Needing help on upgrading current system.

[daemaro]

Okay so I have a crappy walmart bought computer, it's a emachines. I feel okay with most of the aspects of it.

AMD Athlon II X2 235e Processor 2.7ghz
6GB of RAM
1TB Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GT 240

Now I'm a pretty big gamer and I'm looking forward to some of the games coming out within the next year specifically Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. As of now I can't even run The Witcher 2 on full without any problems. It runs at about 5-9 FPS.

This is more of my specs, and how I meet minimum for Witcher 2.

Now my question is, what should I upgrade to ensure I can run a game like Skyrim. What needs to be upgraded the most to run newer games?

I was told that I should upgrade my graphics card. That's why I've come here. My case is roughly 14 inches in length, not including whats in the way on the inside, So I need a nice compact card that has more "oomph" to it.

Any suggestions?

Please I need some help.

 

[mdd1963]

The recommended minimums are just to get it 'to run' at 'some' resolution; if anything, they err toward getting you to buy the game, vice warning you you will have low framerates.

From what I have read in a few threads, The Witcher 2 is a hog of a game (rivaling Crysis or Metro 2033), so, I'm not surprised the X2 and GT240 (slower than an 8800GT) won't allow great performance...

Upgrading to a more powerful GPU such as a GTX460 or 6870 might then exceed you existing PSU's capacity as well, as I doubt EMachines ever includes Corsair, ThermalTake, or Antec PSUs in their builds.

My advice: Sell the rig to someone looking for an office machine, and start saving for a complete new midtower....

 

[daemaro]

Well I did just ugrade to a 600watt ThermalTake PSU, forgot to mention that sorry. The only thing I'm worried about is most bigger cards are huge. I was looking at the GTX470 but it's pretty big I don't think it'd fit? Someone suggested a HD6870 to me.

 

[Proximon]

What is the native resolution of your monitor?

 

[daemaro]

1440x900, will that effect game playing? Like my FPS?

Also this is the gfx card I'm thinking about getting.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133341&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Video+Cards-_-PNY+Technologies++Inc.-_-14133341

 

[Proximon]

Overkill for that resolution, but if it actually fits in the case it will be fine.

Something like this will cover the games you want at 1440x900 and will be more likely to fit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261088

 

[daemaro]

Best answer selected by Daemaro.