Upgrading graphics card, 3 options?

[byroniccoward]

Hello all, I need some help deciding on my options

I would like to be able to play Shogun 2 and Fall of the Samurai; budget is limited due to my previous months expenditures on anime figurines and Blu Rays. Not to mention future budgeting for PSP VITA, P4 Arena & Golden, and ofc more anime.
Possible Upgrades:
Option 1 – GFX Card only ATI HD 7750 – approx 109.99 USD (suggested min. PSU reqs. 400W, 20A on 12V)
Keep Current Generic PSU (I have a Cyberpower PC ), 500 W (Peak vs Continuous?), 12V rails [12v1 : 21A] [12v2 :17A]

Option 2 – GFX Card and PSU ATI HD 7750 – approx 109.99 USD (suggested min. PSU reqs. 400W, 20A on 12V) – limited use at higher resolutions
PSU Option – 450w-500W only (Brand OCZ or Corsair) limited upgrade/reuse capacity 40-50 USD

Option 3 - GFX Card and PSU More Powerful GFX Card 120-180 USD
PSU – 600/650 W Option 60-80USD
Possible Bottlenecks
CPU: Athlon II x2 255 3.1 Ghz
Micro ATX Mobo
Monitor: Max Resolution 1280x1024

 

[diec4st]

7750 alone would be my bet. If the PSU has a pci-e power connector you could even get a 7770 as it only draws 80W total power. I wouldn't go the big updrage route since your CPU is only a dual core and would be the bottleneck in most situations.

 

[byroniccoward]

I see, my main worry is the PSU though since its a generic, and the reason my older PC died was b/c I overloaded a 350w psu (antec though). Also the 2 rail values confuse me, do I combine the values. Also, the generic PSU has no PCI-E lines.

 

[diec4st]

I know the 7750 will run on a generic 300W PSU (installed one in a friend's HP pc and it has been running fine since then) so I would not worry about that. The 7750 will draw a maximum of 55W so there's no way you'll even get close to overloading that PSU. Also, getting a stronger GPU wouldn't really help with a resolution of 1280x1024.

 

[byroniccoward]

Thats great to know. Thank man. I'll be upgrading the next time I see a sale on amazon or newegg.

 

[byroniccoward]

Best answer selected by byroniccoward.