Upgrading Prebuilt Gaming PC from 2009

[Oneill885]

Hello,

I bought a prebuilt dell XPS (my first desktop PC) about 3 years ago, it was great at first but I'm definitely noticing problems with newer games.
ex. Crysis series, SWTOR, etc.

I know the general workings of the different facets that go into a gaming PC but I'm alittle lost as where to start here. What would be the biggest upgrade bang for my buck?

Thanks!

Dxdiag:

System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.120824-0336)
System Model: XPS 630i
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
Memory: 2044MB RAM
Page File: 1868MB used, 2465MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Display Memory: 1776 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1009 MB
Shared Memory: 766 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Driver Version: 9.18.0013.0697 (English)
DDI Version: 10
BGRA Supported: Yes
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 10/2/2012 17:21:00, 18252136 bytes

 

[Bellular]

For gaming the graphics card would have the largest effect. More RAM would certainly help and would be a cheap upgrade, its at the stage where many games have a minimum requirement of 2gb RAM (for example Assassins Creed 3). Processors dont make a great deal of difference in many games as long as they are good enough. I would however reccommend upgrading to a quad core processor like a 3570k (around £160) as quite a few games (eg BF3) benefit from the additional cores. I cant give you any specifics since im not sure about what your motherboard can take. I recently build a new PC using a few components from my already after purchase upgraded Arbico computer.

 

[Poprin]

Yes get your RAM up to 4GB minimum probably would be a good start, if you push it to 8gb even better. Your board will not take a 3570k as it is the wrong socket. The best dual core you will get in it I think is an E8600 (the extreme ones are useless in your machine because I doubt you can overclock on that Dell board). However I wouldn't bother with your CPU as you might as well change out the whole thing if you want to go above what you already have processing wise. You may get a Quad Core in there but again go with RAM first then Graphics. Also if you buy a new graphics card make sure the PSU that Dell have used a) will power it and b) has the connectors to power it.

 

[Oneill885]

Yes get your RAM up to 4GB minimum probably would be a good start, if you push it to 8gb even better. Your board will not take a 3570k as it is the wrong socket. The best dual core you will get in it I think is an E8600 (the extreme ones are useless in your machine because I doubt you can overclock on that Dell board). However I wouldn't bother with your CPU as you might as well change out the whole thing if you want to go above what you already have processing wise. You may get a Quad Core in there but again go with RAM first then Graphics. Also if you buy a new graphics card make sure the PSU that Dell have used a) will power it and b) has the connectors to power it.

Sorry to bring up such an old post but I'm looking for a bit more advice/direction for a new graphics card. I recently upgraded my RAM (finally) from 2 to 8gb. Easy enough.

But I'm alittle lost going about upgrading my graphics card. I'm looking for something around $100 or under. My max power output is 750W. I've been looking at this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130796 but I'm not sure if it will work with my system/PSU.

You can find my DX Diag in the original post.

Thanks!

 

[Oneill885]

bump

 

[jkteddy77]

bump

I have one now. I'd sell it to you, but I'd feel guilty about it. For another 20-30 dollars, You can get an almost 80% performance increase . . . trust me, I can barely run BF3 on low, and won't run BF4 without an upgrade. believe me, the 2GB is a lie, it does nothing to the performance. My GT 640 was thrown into my prebuilt, and it cannot play the newest releasing games well at all. If you can spend $120-$130, You'll be a much happier gamer.
This card seems right for you
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202011

It's very popular in budget pc builds right now, and the price/performance ratio is crazy! You'll be much happier with it.