Upgrading PC and Graphics Card

[vasco123]

Hi,

Please help me with upgrading my PC to a gaming PC

Right Now I have
AMD 5200+ Processor (2.7GHz, L2 Cache 2MB)
Azus M2N CM DVI (PCIE-16x only)
2GB DDR2 RAM 1066MHz
i ball 400w PSU
SATA HDD 500GB, 7200
NVIDIA Geforce 9400GT

My Plan is to upgrade the PC
My Budget is about $500

How it will be if I only upgrade my
graphics card to GeForce GTX 460 1GB DDR5
PSU to 700w
RAM to another 2GB more

Can this configuration handle games which require high end graphics ( Metro2033, Bullet storm, GTA4)

else can you recommend a configuration which is with in $500 and graphics card is still GTX460 or similar

I have a general question also what is the requirement of a high end processor when you have a high end graphics card for graphic processing.

Thanks in advance....

 

[iceclock]

heres a nice little kit for u:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

corsair ps tx750 109$

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133377

250$ Geforce gtx 560 ti 1 gig

and still under 500$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146693

4 gig kit for 60$


around 420$ that should do it for ya

 

[gamefreak450]

ARE YOU SURE THAT NVIDIA GTX 560 WILL WORK WITH ASUS MSN............

 

[iceclock]

yes, because ur board is pci express 16x and will be compatible, since pci express

is backwards compatible, 2.0 and 1.0 is compatible ,

so u shouldnt have a problem

 

[rockyjohn]

What resolution do you game on? If you want to use a faster graphics card like the GTX 560 Ti, then you should upgrade the memory to add another matching 2 GB.

700w is a lot more than you need for the GTX 560 Ti in a single card configuration. In fact reviews show the systems with it only use a little more than 300w:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-560-ti-roundup-asus-engtx560-graphics-card-overclocking,2858-20.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-ti-gf114,2845-15.html


Although I would recommend upgrading to a good 500w PSU, such as the Antec Earthwatts 500w for $70:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035

For more information on PCIe compatibility or finding other information about gaming cards, you can go to:

http://www.upgradevideocards.com/pcie.html
http://www.upgradevideocards.com/gaming.html

 

[professorprofessorson]

Your 5200+ is going to hold you back on games a bit. You could check to see if your board will take one of the older Phenom X4 cpus. You can reuse your current ram on a newer build if you need to. If $500 is in your budget you could try playing around with the links I am posting below, and see if you can get a good combination of parts that fit your budget:


MSI 785GTM-E45 AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130237&cm_re=msi_am2%2b-_-13-130-237-_-Product

ASRock N68C-S UCC AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 7025 / nForce 630a Micro ATX AMD Motherboard $42.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157204

AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103871

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 $57.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231207

WINTEC AMPO 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 Now: $32.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161172


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MSI N460GTX-M2D768D5 GeForce GTX 460 $145.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127511

MSI N460GTX Twin Frozr II SOC GeForce GTX 460 $129.99 after mail-in rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127519

HIS H685F1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB $159.99 after mail-in rebate card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161348&cm_re=6850-_-14-161-348-_-Product

HIS H687F1G2M Radeon HD 6870 1GB $194.99 after mail-in rebate card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161349&cm_re=6870-_-14-161-349-_-Product
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Rocketfish 550 Watt ATX (basically $45 after shipping)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Rocketfish-550-Watt-ATX-CPU-Power-Supply-RF-550WPS-/360343694996?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item53e6286e94

Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power $64.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

HEC Blitz Black Steel Edition ATX Mid Tower Computer Chassis Gaming Case w/ Front Blue LED 120mm Fan & Top 120mm Fan $39.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121096

NZXT GAMMA Classic Series GAMA-001BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $39.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146061

 

[vasco123]

Thank you verymuch for your suggestions

As of now I have decided to go on with following config
Continue with AMD 5200+ Processor, Asus M2N CM DVI Motherboard and 2GB DDR2 RAM
I am planning to upgrade following things
GTX560 Ti Graphics card
A 550W Power Supply(Hope this will be sufficient even if i upgrade my processor to even i7-2600 with a TDP of 95W)
And if things go fine will upgrade RAM to 4GB(will buy an additional 2GB)

Later on may be next year I will upgrade to any quad core processor if required.

But I have one major doubt, PCIex16 has half the bandwidth(4GB/S) when compared to PCIe2.0 x16 with bandwidth of 8GB/S.As we know GTX560 Ti has about 128GB/S memory bandwidth. Can I hope that PCIex16 will not slow down the data transfer rate to the graphics card from the processor\chipset.

Actually until now i do not know how does a graphics card do the graphics processing in the sense like what is the role of the processor and chipset when a graphics card is there. When we are playing a game how does and how often do the processor send video information for graphics card (I know how the graphics card do the video processing it defines every graphics images in form of polygons mostly triangles and these triangle network forms a 3 dimensional object to which textures are added). How do the processor differentiate what information need to be send to the graphics card for displaying the video. I know my question is very much technical but can someone please answer this? I will be really grateful.

 

[vasco123]

yes, because ur board is pci express 16x and will be compatible, since pci express

is backwards compatible, 2.0 and 1.0 is compatible ,

so u shouldnt have a problem

Thank you verymuch for your suggestions

As of now I have decided to go on with following config
Continue with AMD 5200+ Processor, Asus M2N CM DVI Motherboard and 2GB DDR2 RAM
I am planning to upgrade following things
GTX560 Ti Graphics card
A 550W Power Supply(Hope this will be sufficient even if i upgrade my processor to even i7-2600 with a TDP of 95W)
And if things go fine will upgrade RAM to 4GB(will buy an additional 2GB)

Later on may be next year I will upgrade to any quad core processor if required.

But I have one major doubt, PCIex16 has half the bandwidth(4GB/S) when compared to PCIe2.0 x16 with bandwidth of 8GB/S.As we know GTX560 Ti has about 128GB/S memory bandwidth. Can I hope that PCIex16 will not slow down the data transfer rate to the graphics card from the processor\chipset.

Actually until now i do not know how does a graphics card do the graphics processing in the sense like what is the role of the processor and chipset when a graphics card is there. When we are playing a game how does and how often do the processor send video information for graphics card (I know how the graphics card do the video processing it defines every graphics images in form of polygons mostly triangles and these triangle network forms a 3 dimensional object to which textures are added). How do the processor differentiate what information need to be send to the graphics card for displaying the video. I know my question is very much technical but can someone please answer this? I will be really grateful.

 

[rockyjohn]

The GTX 560 Ti should not be impacted much. if at all, by PCIe 1.0 x16 slot.

Most, but not all, game processing is handled by the GPU. How much and what is sent to the CPU is determined by the gaming software, which is why it varies so much from game to game.

 

[vasco123]

Best answer selected by vasco123.