Looking to Upgrade..need some help please

[☽ LUNATEE ☽]

Hey guys, I'm not to tech savvy so I figured I'm come here and inquire about my computer specs and upgrading.

My current hardware has:

NVIDIA GeForce GT 520
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2310 CPU @ 2.90GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.9GHz
8 GB RAM

I noticed when running Thief tonight, I've been having a lot of issues even on minimum settings. So I'm thinking it may be time to upgrade my video card.

So my question is this... What card can/should I be able to safely upgrade to without having any problems with overclocking etc.??

Side note... I live in Canada, so I'm looking to go out tomorrow to buy something in a store like Futureshop/Bestbuy. (futureshop.ca) (bestbuy.ca)

Any help is much appreciated! Thanks for your time!

[senseidongen]

I agree with UberFiend, though how good a graphics card you can upgrade to is dependent largely on your power supply. You might need to open up the side of your case to get information about that but it would help enormously in giving a recommendation.

[☽ LUNATEE ☽]

This is my computer: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1277132

[senseidongen]

300W power supply - so your GPU (graphics card) choices are limited to ones that only draw power from the motherboard and not from a separate power connector. The best card of this type is the new Nvidia GTX 750Ti, which is a pretty respectable card by all accounts.

The other option is to buy a better power supply which will give you the option to buy a more powerful graphics card. The cheapest powersupply I would recommend would be the Corsair CX430 which is $58 on bestbuy.ca. That would be good for GPUs up to R9 270X or GTX 660/760 level - any higher and you'd probably need a 500W unit.

So it depends how much you're willing to spend really - I would recommend looking up reviews for the 750Ti and deciding for yourself whether that is powerful enough for you (it will be light years ahead of your GT 520!) or whether you'd like to invest a bit more.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Easiest is to get GTX 750 Ti. It will work with small power supply and you only need to take your old card out and pop the new in.
GT 520 is just for browsing internet and other office PC needs, compared to that the GTX 750 Ti is miles better.

[☽ LUNATEE ☽]

Thanks guys!! You've been a tremendous help in making my decision. :)

[_I_]

with an unkknown psu, go with the gtx 750ti
its very low wattage, not much more than the gt620

if you can give us the brand/model of the psu and budget, we can find the best match for you
maybe get a better psu and gpu
2gen i5 cpus are still good, as good/better than amd 6-8 cores