Turning a Budget Desktop into a Budget Gaming!

[jamesdude55]

Ok so I have a PC at the moment (Packard Bell) Which is fine for Facebook and internet but I am starting to get into PC gaming and my computer starts to freeze playing Minecraft! It needs to be as budget as humanly possible, be able to play most PC games on about mid graphics and I'm in the UK!

Here are my current specs!

AMD Phenom 8450 Triple-Core processor 2.10 GHz

3.00 GB RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 9200

And it's a 32bit system

So remember...

UK
BUDGET
Mid Graphics for Gaming

 

[shaqxolotl]

How much is your budget? £500? £750? £1000?

 

[tsnor]

You'll need a video card. To find the right video card you need 4 things

(1) This list of video cards that gives watts used, cost (us$) and how well they perform http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-performance-radeon-geforce,3018.html look also at the last page. Find your current video card, 9200. Then look only at video cards at least three tiers up.

(2) the size case you are using. Some cases only support low profile video card (they are a smaller size than regular cards)

(3) The wattage of your power supply in your computer. If you bought your computer you can usually google the model number and 'watts' to find the PSU rating. If you built the computer (or someone else did) open the case and read the sticker on the power supply. Most budget PCs have small power supplies that cannot support an add-in video card of any strength. Most PCs use a standard size PSU. A great 400 watt PSU is pretty cheap, $50us, so you would buy both the video card and the PSU and install both. Or you would buy only a low power card (which would still be much better than the GeForce 9200)

(4) screen resolution. When you look at the video cards you'll see a card that struggles at 1920x1080 runs fins at 1024x768. What resolution will you use with your monitor?