Help with upgrading.

[bEngineering]

Hi there, i have a Dell Inspiron 545

INSPIRON 545 MINITOWER WITH BLACK BEZEL
PROCESSOR : INTEL CORE 2 QUAD-CORE Q8300
MEMORY : 6144MB (2X2048 + 2X1024) 800MHZ
HARD DRIVE : 1TB SERIAL ATA (7200RPM)
POWER DVD 8.2
POWER CORD : UK 2M
DISPLAY : 23IN ST2310 UK/IRISH BLACK (FULL HD)
GRAPHICS : 1024 MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT220

If i play a full screen game, whether it be on low or high settings, the screen goes blank and it says, 'no input from Pc'. i assume this means that it has overheated and i have to restart the computer to use it again.

I'm looking to upgrade the machine and wanted to know what you guys thought i should get so that i can handle games on most high settings (not ultra). Please feel free to post links. I want quality but i dont want to pay horrendous amounts.

Do i need to change the motherboard or can i get away with not? It's a Dell 0N826N - version A11 - max supported link width is x16

thanks alot

 

[o1die]

Dells aren't upgrade friendly; I suggest you post this in one of the dell forums. Upgrading the video card would make more sense; just be sure your dell ps is strong enough to power a new gpu.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been moved from the section CPU & Components to section Systems by Mousemonkey