Upgrading video card for gaming

greeves

Solid State Member
Messages
7
Location
Texas, USA
Hey guys,

I've been playing on a low-end Dell all-in-one desktop PC for the last few years and it's been okay for the games I play. I'm a fan of a lot of older games such as the Half Life 2 series, Ghost Recon, and Arma 2. Now, my online community has added Arma 3 to their game list and I also would like to play some newer titles such as Fallout 3, Far Cry 3, Just Cause 2, etc. Unfortunately, my video card can't handle them.

According to the information and "can you run it?" websites I've been looking at, it seems my CPU is good enough:

Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2120T CPU @ 2.60GHz

I have 6.1gb of RAM, so that seems to be more than enough. My problem is my video card, which is probably fairly common. I currently have:

Intel(R) HD Graphics Family

As you've probably already figured out, I'm not a genius when it comes to PC tech stuff, although I have been gaming for a long time. However, it doesn't take a computer genius to read "Graphics Family" and not be impressed. Lol.

So I've been told I need, at the minimum, something like a Nvidia 8800 GTX or higher. The problem is that I only have 64mb of dedicated video RAM. So what would be the best option for playing games like those mentioned above, while still not getting into extremely expensive hardware? I'm not one of those guys who cries when his framerate drops under 60FPS, so I don't need the best video card in the world. I just want to be able to get by with a decent framerate.

Thanks in advance!
 
Firstly, what model of Dell do you have? Secondly, what brand/wattage of PSU is in there? If you upgrade to a more powerful card, you may have to upgrade the PSU as well as the GPU to compensate for the extra power draw. Thirdly, what's your budget?
 
So we're talking a whole new system? Okay. If that's the case, what would be my best option? Alienware?
Hardly or rather far from it lol.

By all in one, you're talking a screen with a system plastered to the back of it right? If that's the case, then we will need a specific model. Some can be upgraded, but most can't.

If it comes to a new system give us a budget and we'll list parts out for you to build.
 
So do I just select those pieces on the Alienware website when it asks me to build the system? Sorry, I'm sure this is an obvious question haha.
 
Back
Top Bottom