Dell XPS 400 gpu upgrade

Hi and a pre-thanks for any help offered. I have a Dell XPS 400 desk top I purchased for my wife years ago. Being her computer I have payed little attention to it. That being said have today sat down to clean it up (she has way to much useless crap on this thing) and realized her gpu is crap. This machine is still running a pci-expressx16 Nvidia Gforce 7300LE and its super boggy. She plays Lord of the rings online and is running at around 5-10 fps.

System specs
Intel Pentium D 2.8ghz cpu
Nvidia Geforce 7300LE gpu
XP 32 home professional
3gb ram


My question is Being as this is a Dell machine and I didn't build it (Mine is 100% owner built by me) I'm not sure what I can put into this rig and I'm also not sure if its worth it. The processor and Graphics card are non-on board and can be changed out if needed.

Lotro for example recommends a Pentium 4 2.8 ghz cpu, 1gb ram, 128mb Nvidia Geforce FX6800

I don't keep up on the latest technology so I am not even aware of where her card and cpu stand in comparison to the latest technology out there.

In conclusion if anyone has advice to offer. I am not sure if the cpu, gpu or both are to blame for her slow system performance, and seeing as my only slot for upgrade on the gpu is a pci-expressx16 I feel like i'm fairly limited on what I can do for her machine.

Thanks again for any help
Roger Funk III

The slow in game performance is no doubt caused by the extremely low end graphics card. The CPU isn't stellar, but it shouldn't be a bottleneck for Lord of the Rings Online. As far as upgrades for the GPU go, you are going to be limited by the power supply, but there are some decent cards that can run on weaker PSUs. Also does your computer have a slimline case? If so, you are going to be restricted to low profile cards, which aren't very powerful. Assuming you don't have a slimline case, the Radeon HD 5670 can be run on a 300-350 watt power supply and can handle most games fairly well, provided you don't push the resolution above 1280x1024.

Given the age of your machine you probably have a PCI Express 1.0 slot. When you look for video cards make sure it is PCI Express 2.0 and not 2.1. PCI-E 2.1 cards tend not to be compatible with the 1.0 slots for some reason.

Dont uderestimate the HD 5670
It can play at 1920 x 1080p just at medium settings

Good advice about low profile case though I think most XPS 400 are full sized cases
No big deal there is two nice low profile HD5670s on Newegg USA

HD5670 is better card from what I understand for reviews than GT240
but GT240 is still solid performer and if it is much cheaper than HD5670
than it will work fine.

i would go with the new build in the summer but your current GTS250 will be able to run on her system. it draws roughly the same power an an ATI 4850, plus you can then move the GTS 250 into her new build.

Ati is still a little buggy with their drivers especially with a Cross FIre setup
though are getting better.

Good idea to put the GTS250 in her tower for now though watch the temps since I have read they can get a little hot.

Thanks for the heads up. I purchased a x4 955 at first but this biostar board wouldn't run it past 800mhz Looked up the board online and came to find they don't support it because my board is a single plane power phase and I need duals. That being said the 925 was the best I could find at the egg in a 95w compatibility. I just wanted a black edition x4 and I can't so I've set my mind to getting a new mb that doesn't restrict me. I'm new to overclocking to so I'm trying to figure that out as well.. This 925 has excellent oc reviews. I've got it at 3.05 ghz now and I'm running stable but I can't go any higher without locking up the system. I'm hoping someone in the amd oc forums can help me out with it hehe. I was looking at one guys cpu-z and he had this 925 oc'd at 4.1 ghz!!!! was running warm but he was cooling with air and running xp.