Upgrading: Any Advice Appreciated

[Sarlo]

Hi all,

I consider myself a casual gamer; most of my time is spent in the on-line community "Second Life". I am experiencing a great deal of lag and though some of it may be on their side, I suspect it's time for me to upgrade. Here are my specs, sorry if I'm posting too much, not sure how much is needed for a good assessment. Please note that my psu is only 300 watts, so I am concerned that I will also have to upgrade it as well:


Dell Inc.
Inspiron 530
Windows Vista Home Edition/32 bits

Processor: Intel Core 2 Dual CPU @ 2.20 GHz

Disk Space Disk C: 342 GB Available, 455 GB Total, 342 GB Free
Disk D: 6266 MB Available, 10239 MB Total, 6266 MB Free

Physical Memory 2046 MB Total, 1040 MB Free
Memory Load 49%
Virtual Memory 4329 MB Total, 3295 MB Free

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT (latest drivers installed)
Current Resolution @ 1680 x 1050 @ 60Hz

Power Source: 300 Watts

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Please be kind, I'm kind of a newb.


Sarlo

 

[shadow187]

Seeing as how you have an E2200, I'd grab an HD5670. It's the perfect card for less-demanding games, will be a nice upgrade from your 8600GT, runs fine on your current PSU, and is only $100.

 

[jay2tall]

I second the 5670, UNLESS your PC is low Profile. In which case I would get an HD 5570.. Actually either way you could do a 5570 to get a boost, but a 5670 would be better.

5670 suggestion: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161334&cm_re=5670-_-14-161-334-_-Product

5570 standard height suggestion: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125315&cm_re=5570-_-14-125-315-_-Product

5570 low pro suggestion: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102874&cm_re=5570-_-14-102-874-_-Product

 

[Sarlo]

Seeing as how you have an E2200, I'd grab an HD5670. It's the perfect card for less-demanding games, will be a nice upgrade from your 8600GT, runs fine on your current PSU, and is only $100.

Hi Shadow, thanks for your response. Questions: What is E2200? *blushes* And the HD5670, who makes that? Is it a PCIe card? SL is actually kind of demanding graphics wise also.

Thanks

Sarlo

 

[Sarlo]

Hi Jay, thanks for responding. I'm not sure what "low profile" means in regards to my machine. *blushes again*

 

[jay2tall]

Hi Shadow, thanks for your response. Questions: What is E2200? *blushes* And the HD5670, who makes that? Is it a PCIe card? SL is actually kind of demanding graphics wise also.

Thanks

Sarlo

The e2200 is an intel dual core pentium CPU. http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=33925

The HD5670 is an ATI GPU. Many companyies make them but the actual design and GPU is ATI (which is owned by AMD) http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/ati-radeon-hd-5670-overview/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5670-overview.aspx

Hi Jay, thanks for responding. I'm not sure what "low profile" means in regards to my machine. *blushes again*

"low profile" means that the computer itseld is not a full width. Meaning it is thinner than others. There is a 530 and 530s (meaning slimline).

 

[Sarlo]

The e2200 is an intel dual core pentium CPU. http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=33925

The HD5670 is an ATI GPU. Many companyies make them but the actual design and GPU is ATI (which is owned by AMD) http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/ati-radeon-hd-5670-overview/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5670-overview.aspx



"low profile" means that the computer itseld is not a full width. Meaning it is thinner than others. There is a 530 and 530s (meaning slimline).

Ah, I see. ATI I recognize. Not very techy, I guess that is obvious. Thanks so much for the assistance, I will check this one out. What a great resource this site is, wish I'd found it sooner.

 

[Sarlo]

I wonder though if I wanted to go with a nVidia 8880gt, or 9 series, would I have to upgrade my power source also?

 

[flyinfinni]

Upgrading to an 8800GT or 9 series would probably end up being more expensive for similar performance compared to the 5670 or 5570. They do use more power as well, though depending on the card, you may or may not need to upgrade the PSU. The 5570 and 5670 however will for sure run on your current PSU without problem.

 

[jay2tall]

A 8800 or 9800 would need a better PSU and would ultimatly cost you more. Teh 5670 performs slightly under the 8800GT

 

[Sarlo]

The only thing about using an ATI is that they have a pretty bad rep with Second life users for some reason. Apparently they don't run SL as well as nvidia. Also, this particular one isn't on the list of recommended graphics card as stated here:

http://secondlife.com/support/system-requirements/

So I remain befuddled. The cost really isn't the issue per se, I just want to avoid doing a lot of extra buying and installing if I can.

 

[flyinfinni]

Well, use this ranking to judge that:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2569-6.html
The 5570 and 5670 are not on that list because they are newer and faster than many of the cards listed. The 5670 in particular is actually faster than all but the top of the 8800 series which is the top one they list on the requirements. Don't worry about it not being on the list- it WILL run it without a problem.

 

[Sarlo]

Thanks everyone for your help. I really appreciate it.

 

[flyinfinni]

no problem Good luck getting a card that works well for ya!