Upgrading piece by piece

sturg78

Honorable
Dec 25, 2013
12
0
10,510
My laptop blew out and I am resorting to polish my less than optimal PC. Not much of a budget so am considering 1 mid-low (<$200) upgrade at a time. Current dilemma: Upgrade my Intel(R) Pentium(R) dual core CPU G620 @ 2.60GHz to an i5 2nd gen OR upgrade my NVIDIA GeForce GT 630 to a PNY GeForce GTX 660 Graphics Card.

This was a slimline HP s5-1110. I set the board (IPISB-CU) in a bigger case and got the RAM up to 8gb as well as jumped the power supply to 650w.

I use my PC mostly for gaming (Skyrim, Civ5, NBA2k14 to name a few). Ideally would like to get to the point where I can run a game like Skyrim on higher settings.

New to most of this, I apologize if I am not providing enough information.
 
Solution


The Gt 630 I meant was not a gaming card.

The Gtx 660 is a good card, and you should consider it for sure. And at the resolution you're playing at, you will...

Bassim Ansari

Honorable
Dec 18, 2013
531
0
11,360
Your dual core system will be a limiting factor for most games but you can safely upgrade to Gtx 660 and you will definitely be able to play these games better than Gt 630 which is not a gaming card by any means i might add.

Also what resolution are you gonna play at?

You also need to confirm if your motherboard has a black PCI-E slot for you to install this new Graphics Card
 

sturg78

Honorable
Dec 25, 2013
12
0
10,510


1440x900. It does have a black PCI-E slot. I assumed by not gaming you mean not powerful enough to be considered a gaming card? I gathered for under $200 the 660 was one of my better options.
 

Bassim Ansari

Honorable
Dec 18, 2013
531
0
11,360


The Gt 630 I meant was not a gaming card.

The Gtx 660 is a good card, and you should consider it for sure. And at the resolution you're playing at, you will be able to get high settings on that resolution.

Although I would recommend a Sapphire 7870 version for 200 dollars, which beats the Gtx 660 in almost every game.

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DVI-I-SL-DVI-D-PCI-Express-100354OC-2L/dp/B00A2J4ROE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388020662&sr=8-1&keywords=7870


Here are the benchmarks

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/783?vs=857

As you can see, for same price, the 7870 is a clear winner.
 
Solution