Putting the Phenom Out to Pasture: Part 3

Having identified the optimal parts, and coming to the conclusion that either build I would consider would run upwards of $800, I looked at the games I would be planning to play for the next year, and hazarded a guess at the hardware needed to run each.

•  Total War: Rome 2
• Wasteland 2
• Project Eternity
• Shadowrun Returns
• Torment: Tides of Numenara
• Crusader Kings 2

Torment, Shadowrun, Project Eternity, and Wasteland 2 each are CRPGs that should be less graphically intensive than Skyrim was.  A computer that could run Skyrim on high could easily breeze through any of these titles. My Phenom blew through Skyrim quite well on High, without any significant framerate issues, even with addons that created entire battlefields.

Total War: Rome 2 was likely to be significantly beefier than TCA's latest journey, Shogun 2.  GameDebate recommends at least a Phenom II x2 511 and a Radeon HD 6570.  My current build can withstand that.  The same site estimates that Rome 2 would need a Phenom II x4 2.4 GHz processor and a Radeon HD 4870.  My current build can also withstand that.

Given each of these facts, I made the decision to stick it out for another year, pending my ability to fix its random crashing.  Thankfully, I succeeded, courtesy of a new power supply, to the tune of $80.  To boot, the power supply requires less cabling, as it's fully modular, and thus the mITX box I'm currently running runs a bit cooler.  Total cost of upgrade: $80.  Next year, I'll look at creating a new monster.