PC Upgrade - GFX Card Specifically - Replacement for HD5450

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Joppsta

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Okay, so I'm pretty green behind the ears when it comes to PC hardware. I feel comfortable enough to open the side of this thing up and tinker around with stuff that's already inside of it... but I am not versed well in the whole "this is better than that and you should use this for this".

It would be like asking something along the lines of... a mechanical engineer to design an electronics circuit... fitting since that's what I'm studying at college :p


So basically, I have this lovely Radeon ATi HD5450 sitting in my PC that isn't pulling the FPS i require for my gaming addictions.. So i'm looking to replace it. After having opened up my PC to try and work out what the PSU's wattage is (because from my trawling around the net i believe this is important?) I came up with a 300 watt PSU. I'm not sure, the label said max load is 300W or something along these lines.

Oh and I bought this PC from Dell less than 4-5 months ago, if i recall ... I probably should have just built my own but alas, impatience got the better of me. If you need further specs of the PC I can easily throw in the specifications I got from Dell.

Cheers in advance,

~Joppsta
 
What is your budget? What games are you playing and are you willing to upgrade the psu as well?
 
You'll most likely need a new power supply to go along with a new video card. 300w just won't be enough.
What is your budget that you are willing to spend on the parts?

List the specs of your Dell too, it's not really needed... but it's good info to have to get an general idea of the overall system.
 
Budget is £100-£200.. I thought I would have had to upgrade PSU also

Specs of PC are as follows (this is a c/p of the crap in the email I got from them):


Item - Description
Base - Intel® Core™ i3 Processor 550 (3.20GHz, 4MB)
Memory - 4096MB Dual Channel DDR3 [4x1024] Memory
Keyboard - Dellâ„¢ USB Entry Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
Monitor - Display Not Included
Video Card - ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5450 1GB DDR3 graphics
Hard Drive - 1TB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Microsoft Operating System - Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit - English
Mouse - Dell MS111 USB Optical Mouse (Indigo)
Modem - No Modem
Optical Devices - DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD) with DVD Burn software
Sound Cards - Integrated 7.1 channel audio
Speakers - No Speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Cable - 2 Meter Power Cord - UK
Order Information - Inspiron Desktop 580 Minitower Order - UK
Dell System Media Kit - Inspiron Desktop 580 Resource DVD (Diagnostic & Drivers)
Operating System Recovery Options - OS Windows® Recovery Media Not included

It basically is this PC: Inspiron 580 Desktop Details | Dell UK

Another sidenote I'd have is.. I didn't get any Win 7 discs with it so does that mean if i want to reinstall the OS i need to go out and buy some new ones? Since I obviously paid Dell for the thing... anyway, have fun trying to educate. I'm not an old dog yet so I'm sure I can learn a few tricks :grin:

EDIT: Having read the site it is indeed a 300W power supply.. would have saved me time had it said that in the lovely email they sent me confirming the order.
 
I think it is relevant for us to know what games you play or want to play. As I would recommend something different for online mmo's than I would for bfbc2 or crysis or the like.
 
Well, the odds of me playing FPS regularly are unlikely since I have an xbox which is where I get that fix from. What i usually play on the PC would be ...

World of Tanks it's a very unrefined product though

If we were to go with what I'd aspire to play besides that, most likely RTS games. Stuff such as Sins of a Solar Empire, Command and Conquer, SupCom2 (but it seems this current hardware has little problems with these). What really lags this computer is Civ5, Total War Shogun 2 (on lowest settings) and World of Tanks I'm lucky to get a solid 25fps with this new monitor, old was 1024x768 and I managed to get 30-40 reliable fps.


TL;DR, World of Tanks and RTS games in general


Should probably add that I'll be using 1920x1080 resolution
 
I would recommend something like a gt240 or gt430. Either would provide a good experience for what you like to play and would allow you to keep your psu. The gts450 would be nice as well but then I would recommend a better psu and you may then be over your budget. The games your playing are not that demanding so there is no need for something high end and a large psu.
 
For the most part Dell PSUs do alright with the system they're built for, but personally would not put much strain on them.

I would probably go with this PSU and this GPU.
Comes out <£200, just not sure what Ex VAT and Inc VAT is all about, crazy kids across the pond.
 
For the most part Dell PSUs do alright with the system they're built for, but personally would not put much strain on them.

I would probably go with this PSU and this GPU.
Comes out <£200, just not sure what Ex VAT and Inc VAT is all about, crazy kids across the pond.

+1 can't argue with this. Excellent recommendation Roark.
 
I would recommend something like a gt240 or gt430. Either would provide a good experience for what you like to play and would allow you to keep your psu. The gts450 would be nice as well but then I would recommend a better psu and you may then be over your budget. The games your playing are not that demanding so there is no need for something high end and a large psu.

VAT is basically money that goes to the government. It's a form of tax. I believe almost everything has VAT added onto it.. except a few items. Currently the VAT rate is 20% if i recall correctly, so that means every £1 you spend, 20p of it goes into the government's coffers. I think the regular value is meant to be 17.5% but due to national debt and the whole economy SNAFU in recent years I'm sure we're all aware of.... they decided to put it up to pay off national debt faster or something I believe. I think it was at 15% for a while before that too!

Either way, it's just another form of tax... in a nutshell.

And with regards to your recommendations, this will simply fit in the case I have already yes? And the GFX card will run on the same kinda slot a HD54050 runs on yes?

I just want to be extra double sure before shelling out £180 or so... otherwise, this will probably be my next big goal, although i really should be saving money for London later this year my computer always somehow manages to take priority! xD
 
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