Best bang for the buck with upgrades

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burnley14

burnley14

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Apr 1, 2009
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Hello,

I have a desktop system that is now several years old that I am looking to upgrade and improve its overall performance. My goals are to get the system to be very responsive with daily tasks (browsing, Office, etc.) and play most new games with decent settings at 1080p. With that said, here is my system as it currently stands:

CPU: Intel i3 530
GPU: Integrated
RAM: 4GB (2x2GB)
MOBO: LGA 1156 H55
PSU: Corsair 450W
HDD: 640GB
OS: Windows 7

As it stands, I have a friend who agreed to let me have a GTX 460 to upgrade the GPU. I also have every intention of adding a SSD come Black Friday deals.

So my questions:
1) Will this hand-me-down GPU allow me to play most games reasonably at 1080p?
2) Will I be able to use my current PSU to power the upgraded system?
3) Do I need to increase my RAM?

I'm looking to get the best improvement for the least amount of money possible. Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
jedinegotiator
I burnley,

To answer your questions:

1) Yes, a GTX 460 is a very reasonable card. You should be able to play most games at 1080p on medium settings. I used to have a Radeon 6950 which is slightly better than the GTX 460 and I was able to play Battlefield 3 on High settings, however I did have an i5.

2) The power supply you have is going to be cutting it close. I'm thinking that you will probably get away with it but your cutting it close.
Here is a useful power supply calculator. Just put in all your components and it should tell you how many watts you absolutely have to have. Remember to factor in that most power supplies are only around 80% efficient.

3) No you don't need to increase your RAM. You are not going to benefit any in...
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jedinegotiator

jedinegotiator

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Apr 2, 2011
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I burnley,

To answer your questions:

1) Yes, a GTX 460 is a very reasonable card. You should be able to play most games at 1080p on medium settings. I used to have a Radeon 6950 which is slightly better than the GTX 460 and I was able to play Battlefield 3 on High settings, however I did have an i5.

2) The power supply you have is going to be cutting it close. I'm thinking that you will probably get away with it but your cutting it close.
Here is a useful power supply calculator. Just put in all your components and it should tell you how many watts you absolutely have to have. Remember to factor in that most power supplies are only around 80% efficient.

3) No you don't need to increase your RAM. You are not going to benefit any in games. Not many games require more RAM than that but your going to want to keep the programs that are running in the background at a minimum or you may start to see yourself going over 4GB and using your page file. 8GB would be nice and is the sweet spot for gaming PC builds but 4GB will be fine.

I hope I have helped. If you still have questions let me know. If you feel like I answered all your questions please hit the "pick as best answer button"

Thanks!
 
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