Upgrading AMD Radeon HD 6550D for Diablo III

[Antrim]

BUDGET RANGE: USD $50-150

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Diablo III, HD movies

CPU/GPU: AMD A8-3850 Llano 2.9GHz Socket FM1 with AMD Radeon HD 6550D http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103942

POWER SUPPLY: Antec EarthWatts Green EA-430D http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371034

MOTHERBOARD: BIOSTAR TA75A+ FM1 AMD A75 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138331

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com


Hi everybody. I built my own PC a year ago with the previously mentioned parts, so I don't want to spend a whole lot of money again. I just want to play Diablo III smoothly at 1920x1080, with maximum detail. I think Blizzard games are usually very well optimized so I expect something around $100 will do the trick, but I'll listen to any opinions. Money is not really an issue, if I have to spend $150 I would do it, I just don't want to spend too much on a great graphic card whose power I will never enjoy (Diablo III is the only game I'll play in the next few years).

Also a question: is it possible to buy a graphic card but still use the AMD GPU? Kind of like combining both. I bet it's possible, because it doesn't make sense to me that I would have to waste all that built-in power, but I'd like to be sure and know how to do it exactly. Could it be as easy as installing the graphic card and downloading the drivers?

Thanks in advance!

 

[JKatwyopc]

You don't need a lot of power to run Diablo 3. You should be able to play Diablo 3 on that configuration without any problems. If you find your framerates are a little low you could add a discrete Radeon HD 6570 or Radeon HD 6670 and use it in dual GPU mode. Those are both well under $100 cards.

Check out the following Article: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/diablo-iii-performance-benchmark,3195.html . It suggests that even a Radeon HD 6450 is good enough to run at low details at 1680 X 1050 resolution. Also, here are the system requirements for Diablo 3: http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/diablo-iii-system-requirements . Your system fits into it with significant headroom

 

[Antrim]

Thanks for your answer.

I know that Diablo will run decently even in the highest settings, but I hate to play with low quality or low FPS, so that's why I want to make sure that I have power enough to run at maximum (1920x1080, AA, highest details) AND very smoothly. I see you mention Radeon HD 6670, which is in newegg for about $70, but in the Diablo 3 Performance review it says that it only reaches 30 FPS. I would like the FPS to be a little higher so I was thinking in this Radeon HD 6770 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150540. Any opinion about it?
Also, will my power supply (view first post) be able to handle it fine?
How can you use dual GPU mode? Is it as easy as just installing the latest drivers, or do you have to do something tricky to make it work?

Thanks!

 

[JKatwyopc]

I had to go look up a Tom's hardware review of Llano to get an idea of whether using Dual GPU mode would do you any godd and how to enable it. I suggest you read through it as well. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a8-3500m-llano-apu,2959.html

Apparently Dual GPU mode has a lot of potential but it doesn't help in every situation.

Enabling Dual GPU is done through the AMD Vision engine Control center by enabling Crossfire and then enabling Dual GPU according to the above article.

The Radeon HD 6770 would definitely allow you to run Diablo 3 with respectable frame rates above 30 FPS and your power supply will handle it just fine according to this: http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine