Graphics Card Upgrade, not sure what to look for!

[ferran275]

Hello everyone!

 

I have an older system (3-4 yrs) and I'm looking to upgrade. I keep seeing all these graphics cards on NewEgg that I want to buy but I'm not sure if my system will be able to run them. I'm scared I'll buy a card to find out my processor can't handle it, or my power supply won't be good enough, etc, I'll give a rundown of my specs below. I'll be purchasing more RAM soon but at the moment I'm running on 2GB, I can upgrade to a max of 4 but since I'm running a 32bit system I guess I'll have to live with 3.5GB or so I've heard.

 

Manufacturer: Dell

 

Model: XPS 410

 

Processor: Intel Core 2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz 2.39 GHz

 

Memory (RAM): 2.00GB (ATM, will be 3.5)

 

System type: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit Operating System

 

I want this upgrade mostly for gaming (Duke Nukem Forever :):):) )

 

and I am willing to upgrade the processor as well, anything I can do without buying a whole new system, I'm willing to do so basically I'm looking for some advice on what I should/can upgrade in this system.

 

Thanks in advance for any help any of you can give me!

[Jelly Bean]

Hello and welcome.

 

 

I would sugest as your PSU is only around 375 watts then you would need to upgrade to around a 500 watt.

 

 

What is your price limit you wish to spend on a new GPU?

 

You are running a 256 mb card at the moment you could go for a 512 mb card.

 

You have a PCI x 16 slot for a graphics card...

[ferran275]

Thanks for the reply, I'm willing to spend between $200-$300 on each new piece of equipment, with an overall budget of about $600-$800. Any suggestions for that price range? Thanks again!

[ferran275]

Thanks for the reply, I'm willing to spend between $200-$300 on each new piece of equipment, with an overall budget of about $600-$800. Any suggestions for that price range? Thanks again!

 

For example, I've had my eye on this particular card Newegg.com - EVGA 012-P3-1472-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) SuperClocked 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

 

what would I need to upgrade to be able to run this card?

[Jelly Bean]

Firstly is your monitor DVI connection or VGA as this card is dual DVI....

 

You will need a new PSU.

[ferran275]

Not sure ATM, not near the pc, but I know I have an adapter on it which I think is VGA, so yes I think it's dvi, I'll probably be getting a new monitor anyway depending on how much I end up spending on the upgrade.

 

So just a new PSU? Would my system be able To utilize the power of this card?

[ferran275]

Not sure ATM, not near the pc, but I know I have an adapter on it which I think is VGA, so yes I think it's dvi, I'll probably be getting a new monitor anyway depending on how much I end up spending on the upgrade.

 

So just a new PSU? Would my system be able To utilize the power of this card?

 

actually, no, I just checked, its VGA and the adapter I have on it makes it DVI