Upgrading Graphics Card

[ShipTheChipz]

Hello All!

New to the building/upgrading world so bare with me!

I am looking to upgrade my graphics card for my older PC in order to run games such as mists of pandaria. Not looking for anything crazy since I know my cpu is holding me back. Only looking to use this card for 1 year - 1.5 years before I can afford building a new one.

Please let me know your suggestions and advice!

HP Pavilion
System Model FQ425AA-ABA-a6655f
BIOS: Phoenix- AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Windows vista home premium
Processor: AMD Phenom 9150e Quad Core Processor ~1.8GHz
Memory: 4990MB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
PSU: (Still need to check but from online i found it to be 300 Watts)

Here are more specifications (I.E. Case size) to make sure everything would work with this new card)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4468082&CatId=5140&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=TnL5HPStwNw-l3HE7jMbENuh5oLHRcYPbQ

I have no allegiance to any companies for buying parts, just that they work properly.

My Budget on this is around $200... Less is obviously better but I want a quality card that will last me a little bit.

Also I have room in my budget for a new psu if needed.

Let me know what you guys think! Thanks so much

 

[arzbhatia]

Spend $19 more and get yourself a Radeon HD 7850 Unlocked Version

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102999

OR

Spend $9 more and get yourself a normal 7850

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102998

Nothing better than it

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

Plus a new psu is far above budget.

 

[amgamer29]

Well that processor is certainly a huge bottleneck. Especially for RTS games which are more CPU dependent.
So even if I do suggest a good mid ranged GPU I dont think it perform so great.
If it was just a slight or little (20%) bottleneck than it would have been fine but here the bottleneck would be big.

Anyway since you will upgrade your processor so look up for AMD/ATI Radeon HD 7750. It is very well under 200$ and also works fine with smaller PSU's. But still I think minimum required PSU would be 350W.

If you could upgrade your PSU then many more perfomance card options will be open to you like HD 7770, HD 6870, GTX 560 and even GTX 650 Ti (Coming soon).

Still I am unsure how bad the bottleneck would be so cannot really say you see a really big difference in gaming. (I am unsure so correct me if I am wrong)

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

We already covered this question, it's a double thread.

You STILL are not sure about that psu, open up your case man and look for those 12v amps !

 

[tator_80]

Like amgamer said that CPU will bottleneck the GPU pretty bad. But if you want a recommendation
Here's a EVGA 560
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=555331&sku=E145-1562

Also a thermaltake 500w PSU (little bit overkill)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=899123&sku=T925-5002

Believe the total was $219 for the two.
Only concern Id have with a new PSU is the fact your harddrive might not be able to connect to the PSU since it is an older model computer, i can't tell from the pictures off tigerdirect though, it's just a guess

 

[ShipTheChipz]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

@robjordy I only reposted this because I realized I posted the initial one on the UK server tomshardware. Got a lot more responses so it seems like it was worth it!

I will take off the case and get the final result for the PSU tonight! I will probably go with the higher video card with new PSU (since I will want to take those and use them in a new build after a year or so they should be ok.

Thanks again will keep you all posted

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

Aha.

 

[ShipTheChipz]

Hey Guys! Took off the panel and checked out my PSU. Looks like it is unfortunately a 300 watt one. Looks like a new PSU is essential to any upgrade. Looking into the EVGA you suggested and I can just hope it doesnt bottleneck my system too much!