What to upgrade next in order to make my PC better for gaming?

[Joshking122]

Alright, I just wan't to know what I need to upgrade next to make my PC more suitable for PC gaming..

Here is a link to the model of my PC including all the specs of the computer. HP Pavilion p7-1100 Desktop PC series*-* HP Pavilion p7-1126s Desktop PC Product Specifications - c03042936 - HP Business Support Center
It's a desktop.

Alright.. I'm new to this so please explain me stuff abreviated terms and what the stuff does.
I'm decent, but the thing I don't understand is..
How do I know if the graphics card is good? Like people always say 'OH NVIDIA GTX 500' bla bla bla, but how do I know if the accual device is like good.
I mean I can buy a super crappy graphics card and the name sounds cool and stuff.
How can I identify if a video card is good? Also does it matter about my computer? Or can I just put it in?

I know how processors are determined, it's by the GHz, am I right?
Just, tell me how this works please So once you tell me I can learn and I won't be such a noob at this.

 

[PP Mguire]

A processors speed is not rated by its speed in GHz when comparing cross gen and cross brand IE: Core i5 3570k to Core i5 4670k or Core i5 4670k to AMD FX 8350. There are a ton of considerations to take in when comparing CPUs. The first and foremost being architectural benefits in performance, IPC, single threaded performance, amount of cores (depending on application), and finally the last being GHz. For instance, there are 3GHz Intel processors that beat 5GHz AMD chips. The other considerations being age, memory bandwidth, memory channels, platform, application (gaming/productivity/casual), and price. Unless you have a full understanding of how a CPU works it's hard to put in small paragraph writing everything you may need to know. I go a little into detail in my thread here, but I don't think it's in depth enough for what you're seaking.

To the GPU. Same applies here except on a smaller scale. With certain differences in generations where the architecture takes huge leaps over the predecessor. For instance, a GTX580 was top dog for single GPU cards before, but now a 660ti beats it out because the Kepler architecture was a huge leap forward in performance. Honestly if you want to really know for your own benefit or because you want to make it a hobby like myself you need to take the time to do the research in understanding rather than have somebody walk you through the park. I know that sounds harsh, but some things you need to learn on your own so you understand it better. Now, if you want to know what's better than what and why, I can do that on a specifics basis only if it's relevant to your own PC and worthy of a thread.

Now to your PC, need to know your budget and if you have done any upgrades yourself to it.

 

[Joshking122]

Update 1:
Alright alright I been researching and found out a little thing about video cards.
That my PSU needs to meet the requierments of the video card I would be going to get.
Unfortunately if I'm going to upgrade my Video Card, I'ma need to upgrade the PSU because mind is only about 250W and most modern cards require more than that..

So I'm looking here at some video cards, again I don't know if the video cards are good but I'm trying to find out how much PSU the card needs.. I can't find any info here... ((@ NEWEGG ))

So yeah.. I'm a noob at this.

Oh, I found all the info of my Video card here Radeon HD 6550D PC Gaming Graphics Card Hardware For Game System Requirements
We'll, my card is accually integrated it seems, and I found out how much watts the requierment is which is 100 watts.

Alright we'll, and I'm guessing the the video memory and core speed is how good it is...
Mine has 512mb dedicated video memory found out that dedicated video memory is how much it puts into games.. so I'm really going to need an upgrade still don't know yet.

We'll, just waiting for a reply.
I don't know what I should upgrade next in order to make it better for gaming.

**READING YOUR REPLY NOW PP Mguire**

 

[Joshking122]

Alright, yeah I understand. I mean it's really common sense.
I was going to research and learn myself either way if someone did tell me, because I always like to double check the truth.

I been researching a little myself right now.. but back to your question.

We'll let's say my budget is around.. $350
I mean, it doesn't really matter if it's higher than $350. I'm not upgrading ATM. I just wan't to know before hand so I can know how much money I need to save up for.

I wan't to just do a small simple upgrade that's not TOO TOO much money. Just something reasonable, Not something like a super upgrade I won't need to upgrade ever again till the next generation.

I just wan't to know a pretty good upgrade that will improve my computer little by little.

 

[Yevrag35]

Oh, I found all the info of my Video card here Radeon HD 6550D PC Gaming Graphics Card Hardware For Game System Requirements

I take it back, that IS what you have.

For $350, you could get: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681413093[FONT=&quot][URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130935"]GTX 760 - EVGA[/FONT][/URL]
& http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093

 

[Joshking122]

I take it back, that IS what you have.

For $350, you could get: Newegg.com - EVGA 02G-P4-2761-KR GeForce GTX 760 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card
& SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com

Uhm, take what back?

 

[Yevrag35]

Uhm, take what back?

I initially thought the 6550 you listed was one you were thinking of getting, not the one you already had. I just didn't read closely enough.

 

[Joshking122]

I take it back, that IS what you have.

