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Dell Dimension 5150 with 600w PSU - graphics card upgrade for gaming at 1920x1080?

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  • Graphics Cards
  • Dimension
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Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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September 26, 2013 3:12:53 AM

Hi

I'm new here but have seen similar questions asked and answered by resident experts so I hope someone can help me!

I bought a Dell Dimension 5150 in 2006 and upgraded the PSU to 600w and memory to 2.5GB.
I also put an nVidia 8600 GT (256MB) graphics card in it years ago and it was OK for casual gaming back then.

It can still play some Indie games at 1920x1080 (my preferred resolution) but obviously struggles with current 3D games (eg Tomb Raider will run but is largely unplayable at even 1280x720).
The CPU is a Pentium D 2.8GHz and my Windows 8 Experience Index is 4.5 (for the Processor, which is worrying!).

I would like to be able to play games such as Tomb Raider smoothly at 1920x1080 (Ultra res is not necessary!) so am thinking about a graphics card upgrade.

Presumably I could stick a GTX 670 in there but I've read that the graphics performance is not all about the graphics card and that the CPU can bottleneck grahics performance. So the GTX 670 is probably overkill for the Pentium D?

Question is, what is the 'fastest' graphics card I would put in my 5150 that wouldn't be bottlenecked by the CPU and, just as importantly, would that 'optimum' graphics card (for my setup) allow me to play the latest 3D games smoothly at 1920x1080 on medium to high res?

Oh, would it be worth upgrading the CPU too so that I could add an even better graphics card and, if so, what is the fastest CPU that the Dell 5150 can support?

Thanks for looking - I look forward to your comments.

Regards

More about : dell dimension 5150 600w psu graphics card upgrade gaming 1920x1080

a b U Graphics card
September 26, 2013 3:28:02 AM

The pentium D is an antique and your motherboard won't accept any better. Definitely need to upgrade the whole rig imo. What's your budget?
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September 26, 2013 3:30:25 AM

Well, I was hoping to just upgrade the graphics card, maximum about £150.
If I have to buy a new PC, I could probably stretch to £600 but would prefer to just upgrade the graphics card if possible!
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a b U Graphics card
September 26, 2013 3:56:08 AM

RuGal said:
Well, I was hoping to just upgrade the graphics card, maximum about £150.
If I have to buy a new PC, I could probably stretch to £600 but would prefer to just upgrade the graphics card if possible!


The thing is, I could find a graphics card for sub-£50 that will bottleneck that CPU pretty bad.

For £150 I could pick out a cheap second hand Core 2 Duo for <£100 on ebay and chuck in a £50 GPU, it would still play tomb raider WAY better than running your Pentium D with a £150 card.
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a b U Graphics card
September 26, 2013 6:46:52 AM

OP sorry if I came off a bit harsh there but you asked if you can 'play the latest 3D games smoothly at 1920x1080 on medium to high res?' and the answer is no, not with that CPU, that's all.
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September 26, 2013 7:22:32 AM

No problem, it looks like it's time to get a new PC - I thought that might be the case!
Thanks for yur replies.
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a b U Graphics card
September 26, 2013 8:14:28 AM

No problem! A budget of £600 will get you a mighty fine rig btw :) 
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September 26, 2013 8:17:17 AM

Any suggestions as to what would be good enough to run any games at 1920x1080? ... would high settings be possible, I don't expect ultra for that budget!
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November 18, 2013 10:18:24 AM

RuGal said:
Any suggestions as to what would be good enough to run any games at 1920x1080? ... would high settings be possible, I don't expect ultra for that budget!

if its pci 16x put a hd6570/6670 and use a 32GB ssd for the os and put some new ram in, 4 if possible
and get a decent cooler and you can probs play 2013 games at 1024x768 in low/medium hope this helps as i have the same pc only a 775 p4

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