graphic card inquiry

[TENDER ORBIT]

which graphic card is best for Dell Vostro Mini Tower 460
Intel Core Quad Core Processor i7-2600 (3.4GHz, 8MB, 4C)
Dell XPS 8300 Vostro 460 Mother board DH67M01
4GB (1X4GB) Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM Memory
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
It presently has 1GB DDR3 128-bit NVIDIA Ge Force GT420 card.
the slot on the Motherboard is DDR3. So need 2 GB or Higher for DDR3

 

[realnoize]

I'll say like many people would obviously say: What do you intend to do with this PC?

The i7-2600 is still fine (although showing its age) for moderately nice gaming at 1080p with a varying level of details, if that's what you intend to do. And modern graphic cards probably won't run at their max capacity though, so just be aware of that.

Personnaly, if it's for playing games (recent ones), having 8GB of RAM would also probably help a little bit.

As for the GPU, well, given the age of this CPU, I'd say you may want to hunt for a used GTX760 maybe or a used Radeon 6870? Or if you want something a bit more recent, maybe a GTX960 (although it may not run at its peak)... I'm no expert, but maybe getting a more recent GPU (or a really powerful one) wouldn't be worth it as it may not give you that much performance boost on that system over an older GPU, in a "performance per dollar" ratio. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I assume that you don't want to invest a lot because otherwise, given this system's age, you'd be buying a new PC. 😉 But that's fine. I too, have an older system at home that is also used for gaming and still run many recent titles.

Also, if gaming is your goal, you might want to be sure that the power supply is good enough to handle everything.

 

[hang-the-9]

which graphic card is best for Dell Vostro Mini Tower 460
Intel Core Quad Core Processor i7-2600 (3.4GHz, 8MB, 4C)
Dell XPS 8300 Vostro 460 Mother board DH67M01
4GB (1X4GB) Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM Memory
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
It presently has 1GB DDR3 128-bit NVIDIA Ge Force GT420 card.
the slot on the Motherboard is DDR3. So need 2 GB or Higher for DDR3

You don't need DDR3, the RAM the motherboard uses is totally independent of the video card. Since you are using an nVidia card now, on an older Dell system, something like an nVidia 750 Ti would be great for an upgrade. Just make sure you check for a newer BIOS to make sure the card works in the system. The 750 Ti will be much faster than your 420 card. You can get a better card as above, and more RAM is good, but even a lower end newer gaming card will be a lot faster than a 420.