For $350, you could get: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681413093[FONT=&quot][URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130935"]GTX 760 - EVGA[/FONT][/URL]
& SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com

Alright, that looks pretty good.

Currently waiting for PPMiguels reply.

And anything I could get for aroudn $250?

 

[Yevrag35]

PPMiguels

Lol, miguel...
Anywho, seeing as even in the $250 range you'd still have to get a new PSU, the 7870 might be a worthy choice to look at. Fyi, the GTX 760 would blow it out of the water.
If you could go a little above $250, I'd say get the GTX 660 instead of the 7870, but if that is the strict limit, then 7870 it might have to be.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161404
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130825

 

[PP Mguire]

Sorry, was having basically a family argument.

Update 1:
Alright alright I been researching and found out a little thing about video cards.
That my PSU needs to meet the requierments of the video card I would be going to get.
Unfortunately if I'm going to upgrade my Video Card, I'ma need to upgrade the PSU because mind is only about 250W and most modern cards require more than that..

So I'm looking here at some video cards, again I don't know if the video cards are good but I'm trying to find out how much PSU the card needs.. I can't find any info here... ((@ NEWEGG ))

So yeah.. I'm a noob at this.

Oh, I found all the info of my Video card here Radeon HD 6550D PC Gaming Graphics Card Hardware For Game System Requirements
We'll, my card is accually integrated it seems, and I found out how much watts the requierment is which is 100 watts.

Alright we'll, and I'm guessing the the video memory and core speed is how good it is...
Mine has 512mb dedicated video memory found out that dedicated video memory is how much it puts into games.. so I'm really going to need an upgrade still don't know yet.

We'll, just waiting for a reply.
I don't know what I should upgrade next in order to make it better for gaming.

**READING YOUR REPLY NOW PP Mguire**

Your CPU is an APU by AMD. That means, half assed CPU power with a decent integrated graphics solution which still blows. The 100w is the TDP of the chip in total, meaning CPU cores and GPU, but TDP does not mean how many watts it consumes.

To your GPU assumption, no, completely wrong. Like I said, they work pretty much like CPUs. Speed, shaders, clock, and VRAM are only 1/4 of what makes a GPU good. To put it in simple, you have low end, mid end, and high end. The mid end of the next gen will always be better than the mid end of the previous, and the mid end of the previous gen will always be better than the low end of the future gen. That sounds confusing, let me explain.

Let's take the GTX650ti for example. Low end "budget" gamer card, right? A GTX 570 is faster than a 650ti. The same basic principle usually always works each generation. The high end from the previous gen is usually always better than the mid end of the present gen but not always the case. Like I said, a 660ti is faster than a 580. That is pretty rare though. The easiest way to tell if something is good or better than others is by benchmarks.

Alright, yeah I understand. I mean it's really common sense.
I was going to research and learn myself either way if someone did tell me, because I always like to double check the truth.

I been researching a little myself right now.. but back to your question.

We'll let's say my budget is around.. $350
I mean, it doesn't really matter if it's higher than $350. I'm not upgrading ATM. I just wan't to know before hand so I can know how much money I need to save up for.

I wan't to just do a small simple upgrade that's not TOO TOO much money. Just something reasonable, Not something like a super upgrade I won't need to upgrade ever again till the next generation.

I just wan't to know a pretty good upgrade that will improve my computer little by little.

Just as a clarification, pricing and availability change on a daily basis. PC hardware changes every 3-6 months depending on what we're talking about. So, if you plan on to upgrade in 3-6 months, you'll need to make another thread because the pricing, availability, and performance of some things will always change. For instance, next month we will have the latest gen of AMD cards. The midrange will probably cream the GTX760 and be cheaper, hence why I'm typing this paragraph. Things going on around the world change too. For instance, a fab at Hynix (DRAM company) went in smoke. Although reports say the damage isn't very bad, the competition is using the excuse to raise prices on DDR3 even though DDR3 pricing has been on the upward slope since this time last year.

Take note that the CPU in your machine isn't very good. Although it's decent, you'll want to upgrade eventually. At least to a faster quad core APU on the FM2+ platform, but doing that you might as well get an Intel setup.

Lol, miguel...
Anywho, seeing as even in the $250 range you'd still have to get a new PSU, the 7870 might be a worthy choice to look at. Fyi, the GTX 760 would blow it out of the water.
If you could go a little above $250, I'd say get the GTX 660 instead of the 7870, but if that is the strict limit, then 7870 it might have to be.

HIS IceQ H787Q2G2M Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Newegg.com
EVGA 02G-P4-2660-KR GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Newegg.com

I agree with this notion except I need to make a correction to the assumption. The 7870 is faster than a GTX660 as it's pretty on par with my GTX 580 and the 660 is comparable to the 570.

You could always get a cheaper PSU to accommodate to get a better GPU. For instance a Corsair CX500, but the Seasonic that was linked earlier is of much better quality.