT30N ATA Device
Drive Size 581.4 GB Free 102.6 GB

I see a few things that require me to say no to your query about this being a good gaming rig. First, you are using an AMD processor that is five years old and therefore is not a very good option for modern games. On top of that, I have never really been sold on AMD processors. I've found that Intel CPUs are the better option and that is what I sell exclusively in my business.

If you want to stick with AMD, then you will need to upgrade to a more modern CPU and, therefore, a more modern motherboard. Due to the excess heat that AMD processors generally produce, especially under load such as when gaming, you will want to consider at least a more robust CPU fan than what is delivered by stock. Suggestions for the CPU would be either Vishera or Zambezi-core FX-series processors. These will need a motherboard with an AM3+ socket.

Next, your video card is woefully out of date: it was released in 2009, so that is about six years old. You need to get much more modern. Suggestions would be either a Radeon R7 or R9 series such as the R7 260X or R9 290X. Both are optimized for PCI Express 3.0 slots, so insure that your chosen motherboard upgrade has a PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot. After all, if you are going to do all this work, you may as well get all the performance you can, right?

Beyond that, it looks like you may be "sharing" some of your memory with onboard graphics since only 2.9GB of the 3GB installed memory is showing as available. Thus, when you upgrade, go into your BIOS and make sure to disable onboard graphics (if any) to gain performance. Additionally, I would recommend installing at least 4GB on your new motherboard and would suggest doing so as two sticks of RAM for optimization by dual channel memory technology. There may not be that much performance difference between single and dual channel memory that you will notice, but even if it helps in the slightest, you may as well make it happen since the price differential is generally not significant between a single stick of the full amount of RAM desired and a RAM kit with two sticks totalling the desired amount of RAM.

Finally, the hard drive is small by modern standards for anything other than a laptop. Given the fact that you are sharing RAM for your video and that your video is a "mobility" chipset, this tells me that what you have there is an older laptop. When you look at building a new machine, you will probably want to look at a 1TB drive. My professional preference is Seagate drives since they do not die nearly as often or anywhere near as spectacularly as Western Digitals. In fact, in my business, over the past ten years, I can count on one hand the number of Seagate drives I have seen fail while I can count far more WD drives that have failed since only the beginning of this year. You may pay slightly more for the Seagate drives but, as with all else, you get what you pay for.

As a last suggestion, when you build this machine, make sure that you get an adequate power supply. For any machine intended for gaming, I never use anything less than 600 watts because of the demands of modern CPUs, video cards, and anything else that the user may wish to stuff into the machine after I deliver it. If you will be putting in a second video card at some point, invest a bit more money now and put in a 750-watt unit. Further, to save on your electric bill, look for a unit that is 80 Plus certified, preferably 80 Plus Gold certified as that will draw less power out of the wall to deliver what is needed by your machine. For more information about that, read an answer I provided at What_are_the_differences_between_bronze_through_platinum_power_efficiency_on_power_supply%27s.

I hope all this helps. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line. I'm always glad to help!

Answer 2

specs

Processor

AMD Phenom(tm) II N870 Triple-Core Processor

Manufacturer

AMD

Speed

2.3 GHz

Number of Cores

3

Video Card

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Series

Manufacturer

ATI

Chipset

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Series

Dedicated Memory

384 MB

Total Memory

2.9 GB

Memory

5.9 GB

Operating System

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition Service Pack 1 (build 7601), 64-bit

Service Pack

1

Size

64 Bit

Edition

Home Premium

Display Maximum Resolution

1366 x 768

DVD

HL-DT-ST DVDRWBD CT30N ATA Device

CD

HL-DT-ST DVDRWBD CT30N ATA Device

Drive Size 581.4 GB Free 102.6 GB

Answer 3

To determine if a certain set of gaming specs is good the specs needs to be provided.