Looking to upgrade the original GPU on my 5.5 year old computer to expand gaming options

[marquito8092]

My family has a pre-built Dell Studio Slim D540S that we bought in 2009. This is the only computer my brother and I currently use for gaming. Since joining steam a little over a year ago, we have become more interested in gaming and would like to continue broadening the types of games we play. Obviously, the ideal solution if we want to play new releases is buy/build a new computer for gaming or buy a console; however, we currently do not have that much money. I wanted to make some small upgrades to enable us to run some larger, better games as well as improve the ones we play, so we do not have to run all our games on low settings. [For example, we own Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, and I would like to purchase Skyrim (or other Elder Scrolls games), Fallout: New Vegas, Total War: Rome II, or maybe Total War: Attila after it releases.]

Here are the current specs for our Dell Studio Slim D540S.
Motherboard: Dell Inc. 0M017G
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 @2.5GHz
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 4350
Monitor: Dell 22" S2209W flat panel display that is currently being run at 1152x864@75Hz (Optimum Resolution is apparently 1920x1080@60Hz)
RAM: 6GB DDR2
Power Supply: Dell 250w SFF (The original recently died on us, and we got a replacement from Amazon that is compatible with the original model No. PS-5251-5)

[If there are any other specs needed, just let me know and I'll do my best to find the correct information.]

Anyways, I've been doing research on my options, but I still have lots of questions. It seems the current graphics card is really bad for gaming as well as massively outdated.

• Is the GPU the biggest thing bottlenecking game play?
  
• I heard some bad stuff about integrated graphics, if the motherboard has integrated graphics, is the GPU irrelevant?
  
• Would a Nvidia GeForce GT 610 be a massive improvement that would allow us to run better games like the ones listed earlier?
  
• I read the GT series is not that good for gaming and that even lower numbered GTX cards are way better than higher number GT cards. How much of a difference is there, and could I get a better GTX for the same or slightly higher price than a GT 610?
  
• Would the computers 6GB DDR2 RAM be compatible with a DDR3 GPU, or will I need to upgrade the RAM as well?
  
• At around what graphics card would I be bottlenecking the RAM and/or CPU, and thus be over-upgrading?
  
• I know that I will have to get a new power supply if I upgrade the GPU, but is the 300w minimum okay, or should I get something a little higher (like around 450w)?

TL;DR: Sorry for all the noob questions, but I would greatly appreciate advice from those more knowledgeable than I, and would like input on what my options might be for upgrading my computer to expand our gaming before having to commit to a new computer or a console. Is it worth it, or will it be too much of a hassle?

[ᴾᴿ⁷ᴰᴬ]

ya

[Rove]

What's the budget total?

I'd recommend a new case & new 500W PSU as well as a GPU. The GTX 750 ti is the best card that can run on 300W currently.

For under $500 you could build a whole new system that would be all-around better.

[marquito8092]

Thank you for the responses! Honestly, we were looking to spend no more than $150. I figured anything approaching $200 would be too much and it would be better to buy a new computer or console. The more research I've done, the more things I've felt would need to be upgraded, thus, driving the price up. So, it would probably be better to buy a new rig in our situation?

[Rove]

Option 1:
GTX 750 ti that runs on a 300W PSU which you hopefully at least have. You still need to check if it fits your case.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-02gp43751kr

Option 2:
New case (needed to fit PSU), new PSU and new GPU. This GPU sucks more power than the GTX 750 ti by almost double and it's also cheaper but by the stats (GFLOPS, memory bandwidth and fillrates) it's also better.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7CNZjX
Base Total: $199.97
Mail-in Rebates: -$55.00
Total: $144.97

Option 3:
Whole new build:
"Gamebox" budget PS4/XB1 console replacement PC. Version 2
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Rove/saved/WmdG3C
Base Total: $521.81
Promo Discounts: -$10.00
Mail-in Rebates: -$60.00
Shipping: $2.98
Total: $454.79

SO between all these it depends what PSU you have got right now and what's on budget for the future. Do you want the bare minimum, the solid upgrade kit to help continuely upgrade the PC over time perhaps next with a new motherboard, CPU and RAM or the whole new tower?

[bmac1191]

750ti then save for a new build.. on budget, low end i5 w/ h97 or z97 and i5 4690k if you can spend more. i3 with htt could work but the price is probably very close to a low end i5.

[Andrius227]

I would recommend building a new pc.

You can build a decent pc for around 500$ (around 400$ not including windows, if you are willing to go for free linux).

[Long Ago [Linux]]

I would think he might be able to run a GTX 750 Ti without any other changes. It only needs 60 watts.

I just ran Unigine Valley benchmark (in Linux) with my Dell XPS 8100 i5 650 3.2 GHz, 8 GB, GTX 550 Ti (116 watt) and it peaked at 206 watts at wall outlet (Kill A Watt meter). With 750 Ti that would be 150 watts total for my setup (maybe less with his CPU). Although, my OEM PSU is 350 watt.

