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Author Topic: Help me improve my computer hardware (processor and graphics)  (Read 691 times)

Loam

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Help me improve my computer hardware (processor and graphics)
« on: August 11, 2016, 11:06:01 am »
I have a Dell Inspiron 570, running Windows 10 Home (it upgraded from 7 automatically). It works fine, but it has trouble running my games, which is mostly what I want to use it for.

Currently has:
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4200
Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 250 Processor, 3.00 GHz

I can run older games pretty well; Oblivion will run well at the lowest graphics settings. Skyrim barely runs at lowest graphics, and that's the most gpu/cpu-intense game I own.
Any recommendations? I don't have much experience with this, so I figured I'd ask around before spending any money.

Thanks.
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Thief^

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Re: Help me improve my computer hardware (processor and graphics)
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2016, 03:09:25 am »
OK, your problem is that the Inspiron 570 has motherboard-integrated graphics, rather than any dedicated card, as well as simply it's age. The CPU is definitely weak by modern standards (but not awful) but can't realistically be upgraded without replacing a lot of the PC.

For graphics, the specs I can find online say you have a PCIe port free, so any PCIe graphics card should fit. My recommendation is probably for the new Radeon 460, which is a cheap modern card which doesn't require any additional power connection (minimising the likelihood you'll have to upgrade your power supply as well, which is only 300W).

Oh, and upgrade to 8GB of ram if you only have the 4GB model. It takes DDR3 1333 I believe.
« Last Edit: August 14, 2016, 03:36:57 am by Thief^ »
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Reudh

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Re: Help me improve my computer hardware (processor and graphics)
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2016, 08:44:24 am »
Quote from: Loam on August 11, 2016, 11:06:01 am
I have a Dell Inspiron 570, running Windows 10 Home (it upgraded from 7 automatically). It works fine, but it has trouble running my games, which is mostly what I want to use it for.

Currently has:
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4200
Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 250 Processor, 3.00 GHz

I can run older games pretty well; Oblivion will run well at the lowest graphics settings. Skyrim barely runs at lowest graphics, and that's the most gpu/cpu-intense game I own.
Any recommendations? I don't have much experience with this, so I figured I'd ask around before spending any money.

Thanks.

In the long run, building a system may set you back more initially, but they are worth significantly more than buying a pre-built desktop or upgrading an older prebuilt. I'd suggest building one from scratch: you can get some pretty impressive performance out of even a fairly budget built PC.
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