hello, i need some advice for upgrading a dell inspiron 580 that came with intel hd graphics. i've been doing a lot of research on how to get better performance but i'm a little overwhelmed at all the mechanical stuff, so i thought i'd get some opinions from experts to point me in the right direction.
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: asap
BUDGET RANGE: ~ $150, variable (see below)
USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming
CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: intel hd graphics, 300w
OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU 550 @ 3.20GHz - 3.2 GHz Performance Rated at: 5.92 GHz - 6gb RAM - Windows 7 64-bit
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: amazon, but not important
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
PARTS PREFERENCES: n/a
OVERCLOCKING: no
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1080p native
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
the main reason for upgrading is to run world of warcraft at high settings without the framerate going down in high-traffic instances. but i'm also interested in how much performance i could get just by upgrading the GPU, and possibly the power supply. i'd like to run games like bf:bc2 and gta iv (with mods), and have them look better than on my 360, but if that's unrealistic for the rest of my system then i wont bother.
thanks for reading if you need any additional info let me know
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: asap
BUDGET RANGE: ~ $150, variable (see below)
USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming
CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: intel hd graphics, 300w
OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU 550 @ 3.20GHz - 3.2 GHz Performance Rated at: 5.92 GHz - 6gb RAM - Windows 7 64-bit
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: amazon, but not important
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
PARTS PREFERENCES: n/a
OVERCLOCKING: no
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1080p native
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
the main reason for upgrading is to run world of warcraft at high settings without the framerate going down in high-traffic instances. but i'm also interested in how much performance i could get just by upgrading the GPU, and possibly the power supply. i'd like to run games like bf:bc2 and gta iv (with mods), and have them look better than on my 360, but if that's unrealistic for the rest of my system then i wont bother.
thanks for reading if you need any additional info let me know