Upgrading a AMD Radeon HD6450 1GB, $250 budget

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within a month

Budget Range: $150-250.

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY:Graphics: AMD Radeon HD6450 1GB/PSU: 480W PSU

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming. Things like Skyrim, Dead Island, Fallout, etc.

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Processor: AM3 AMD Athlon II X4 640 (3.0GHz) Memory: 8GB DDR3-1333 - Optical Drive: 24X DL DVD+/-RW Drive - 12 in 1 Card Reader

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg/Amazon

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920 x 1080


ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I'd like to have better FPS at higher settings on the games I play. Right now Dead Island is just about unplayable, or at least it's not fun to play.

I really have no idea what I'm doing. Please help

Hi there! Welcome to the forums.

Well I think you should do both a PSU swap and a GPU swap.
PSU: CX500 $60 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139027
GPU: Gigabyte 560 Ti $210 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814125401
Now I realize this is $270. But this will DESTROY those games at 1080p. If you want to get a 6870 (cheaper but not quite as good) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102948 $160 will get it done. Either card will be a HUGE increase over what you have now

Well first let me see your PSU?

Could you please specify your PSU so we can evaluate if it's a good one or not?
We can't check it by the link you provided

I just opened up the case to take a look, and it was blank for the most part. There were some tags, but I couldn't see anything with other pieces of the case in the way. I believe it's a Pixxo.

Closest I could find is their 500 watt.

http://www.mypixxo.com/product/PL-500RPF.html

Allen, PSU's usuallly have a sticker on them that has the info on the power ratings, should look like the chart on that page where it talks about input and output ratings. Anything like that on the PSU you have? I'm sure we're mostly concerned with the amps of the +12v rails.

Unfortunately yes, I would remove it. Either of the configurations I listed above will work