What Should I upgrade for gaming?

[derbal213]

Hello, first time posting. I have a Dell XPS 7100 i received as a gift about one year ago I'd like to upgrade to play newer games (Star Wars TOR in particular) at higher graphics settings. I've never built/upgraded my own machine before, so I could use any and all advice. Here are my current specs:

Win 7 64 bit
Studio Phenom II X6 1035T 2.6G Hz
ATI Radeon HD5670 1GB GDDR5
6GB DDR3 SDRAM,1333MHz, 2x2GB+ 2x1GB
1TB HDD

With this, I have been able to play SWTOR and Portal 2 on low settings smoothly, but bumping the settings up to high cause it to get a bit rough and I do notice the framerate dropping fairly significantly. I need to get some FPS benchmarks, but I'm away at the moment, so I will need to update this post later.

Like I mentioned, this is one of those Dell built PC's so will that make it more difficult for me to upgrade it?

Any suggestions or thoughts? Thanks

 

[swifty_morgan]

need to know your power supply/make and model/specs so a new card and /or card and power supply can be recommended.

 

[James296]

need to know your power supply/make and model/specs so a new card and /or card and power supply can be recommended.

+1

and if it's a dell, you may also want to take a tape measure and measure from the back of the case to the hard drive cage (the spot/s where your hard drive/s sits). Reason being, I'm guessing, you may need a new case to fit some of the larger hardware. which isn't that hard or expensive to get a new case, for example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

these are just to name a few.

 

[derbal213]

Thanks for the replies.

The power supply looks to be a 460 watt Acbel PC9004.

As for the back to the hard drive cage... That's 10 inches.

 

[RichterFry]

Just from looking at that, you sould get a new graphcs card.

 

[derbal213]

FYI... With the specs in the op, With graphics set to High, I get 15-20 fps in SWTOR. With settings on Low, I get around 60 fps.

 

[phensen]

Thanks for the replies.

The power supply looks to be a 460 watt Acbel PC9004.

As for the back to the hard drive cage... That's 10 inches.

Here's a link to a similar thread from the past:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/307638-28-upgrade-dell-studio-7100

He went with an upgraded PSU, and I think you would also be best served to upgrade your PSU/GPU as others have said. What's your budget?

 

[derbal213]

Here's a link to a similar thread from the past:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/307638-28-upgrade-dell-studio-7100

He went with an upgraded PSU, and I think you would also be best served to upgrade your PSU/GPU as others have said. What's your budget?

I'm looking at a budget of around $350-450.

 

[phensen]

I'm looking at a budget of around $350-450.

Here's my 2 cents as far as video card and power supply:

EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card: $210 after $20 instant promo code and $20 MIR: (It's 9" long)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130610&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-N82E16814130610-_-na-_-na&PID=3891137

or

XFX HD-697A-CNFC Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity: $300 after MIR. This card is 11.3" long.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150517&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL122611&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL122611-_-EMC-122611-Index-_-DesktopGraphicsVideoCards-_-14150517-L07C

This power supply will handle either card:

XFX Core Edition PRO650W (P1-650S-NLB9) 650W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply: $60 after MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207014

Here's a thread where they discuss power supplies for a 560ti: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/319237-28-power-supply


Completely uninstall the drivers for your 5670, prior to removing it. Then install the new video card drivers after plugging in the new card and booting .

I think you'll love playing SWTOR with your new upgrade!

Here's Tom's SWTOR performance article for reference, the (560ti is a bit slower than the 570):

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/star-wars-gaming-tests-review,3087.html

 

[derbal213]

Here's my 2 cents as far as video card and power supply:

EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card: $210 after $20 instant promo code and $20 MIR: (It's 9" long)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130610&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-N82E16814130610-_-na-_-na&PID=3891137

or

XFX HD-697A-CNFC Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity: $300 after MIR. This card is 11.3" long.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150517&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL122611&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL122611-_-EMC-122611-Index-_-DesktopGraphicsVideoCards-_-14150517-L07C

This power supply will handle either card:

XFX Core Edition PRO650W (P1-650S-NLB9) 650W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply: $60 after MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207014

Here's a thread where they discuss power supplies for a 560ti: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/319237-28-power-supply


Completely uninstall the drivers for your 5670, prior to removing it. Then install the new video card drivers after plugging in the new card and booting .

I think you'll love playing SWTOR with your new upgrade!

Here's Tom's SWTOR performance article for reference, the (560ti is a bit slower than the 570):

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/star-wars-gaming-tests-review,3087.html

Thanks for the suggestions and the link. Good stuff.

 

[derbal213]

Purchased and installed the GTX 560 TI and new PSU. Getting 45-60 FPS in SWTOR now with settings cranked. Great stuff. Loving it. Can't wait to try some other games I was forced to play with low settings.

Next on the list is a new case... This case is incredibly small. I could barely stuff the cords on the new PSU in it.

Thanks for the help!