CPU is fine for TF2 - no need to go quad core unless you play the newest games on ultra settings, or do a lot of video rendering. Very few games (even brand new ones) utilize 4 cores....let alone 6, 12, etc.

For TF2 increase on your setup - $300 budget

1. If you have a 64 bit operating system (and if you don't, i'd suggest formatting and installing one)...i'd bump the ram up to 8GB. It's older ram, so it could actually be harder to find, therefore the price could be more for the 4GB you need. I would look on ebay personally Probably $40 to upgrade.
2. Video card : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130932. Best bang for your buck - this + ram will keep you at 300 budget. You will see a very noticeable improvement from your current card. You should never drop below 100 fps even on a 32 man server on dx9. As always, make sure your powersupply can support the card. This card should future proof you for quite some time.

If you purely want to go graphics card - you can get a used 680 GTX for around $300 now on ebay. That card will play anything out there right now. Prices dropped because the 780/780ti are both out now.

If you do choose to do a CPU upgrade..i would just wait, save up and build a brand new machine entirely. Sell this one afterwards and put a little money back in your pockets.

Metal Gear Rising...had it for PS3 and was frustrated at how many times the FPS dipped horribly. Looking forward to playing this at a solid high frame rate.

2 golden cap matches on snakewater has to be painful. Much respect to yomies for putting on 2 incredible matches that truly could have gone either way.

owl is it 12 or 16 spots for playoffs??

Except for the seanbud rape train on viaduct >:(.

Block is an incredibly good demoman, sal and i pretty much did nothing but focus him the second half of our match vs Flash Sharks in order to win. Was very impressed with not just his dm, but how smart he played.

sherman/cheesy seem to be the top scouts. Both typically do more damage than their soldiers and usually have the burden of carrying most of the frags, even though they have more than capable teammates...they still go huge.

Sincostan is a great roamer, he's very good at making big plays when needed and has sick aim.

ticktak is the obvious top pocket, and not just saying that cause he's my teammate...dude just dominates regardless (see match vs iT yesterday). smile is not far behind

Great matches this week so far. Lonely hearts won like i thought, but i was predicting more of a 5-4 score. UP with an upset on Flash Sharks (at least imo)...and a pretty convincing one at that. Looks like the roster changes UP made are paying off.

Thanks for the great servers and support. RIP endif warm-up sessions...only MGE server i get a decent ping to.

Pretty sure Lonely Hearts vs Medical Geniuses is gonna be the real MOTW. Someone should cast that tonight.

Old favorites: [iO] dustbowl/gravelpit 32 man servers (both are dead now), No Hereos fastlane/orange server use to be fun.

I'd still play on No Hereos servers except i got IP banned by the head admin for playing scout on their "competitive 32 man instant re-spawn" Warpath server. I wasn't being "competitive" enough and wouldn't switch classes...yes that actually happened.

Current: Skial dustbowl or badwater NY servers for my pub engy fix.

that is literally the most annoying map to roam on, thank god that's over. ggs though and wp!

daigo just destroyed everyone in SF4 :<

Honestly, if you have the money just upgrade to a SSD if you can. It is the single best upgrade you can give to your computer in terms of speed/performance for all applications.

slin i wasn't quoting you to agree/disagree with you - it was more to base what i wrote as an open question as to why top invite players want LAN vs online. Sorry for the confusion. It's really just my thoughts written down..i'm not saying any which way is the right way so i would hope no one takes offense to what i wrote. Just posting as a legitimate question to someone willing to give a legitimate answer.

I think the first LAN was season 5 or 6 right?? Before that i don't really think anyone had an issue with the championships not being on LAN regardless of CEVO-P or ESEA invite. I think during the time TF2 was really entering it's prime and there was a lot of excitement and interest in the game...the LAN scene really meant something. Hell season 6 probably had the biggest upset ever and that would have been incredible to have been apart of in person. The reality is that we will probably never see that happen again when the same 2 teams have been going back and forth for the past 3 years. While i have respect for the skill and dedication plat and b4nny have invested into the game and their teams, why is LAN still such a big factor? For them i'm sure LAN is awesome, knowing you are still one of the best and will come away with some (hopefully) profit. Do you really need LAN to tell you that? If you can stomp a fellow invite team off-classing online...or 5-0 roll a 3/4 seed on normal classes...what difference will LAN really prove? Wouldn't it be easier to just play online and actually make a nice profit other than a mediocre one? Is it even worth it anymore for the 3rd & 4th seeds...realistically knowing you won't get above 3rd & 4th place? Maybe if you get community funding, but in essence it's like robbing Peter to pay Paul. I think our community goes above and beyond supporting the game to keep LAN's going, but it's not their responsibility by any means.

I honestly don't see how the competitive scene would die without ESEA LAN. It's not like TF2 gets remotely near any attention as the major competitive games out there right now. If the term endgame is being brought up, it's not the ESEA LAN...the real endgame imo are the international LAN's. i46/i49 were absolutely amazing to watch...i49 was probably the most enjoyable LAN event I've ever watched for TF2. All 4 top teams were totally capable of winning - that's something that would be awesome to be apart of. I wouldn't mind, however, hearing a real POV from someone like enigma/plat/b4nny...maybe i'm missing something.

FYI changing your voltage like that is a good way to ruin your board. If it's working leave it as is and consider yourself lucky.

Slin, your board is damaged or something isn't grounded properly as mentioned above. I would assume more that it is damaged (ram slot issue you are having obviously) as it seems to be hit and miss with how you are getting it to power on sometimes. It almost sounds like a charge went through your board at some point...i'd salvage the remaining parts and just put them in a new board.

He contradicts himself so much in that thread that he doesn't even need anyone to call him an idiot. If they disagree and know they actually didn't do anything wrong, you fight it. You don't just pay out 6 figures...all that's saying is, yea i'm wrong but lets make this go away fast so i don't look any worse. He knows that a large part of his clientele are younger kids and the quicker it goes away they'll forget it ever happened...but the rest of us know better. This is no different then when celebrities/athletes pay off "undisclosed settlements" to shut people up about the ghosts in their closets. It's funny how that thread is presented as an open discussion yet he either ignores or has shit responses to any real questions. What a joke.