I have an NVIDIA GTS 250, could anyone recommend an upgrade please?

[Llamatron]

I use my rather modest PC for office work and games and am starting to notice more and more forthcoming titles are beyond its capabilities.

What I'm looking for is a card that will run the newer games competently for the next few years. I'm not looking for "Ultra Max settings" or anything, just something that will chug along nicely for the medium term. I realise a new PSU is a priority, but is my PCU a problem?

Here are my specs. Like I said, they are pretty humble compared to some out there!

Motherboard make and model
Pegatron Corporation 2A73h
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7400 @2.8GHZ
Video card
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 (512mb)
Monitor (primarily LCD/CRT, size, resolution and refresh rate)
hp L1950g LCD 19inch 1280x1024 @ 60 - 75Hz
RAM
PC2-6400 DDR2 800 6G
Power Supply
liteon ps-5301-08hf 300w

Any advice is very much appreciated. Thanks.

[senseidongen]

Depends how much you're willing to spend: a new GPU will give you better gaming but may be held back a bit by the CPU: replacing the CPU would mean new motherboard and new RAM as well. You could really do with a quad core as more and more games make better use of multiple threads (check out a CPU gaming review that uses Skyrim as one of their tests to see the difference it can make).

An option you might wish to consider (if you do want to replace the CPU, RAM and board) is an AMD APU. Basically, CPU + GPU on the same chip and the top end A10 (which I have) has a quad core CPU and will game at medium 1080p (so probably very high at 1280 x 1024).

If you want to hang on a bit longer and just upgrade the GPU, it depends how much you're willing to spend - an HD 7750 is the entry level AMD card with their most up to date architecture, so you could start there (if you want NVidia, rough equivalent would be GT 650)

[_I_]

without a new power supply, a 7750 or gtx650 would be about all you can upgrade to

im suprised the liteon 300w can run the gts250

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Here, GTX 660 and 500W PSU. Would be kinda pointless going higher since rest of your system would start to choke any more powerful cards.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1P6Cj

There is no point replacing GTS 250 with HD 7750 since they are basicly same power.

[upcoast]

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_650_ti_power_edition_review,10.html

There's the 250 ^ vs newer cards, I agree with Rumple the 7750 isn't a big enough jump.

[senseidongen]

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

There is no point replacing GTS 250 with HD 7750 since they are basicly same power.

That isn't really true at all... GTX660 is more powerful, but the 7750 is better than the GTS 250

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Compare the jump in tiers between GTS 250, HD 7750 and GTX 660:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

[Llamatron]

Right so it looks as if the GTX 660 and a 500W or better PSU is the way to go, which is pretty much the limit of my budget - I just hope it will fit in my tower...

After that, I guess it's the motherboard but thankfully that still seems a way off for now. Thanks for your help everyone, this really is an excellent community. :)

[Rove]

I'd suggest just to buy a whole new system. A AMD A10 APU would be power efficient.

What was your budget for the upgrade?

Here is a build I designed for you as a combination of office and modest gaming PC. You can later upgrade it with a dedicated graphics card and I would recommend a AMD Radeon R7 260X or above. It can also be used with some select lesser graphics cards in "Dual Graphics Crossfire" to use both the graphics card and the APU integrated graphics for graphics tasks at the same time. However you will achieve more GFLOPS and better results with a R7 260X or better instead. The build also uses a socket FM2+ motherboard so it can be upgraded to a later generation of AMD APU that has not yet been released which is called Kaveri.

AMD
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1P9bh
Base Total: $550.82
Promo Discounts: -$4.99
Mail-in Rebates: -$20.00
Total: $525.83

For the sake of mentioning Intel & Nvidia (I'm a AMD user myself) you could build a machine with a 4th gen i3 and a dedicated card also, though this would suck more power than a APU without a dedicated card and also cost more up front.

Intel + Nvidia
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1P9ui
Base Total: $656.82
Promo Discounts: -$4.99
Mail-in Rebates: -$45.00
Shipping: $17.50
Total: $624.33

Something like one of these 3 might be perfect for you if you want to be able to overclock later on down the road and might take your gaming a bit more seriously in the mean time. These are all AMD systems. I personally prefer AMD. They're also all cheaper than the Intel + Nvidia build I posted above, though if you add in the 16GB of RAM then the most expensive might be about the same price. Personally I would recommend the bottom 2 as being significantly higher performance than the Intel + Nvidia build in both CPU and graphics and like I said you can add the same 16GB RAM kit in substitution for the 8GB kit used.
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Rove/saved/1Uj5
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Rove/saved/1QN1
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Rove/saved/2766

Here's the rest of my builds also.
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Rove/saved/

[Llamatron]

Thanks Rove, I'll check those out too.

[TexasLH]

id just go for a new cpu :D

[Rove]

Originally posted by TexasLH:

id just go for a new cpu :D

Yes but for a new CPU that is any good he will also need a new motherboard & new RAM and he already mentioned needing a new GPU. He basically just needs a whole new system to have a chance at being able to play next generation games for a few years or more.

[Llamatron]

Originally posted by Rove:

Originally posted by TexasLH:

id just go for a new cpu :D

Yes but for a new CPU that is any good he will also need a new motherboard & new RAM and he already mentioned needing a new GPU. He basically just needs a whole new system to have a chance at being able to play next generation games for a few years or more.

I'm sure you're right and I'm sure that's what will eventually happen, but given my cashflow I'm having to do this bit by bit. When my motherboard is actually obselete and incapable of running the majority of new games then hopefully I'll have the funds to replace it.

[senseidongen]

Originally posted by Sherlock Pwns:

Originally posted by Rove:

Yes but for a new CPU that is any good he will also need a new motherboard & new RAM and he already mentioned needing a new GPU. He basically just needs a whole new system to have a chance at being able to play next generation games for a few years or more.

I'm sure you're right and I'm sure that's what will eventually happen, but given my cashflow I'm having to do this bit by bit. When my motherboard is actually obselete and incapable of running the majority of new games then hopefully I'll have the funds to replace it.

Might as well go for a new GPU and PSU then and upgrade the rest when you can.

[Lancewielder]

Your CPU desperately needs an upgrade. A Haswell Pentium would be great now, with a roughly 40% boost in performance, and there is an upgrade option. The GTX 650 Ti Boost is a great card.

[senseidongen]

Originally posted by -MOO-WonderfulCow-MOO:

Your CPU desperately needs an upgrade. A Haswell Pentium would be great now, with a roughly 40% boost in performance, and there is an upgrade option. The GTX 650 Ti Boost is a great card.

You are correct, but I'd argue that with a new GPU the OP would see more immediate benefit for less money. Also, with AMD's mantle coming out, plus the fact that AMD cards offer better bang for buck, you should consider an AMD card - the R7 260X or the HD 7790 it's based on are comparable to the 650 Ti Boost in terms of performance and the 7790 costs less