Frankly between a SSD and a current gen video card you may best your new PC by miles. Why? You've read this I hope:
"Our tests demonstrate fairly little difference between a $225 LGA 1155 Core i5-2500K and a $1000 LGA 2011 Core i7-3960X, even when three-way graphics card configurations are involved. It turns out that memory bandwidth and PCIe throughput don't hold back the performance of existing Sandy Bridge-based machines. "
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-4.html
So the major issue with many older machines is boot and load time as well as frame rates.
Boot times can be cured with a SSD. I like this link:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269.html
Game frame rates are the GPU (still!) and this link helps be get the most bang:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html
Bob
Hi all
Just thought I'd pop on here and ask for a quick bit of advice from those far more knowledgeable than I.
I would like to buy a new gaming PC, with all the bells and whistles (or as many as I can afford).
My current machine is a Dell XPS, and that has lasted me for 7-8 years (with a few replacement parts and RAM upgrades along the way). I would like something that is going to be similarly as future proof.
At the time I went with Dell simply because I had a bad experience buying off a specialist PC manufacturer and have had nothing but good experiences with Dell's in-warranty and after-warranty care.
I generally tend to play single-player RPGs and FPSs though that is not by any means all that I play. Recent graphically intensive games of preference - in case it makes a difference - have been Bioshock Infinite, a (heavily modded) Skyrim, and the Mass Effect series. Desperately want to play DA: Inquisition, but waiting for the new rig to do so!
Budget is around £1,200, but for that I would like to get a new monitor, keyboard and mouse as well.
Preferably, I would like the machine to be slim-form or at least a sensible size and not a monster - the XPS is bigger than my 2 year old son! The ability to tinker around inside would also be good, but my knowledge only really extends to upgrading the hard drive, and swapping out RAM etc, so I wouldn't be looking to do anything too tricky.
I am tempted by the Chillblast Fusion Probe (http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast-Fusion-Probe.html). It seems to tick all of the above boxes, but I have only been able to find one review (on PC Advisor - a year old, which suggests to me it may not be top range now) and I'm not really an expert. I would be really grateful for any views on this machine, or any other recommendations.
Huge thanks in advance for any advice. And apologies if this is the wrong place to post this question - it was my best guess!
Cheers

Chowhound
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