So, lately I've been having problems playing SWTOR and some other games. I can't run them on high settings. I'm looking to get a new rig under $700. Please help. I want to be able to play SWTOR and Diablo 3/Starcraft 2 on max settings with no lag. 

I've heard tigerdirect and newegg are good websites. Should I start with a barebone kit? or just a case? I've never done it myself before but I know enough to change out a video card and RAM(which isn't much I suppose lol). I have a monitor so I have that covered, I also have 8 gigs of ram. 

What do you have right now?  Let's see if an upgrade is a possibility.  Do you already have other peripherals (keyboard, mouse, speakers, surge protector), or only a monitor?

If you want full max settings with a smooth frame rate, that often takes some very high end hardware, or sometimes can't even be done on commercially available hardware.  If you just want fairly high settings so the game looks nice, that's a lot more doable, even on a $700 budget.

Yep, I like Newegg for sure.  I will use TigerDirect if I have to, but prefer the egg.  I wouldn't bother with the barebones or partial builds they have there, I much prefer to pick everything myself, so I know exactly what I am getting. 

Building a PC is actually very easy.  You can definintely do it for $700 since you have the monitor covered.  I can't recommend parts sorry, I haven't been following the latest stuff, but basically you will need case, motherboard, cpu, gpu(s), memory (you got that), HDD(s), optical drive, power supply and that's it basically.  Mouse/keyboard and other misc stuff as per your budget.  I put a computer together almost a year ago for around $600, and it's still going very strong, playing every game I own on high settings.

Quizzical will be along shortly with better advice :D

EDIT: LOL nvm, Quizzical already beat me.

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad  CPU   Q9300  @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.5GHz - intel core2 quad or w/e

Memory: 8192MB RAM

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 - 1 gig 

Speakers (Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio)

power supply is upgraded and hdd is a crappy sata 1 :(

razer blackwidow ultimate and razer naga elite YEAH! lol :P

Is your memory DDR2 or DDR3?  If you don't know, then list your motherboard and that will uniquely determine it.

What case do you have, and what power supply?  I assume you have a DVD burner?

What you have now should still be a functional gaming machine.  If you have to build something new, then $700 won't really get you something all that much better.  Maybe you'd end up with something 50% faster, but you'd want a bigger upgrade than that if you're replacing the computer outright.

you could get a DIY kit from newegg. that way u wont have to match parts.

EXAMPLE

the linked example comes with everything minus the OS.  its $800 but will give u an idea.  another option would be to get a cheaper DIY kit without a vid card, then use the remaining $ on whatever vid card u can afford. 

Hope u find what ur looking for and happy gaming!

Originally posted by warbot7777

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad  CPU   Q9300  @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.5GHz - intel core2 quad or w/e

Memory: 8192MB RAM

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 - 1 gig 

Speakers (Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio)

power supply is upgraded and hdd is a crappy sata 1 :(

razer blackwidow ultimate and razer naga elite YEAH! lol :P

whoa, u got a decent machine already.  scratch my last post.  just buy a new vid card.

Can anyone run SW:TOR at max with a smooth framerate?

My friend runs SW:TOR at max minus shadows on his AMD Llano machine, and his FPS isn't drastically lower than mine.

MMORPGs are traditionally processor intensive.  I'd bet if you were to get something like an i5 2500k your framerate would improve.

Originally posted by vvistovv

Originally posted by warbot7777

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad  CPU   Q9300  @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.5GHz - intel core2 quad or w/e

Memory: 8192MB RAM

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 - 1 gig 

Speakers (Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio)

power supply is upgraded and hdd is a crappy sata 1 :(

razer blackwidow ultimate and razer naga elite YEAH! lol :P

whoa, u got a decent machine already.  scratch my last post.  just buy a new vid card.

Yeah seems pretty solid still.  Get a new gpu  and maybe a SSD if you want.  If you want to upgrade processors you will have to get a new mobo as well so keep that in mind (different socket types).   I agree with Quiz as well, if you want to see a dramatic improvement over that, you might have to spend more than $700.

Thanks for answering everyone! Couple of  questions, how can I find out if my comp can support SSD?

Also I have a problem with my video card slot. It has trouble fitting most video cards. Originally I tried to put a 275 gtx in there but it was too big. I ended up having to get the gts 250 due to my tower size. This is a HP computer LOL. I'm shocked that I was able to make the changes that I have. 