But that might depend upon the quality of his replacement PSU. I once had an HP computer from 2004 whose overrated OEM 250 watt PSU could not even boot a mild video upgrade that only used 130 watts at the wall (after upgrading to 330 watt PSU). Although, Dell PSU's may more conservatively rated to provide their rated power.

PS: One thing I just learned is that for computers before 2012 you might need UEFI capable BIOS for GTX 750 Ti and not sure what other cards might require that. The newest BIOS for my computer is dated 2010. So I still need to research that.

[marquito8092]

Once again, thanks for all the responses! I think we are going to just wait and save until summer or even next Christmas before getting a new PC or maybe a console. I have a few more questions though, if anyone is willing to answer some of them.

• With the old graphics card that we do have, what is the best way to make sure any future game purchases will at least be playable even if on low settings? Is there a website we can use, or do we just have to compare requirements with games we already own?
  
• Any website recommendations that I can learn more about building a computer and selecting parts to go along with pcpartpicker.com?
  
• Is there a good time of year to buy/build a computer because of price drops or does it stay pretty consistent throughout the year?

[Andrius227]

Originally posted by Bossman5212:

Once again, thanks for all the responses! I think we are going to just wait and save until summer or even next Christmas before getting a new PC or maybe a console. I have a few more questions though, if anyone is willing to answer some of them.

• With the old graphics card that we do have, what is the best way to make sure any future game purchases will at least be playable even if on low settings? Is there a website we can use, or do we just have to compare requirements with games we already own?
  
• Any website recommendations that I can learn more about building a computer and selecting parts to go along with pcpartpicker.com?
  
• Is there a good time of year to buy/build a computer because of price drops or does it stay pretty consistent throughout the year?

You can try using something like this:
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri
It scans your specs and compares to games and says what exactly you are missing. But it's pretty obvious that the gpu is all you need.

But your graphics card is so old and terrible, it's unlikely it will run anything decent. Even the cheapest laptops these days come with more powerfull integrated graphics, but even they can barely run games on lowest graphics, and still not all of them.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

To stay on budget but allow u a performance increase worthy of buying; go for GTX 750 Ti 2GB; which just lowered it's base price in most outets. Places like TigerDirect for example having End-Of-Year-Sales and you can get 750 Ti 2GB for around $99-109

[Astraea Kisaragi]

Just make sure it fits or buy a smaller version. I purchased the MSI Gaming GTX 750 Ti which together with the dual fan EVGA are between the largest GPUs. Even if I have a regular miditower it literally pushes on the SATA cables on the other end of the motherboard.
But its great and silent.

[Long Ago [Linux]]

I also just got the MSI gaming GTX 750 Ti. With the dual fans it is larger than my GTX 550 Ti and I had to relocate my hard drive to make room. But there are also single fan versions that are much shorter.

As far as the BIOS thing I was not certain of above, this MSI has a tiny switch that by default is set to (2) UEFI/BIOS Hybrid (not sure if that automatically works with old BIOS), but I set it to (1) Legacy BIOS and it works in Win7 and Linux. Although, I had to update the Nvidia driver in Windows. It uses about 50 watts less than my GTX 550 Ti (not much over 150 watts max for entire PC) while being faster in benchmarks.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

If you are short on space within your case and u want a good short GTX card; there are what's called "Mini / ITX version" of GPUs such as GTX 750 Ti, GTX 760, and GTX 970. The single fan on those should still be plenty.

Here are a few:
GTX 750 Ti (Mini / ITX version)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127784
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487025

GTX 970 (Mini / ITX version)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125706

[Rove]

Originally posted by Bossman5212:

Once again, thanks for all the responses! I think we are going to just wait and save until summer or even next Christmas before getting a new PC or maybe a console. I have a few more questions though, if anyone is willing to answer some of them.

• With the old graphics card that we do have, what is the best way to make sure any future game purchases will at least be playable even if on low settings? Is there a website we can use, or do we just have to compare requirements with games we already own?
  
• Any website recommendations that I can learn more about building a computer and selecting parts to go along with pcpartpicker.com?
  
• Is there a good time of year to buy/build a computer because of price drops or does it stay pretty consistent throughout the year?

This site may not be perfect in my opinoin but it's okay and at least covers most options. I think they should recommend a bit more RAM then they do and place AMD CPUs too low in some cases and CPUs like the i3 too high. Also think AMD GPUs deserve a higher spot. Though I am a AMD fan.

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

[_I_]

going from the c2q to fx is a lateral move at best
similar core performance, and most game do not need over 4 cores anyway

he would save alot just getting a low profile gtx750

if he wants a new build, an i3 would be a step forward, with upgrade optinos to i5/i7 if/when needed

logicalincrements is a good site for general computing, but for gaming their gpu/cpu choices are way off