HD 7750 or 7770 for GT 545 in Alienware X51

[tronald]

Hello,

Somewhat of a noob on this stuff. I recently bought an Alienware X51 I3 with the stock 240 watt PS and GT 545 graphics card.

I just upgraded my monitor to the 27-inch Planar PX2710MW (Killer Price), and now my gaming is suffering. The 545 ran the games on my old 19 - inch at 1366 x 768, but is stuttering a bit in spots at 1920 x 1280.

Based on the power draw, I'm looking at the HD 7750 or 7770 to replace the GT 545.

I want to ask if I'm going to see an appreciable difference if I do upgrade cards. Also, how could I best tweak out the settings to make my games play more smoothly? Presently, I'm play Batman Arkham City, NBA 2K13, and ME3.

Thanks in advance,

RT

 

[dudewitbow]

the reason why its doing so bad is because cheap gpus arent built for 1920x1280 resolution, let alone 1920x1080 resolution. The higher the resolution, the more its required to pay for a stronger gpu, and a stronger gpu also needs an adequate psu to supply it.

 

[samuelspark]

I think the 7750 is your only choice with that PSU. However, it'd give you about the same performance.

 

[geekapproved]

I think you would be ok with 7770, it only uses 16w more than the GT545 and would be a pretty significant upgrade but still kinda weak for that resolution.

 

[Deemo13]

I feel as if that card would be hard to replace by the looks of it. Have you opened the case yet to see if the card is removable?

 

[geekapproved]

It's got an external power supply too hmmm

 

[Deemo13]

External power supply? That is the weirdest thing for a desktop.

 

[tronald]

I feel as if that card would be hard to replace by the looks of it. Have you opened the case yet to see if the card is removable?

It's upgradable, for sure. Here's the link to the PC at Tom's:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Dell-Alienware-Mini-ITX-PC-Gaming-X51,14511.html

The power supply is limiting. I could buy an upgraded 330 watt PS for about 100.00, but I wasn't sure if I needed it. Sounds like I might if I want to keep this monitor.