Another question, can I change the mobo in this thing?

Yeah, you're going to want a new case, then.  But it would help if you answered my other questions:  what memory do you have (or if you don't know, then what motherboard), and what power supply do you have?  If you have to open up the case and read the labels, then do it.

IPIBL-TX is what I see

That's DDR2 memory, so if you replace the motherboard and processor, you'll need to replace the memory, too, and get DDR3.  But what power supply do you have?

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01357064&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=3750363&lang=en

Power supply is a 550 watt

Originally posted by warbot7777

Power supply is a 550 watt

That doesn't answer the question.  Give the exact brand name and model.

Originally posted by Quizzical

Originally posted by warbot7777

Power supply is a 550 watt

That doesn't answer the question.  Give the exact brand name and model.

BFG power or w/e bfgr550wgxpsu

Sounds like upgrading isn't much of an option for you, as you'd need basically everything new except for peripherals.  In order to get a big enough performance boost to justify the upgrade, you're going to need a larger budget.

I would say "Just get a new video card and then see how it does" - except the whole "It's an HP" thing - and if you can't get a 260 to fit, you are going to have problems with most anything.

First off, don't get hung up on "Max Details" - SWTOR in particular looks about the same regardless of if you are playing on Low or Max - I do both frequently (lowest settings on nVidia 320M at 720p, versus highest on AMD6970 at 1920x1200), it's hard to tell the difference. It's a huge difference in horsepower to be able to do it, and just turning down an option or two makes a large difference without seriously impacting image quality.

The disheartening thing is that on a $700 budget, you aren't really going to get that much faster of a CPU - you'd need to go AMD FX, and those aren't really any faster than the C2Q you have (for gaming). But with your existing system being HP, it's going to be really hard to reuse anything.

After doing some research ---

You may be in luck. The GTS250 is a 9" long card. The new AMD 7700 series is 8.25" long stock - so you could probably upgrade to a 7770 or 7750, keep the rest of your computer, and come out ahead.

The GTS250 is a 150W TDP card, the 7770 is half that, so your power supply would hang with it too. The 7770 should be about 2x faster than your 250.

That being said - it's an option; it won't net you huge performance gains, but you'll get a noticable jump. To go any farther, realistically, your going to need to jump to an entire new computer. $700 is roughly the starting point, and $1600 gets you pretty top end everything, and it runs the gamut in between those two price points. If you got an 7700 series card now, you would be able to reuse that (and subtract the price of it out of your new rig budget); it is on the bottom end of the spectrum but still a serviceable and respectable gaming card (especially overclocked).

Originally posted by Ridelynn

I would say "Just get a new video card and then see how it does" - except the whole "It's an HP" thing - and if you can't get a 260 to fit, you are going to have problems with most anything.

First off, don't get hung up on "Max Details" - SWTOR in particular looks about the same regardless of if you are playing on Low or Max - I do both frequently (lowest settings on nVidia 320M at 720p, versus highest on AMD6970 at 1920x1200), it's hard to tell the difference. It's a huge difference in horsepower to be able to do it, and just turning down an option or two makes a large difference without seriously impacting image quality.

The disheartening thing is that on a $700 budget, you aren't really going to get that much faster of a CPU - you'd need to go AMD FX, and those aren't really any faster than the C2Q you have (for gaming). But with your existing system being HP, it's going to be really hard to reuse anything.

After doing some research ---

You may be in luck. The GTS250 is a 9" long card. The new AMD 7700 series is 8.25" long stock - so you could probably upgrade to a 7770 or 7750, keep the rest of your computer, and come out ahead.

The GTS250 is a 150W TDP card, the 7770 is half that, so your power supply would hang with it too. The 7770 should be about 2x faster than your 250.

That being said - it's an option; it won't net you huge performance gains, but you'll get a noticable jump. To go any farther, realistically, your going to need to jump to an entire new computer. $700 is roughly the starting point, and $1600 gets you pretty top end everything, and it runs the gamut in between those two price points. If you got an 7700 series card now, you would be able to reuse that (and subtract the price of it out of your new rig budget); it is on the bottom end of the spectrum but still a serviceable and respectable gaming card (especially overclocked).

"The 7770 should be about 2x faster than your 250"

It's worth a shot, any chance I could get a link to it? I'm off to bed but will check it out in the morning. Thanks everyone! If you have more advice feel free to chime in.