Looking for Recomendations - Prebuilt with Minimal Upgrades

[elaineofshalott]

I am looking for a computer for general use and light gaming. Sims 3 is probably the most intensive game I will play on it. I am up to doing minimal upgrades but not building a whole computer from scratch.

What I am looking at right now is this:

From Dell:

Inspiron 620 MT Inspiron 620 Minitower w/ Black Bezel
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
Processors Intel® Core™ i3-2120 processor(3MB Cache, 3.30GHz)
Memory 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 2 DIMMs
Keyboard Dell USB Entry Keyboard
Video Card Intel® HD Graphics
Hard Drive 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Floppy Drive Integrated 8 in 1 Media Card Reader
Optical Drives 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
Sound Integrated 5.1
$499.99

Monitor Dell 21.5-inch Wide ST2220MB Flat Panel Monitor
$139.99

Speaker Dell AX510PA Entry Flat Panel Stereo Sound Bar with Power Adapter
$34.99

Upgrade
From Newegg:
VIDEO CARD SAPPHIRE 100287VGAL Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 512MB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card $69.99+ 5.99 shipping


This totals about $750.95 before tax. I'd like to keep my total including tax under $800 but I could go as high as $900 if I'd get a good performance boost. Does anyone see any good changes to make to this setup?

My level of competence on computer upgrades: I have successfully upgraded memory and replaced hard drives, I believe I could readily install a video card. I would consider using a barebone system if it would save me a substantial amount of money or give me a large boost in performance, but I have neither the time nor the patience to troubleshoot a completely homebuilt system.

 

[Ubrales]

I would suggest an upgrade to Win 7 64-bit Professional. With Win 7 Pro, you can have 'XP-Mode' (Virtual PC) for older XP programs that will not run on Win 7. This is optional.

The system that you have picked looks more than adequate for what you want to do.

 

[jmsellars1]

Before you upgrade the graphics on a prebuilt you should make sure the PSU is up to the job. In my experience Dell don't give you branded PSU's so i'd want 500W+ to be on the safe side. Also you should take a look at the HD 5770, i think it's better value than the HD 5670. It's a bit more expensive but would last a lot longer.

 

[elaineofshalott]

Best answer selected by elaineofshalott.

 

[Ubrales]

Thank you!