gaming on PCs

[Last Attempt]

I bought my PC about 2 years ago but its not really a gaming pc but i want to start to game on it, i can play WoW with all the graphics on good but only at 1024x768 res and it can go up to 1600x900 but games like bioshock 1 and team fortress 2 i have to play everything at the lowest and i still lag really bad im not sure what i have to get so i can play first person shooters with good res and not lag. My video card i have now is Nvidia GeForce 6150SE nForce 430, i dont know too much on if that is good or not but i think its bad, i got 4GBs of ram and 2.9GHz AMD athlon ii 215 processor i think thats ok. If someone could tell me what i have to buy to make it better it would help.Thanks.

[llDemonll]

free bump; caught in spam filter!

[Chillerbill]

I'd say up the graphics card a bit. The CPU and RAM are just fine, I believe. But a 6000 series Nvidia card is just bad. I think a good 8000 series is 40 bucks today. It's not an expensive upgrade .

[c313]

First things first we need to know of a budget, How much cash do you have to spend on a PC / PC parts?

[Deleted]

I'd be amazed if it even has a PCIe x16 2.0 lane, and if the PSU supports any modern graphics card.
Besides, anything you're going to put in there is going to be heavily bottlenecked by that CPU.

[Last Attempt]

I wouldnt like to spend more then 100$ for this PC more then that id rather get a new one but really dont want to do that. I found a graphics card on Amazon but i have one question, it says it needs 300 psu to use but i only got 250 could i still use it?

[Deleted]

I wouldnt like to spend more then 100$ for this PC more then that id rather get a new one but really dont want to do that. I found a graphics card on Amazon but i have one question, it says it needs 300 psu to use but i only got 250 could i still use it?

Make an educated guess.

[Last Attempt]

Well in the reviews some people were saying that they had 250 psu and were using it just fine but i was wondering if it could run on a 250?

[Deleted]

Well in the reviews some people were saying that they had 250 psu and were using it just fine but i was wondering if it could run on a 250?

I wouldn't try, unless you want to blow your PSU.

[Last Attempt]

cant you buy like a 300-400 psu really cheap anyway?

[Deleted]

cant you buy like a 300-400 psu really cheap anyway?

Again, and I think people cannot stress this enough, the PSU is the HEART of your rig, DON'T cheap out on it. CHEAP PSU's = CHEAP quality, and never provide the wattage they advertise. If you stress a low quality, cheap PSU, you'll most likely blow it and it'll most likely kill your whole rig.

[Sephiracle]

Again, and I think people cannot stress this enough, the PSU is the HEART of your rig, DON'T cheap out on it. CHEAP PSU's = CHEAP quality, and never provide the wattage they advertise. If you stress a low quality, cheap PSU, you'll most likely blow it and it'll most likely kill your whole rig.

this.

Don't be cheap, you can purchase a bigger one than you need right now so if you get a computer in the future you can just use that power supply in it.

[sarym13]

If you're only willing to spend 100$ Total on upgrades, (And judging by your current Card + Processor + PSU, ill take a guess that the rest of the parts + Case needs upgrades) Just save up for a better computer.

[Chickensoup23]

Prixie makes sense here, he's got it right for the most part.

Since his computer is most likely a pre-built (such as a Dell, iBuyPower or Gateway), I'd be ready to put my hand in fire that his power supply doesn't have the pin connectors for a modern/higher end GPU. Just by looking at it, I can guarantee you that they didn't put a 600 watts PSU in there, more around 300-350 watts, and that's maximum, to be honest. I wouldn't expect any kind of modern GPU to be supported on that.

This said, his CPU & RAM are still considered "decent" by today's standard, and can still power up his PC to a certain point, as in I could expect high graphics out of it with a good card. Now, for something that will fit, I'd highly recommend an ATI Radeon HD 5670, as it is the best card price/performance available on the market right now that does NOT require additional power from the PSU, and it powered by solely the PCI lane. Now, even if you don't have some PCI-E, it still works with that card.

Doing that single upgrade would let you only spend around ~75$, and that would let you play Bioshock & such at higher setting, medium/high, smoothly, that is. Do not expect ultra out of it, as you would need a totally new system. If you want, that's probably the best you can do, because new technology came out and yours is pretty much obsolete to a certain point. The only other alternative would be to buy a whole new computer, and if you're looking for a great place to start, check Fuzzy's list in the stickies in this forum.

Good luck upgrading/buying new parts/build,
Chicken

[Deleted]

Make an educated guess.

Suggested Watt on PSU is really overkill for some cards. If one card "needs" 600W PSU, you can go with a High quality 500W for example. But still, its like you say, low price, low quality.

[Last Attempt]

Thanks for the information so far guys, helps me a lot. for now i will probably just getting a better PSU and a good graphics card then eventually i will just buy a good "gaming" computer. I was thinking something along the lines of http://www.amazon.com/HIS-Radeon-128...9142356&sr=1-2 or http://www.amazon.com/Evga-GeForce-P...pr_product_top for the graphics card then http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-...pr_product_top for the PSU.