Upgrade for a friend

[enigm@tic]

He plays some online games like BC2 on lowest settings and res and he wants to be able to play mainly BC2 with respectable settings - doesn't have to be maxed.

cpu - Athlon II X2 215

yfrog Fullsize - 64808786.png

mobo - Dell 0F896N

yfrog Fullsize - 70368854.png

RAM - 3GB

GFX - Radeon 3450 (i think that's just onboard)

I don't know anything about his motherboard or how many watts his psu is but does anyone here know if he could upgrade to a Radeon 5770 so games can be a bit more enjoyable?

Cheers

 

[Trotter]

What model Dell does he have? There are several models that use that particular motherboard. From what I could find, the Inspirion 546 looks to be the main one. If that is it then he only has a 300W PSU.

Also, what is his budget?

 

[enigm@tic]

What model Dell does he have? There are several models that use that particular motherboard. From what I could find, the Inspirion 546 looks to be the main one. If that is it then he only has a 300W PSU.

Also, what is his budget?

Pretty much $250 max is his budget. I'll have to find out what model dell it is.

 

[enigm@tic]

Yeah it's the Inspiron 546.

 

[enigm@tic]

Ok his budget now is $300 do you think these will be fine?

Newegg.com - MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

 

[RichM499]

You'll only need a quality 400w with that card. I have a 4870 (which is MUCH more of a power hog than that 5770) and it runs fine on a 500w with quad core overclocked proc.

Newegg.com - Thermaltake TR2 W0379RU 500W ATX 12V v2.2 Power Supply

This would be more than enough to power his system.

I think that MSI radeon is an excellent choice.

I would recommend upgrading his processor to a Phenom II x4 920 if you can afford it, but if you can't then his current Athlon II x2 215 with the 5770 should be enough.

I run Battlefield Bad Company 2 @ 1600x1200 with everything on max and 4xaa / 16xaf in Win7 with good framerate. I'm not sure exactly what my frames are but it doesn't ever dip far enough for me to notice it. Even when I play online and lots of things are going on, it's pretty smooth. The 5770 is a slightly slower 4870 with better overclocking headroom, draws less power, and supports DX11.

Oh and btw this is on a Phenom II x2 550 dual core. I have unlocked the cores, but before I did BFBC2 ran fine maxed out @ 1600x1200

 

[enigm@tic]

cool thanks RichM