whats holding my gaming back? spot the bottlekneck

[andyiracing]

hi, i play iracing frequently and am having some issues with frame rate. when i turn the graphics up from base level my pc cant handle it. i was wondering if anyone knows which of the following is most likely the problem. i dont want to replace the g card and find out the processor was the problem or vice versa.

pc - dell optiplex gx 620
ram - 4gb
processor- dual 2800
graphics card - geforce gt610
os - win 7 64bit

... i've read that this graphics card is pretty poor. it struggles to stream videos online smoothly in 720p. i am aware this pc is quite dated also but so is the game and i meet the minimum and recommended requirements.
my friend is soon to be selling a quad core processor and g card. so depending on whether they are compatible with my pc i might get both.
anyways, if anyone knows which is most likely to be restricting me the g card or the processor i would appreciate a response. thanks, andy.

 

[PP Mguire]

The GPU shouldn't struggle at all to handle any type of video be it 1080p, 720p, streaming, or Bluray. Kill all background tasks that hog up resources.

For the game, your GPU is bottom of low end. You need to replace it to see an FPS improvement.

It would help to know the actual model of the CPU too, even though the GPU is guaranteed the problem.

 

[andyiracing]

thanks for the reply! very helpful. i might check my cpu model tonight and post in this thread.
If you get time, what gpu would you recommend based on my hardware and requirements? i can appreciate a stab in the dark is probably all you can give as i have not provided that much info.

I am willing to spend up to £100 on a gpu as iracing is costly and i want to improve my experience as much as possible.

my friends gpu for sale is an nvidia n9500gt which he recons will run hd streaming at 720p smoothly... on his pc anyways.

 

[PP Mguire]

Anything modern can stream HD, including IGPs. Like I said, if you have problems streaming HD content then you need to look elsewhere for a possible hiccup. Just as a note, the 9500GT isn't that great, and is rather dated.

This is going to be the best card for your budget.

XFX Double Dissipation Core Edition Radeon HD 7770 AMD Graphics Card - 1GB HD 4K Ready - FX-777A-ZDF4 - Scan.co.uk

You need to make sure you have at least a 400w PSU before running that card.

 

[andyiracing]

thanks again, v. helpful

280w looks like i will have to make do for now. thanks again for the pointers, andy.