I need a better card

[GreedyGamer24]

My computer is very old with these specs:

CPU: Intel core 2 duo E6300
graphics card: ATI Radeon HD 5450 512mb
RAM: 3GB
Board: Dell Dimension XP210 9200C (slim)
PSU: 275 watts

I need a new card for a new game i bought. I have a budget of 150$. I don't have enough extra watts for a good upgrade so i want to know what a good replacement would be that has about the same power usage. Would it be cheaper\better to buy a better PSU and better card or to just buy a slightly better card? I'm looking for something low profile with 1GB and VGA compatibility.

The games i want to play are Rust and The Forest. I only have 3GB of RAM because one of the slots i have is dead(I've tried using 3 different sticks). I just ordered a new E8400 3GHz.

 

[TechyInAZ]

What game is it? If it isn't that demanding then a GT 740 could be good.

Or, you can buy a NON overclocked GTX 750 ti and see if that works with the PSU.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

a gtx750 is a pretty low power card, but still a decent performer, and there are models that will fit your slim case. You have other issues that will cause games to run poorly, like the 3gb ram and the old core 2 duo. What game specifically are you trying to run? And what screen resolution do you want to run it at. Even the gt730 can be decent for some older games and new games on lower detail settings/720p, it might then give you a bit left over to upgrade ram, get a 4gb module. i assume with 3gb, you have a 2gb and 1gb module, so remove the 1gb and add another 4gb to the 2gb for a total of 6gb. Then go look on ebay for a cheap core 2 quad or faster core 2 duo than the one you have, like a 3ghz model (assuming your motherboard supports it) and you will have something that will meet the minimum requirements for most current games.

 

[geofelt]

A GTX750ti is a very good low power card available for <150.
It runs off the pcie slot power using a max of 75w.
Make certain that it is not a overclocked card that needs an aux 6 pin power connector.
It should run on your 275w psu.
Unfortunately, the only GTX750 low profile I see is a Zotac $178.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA5751ZT1529
You will be hard pressed to get a good value on graphics cards if low profile is a necessity.
It might be wise to consider a different case.

 

[smorizio]

another trick if your close to a university or large corps...look in the paper when they start tossing out there older pc.
or sell the pc that have hit the end of there lease. most pc will be a lot newer then yours and you should be able to toss in a better card in a newer free or almost free pc.

 

[Slobo11ify]

Buy ASUS R7 250 1 GB GDDR5 if you can. That card is really cheap, bought it brand NEW. It doesn't need external power supply, just need to plug in into your mother board and you are free to go. Buying newer graphics cards will make big bottleneck so you won't be seeing any better performance then this card.
I have Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33 GHz, 3 GB DDR2 RAM and Dell PSU with 305 W. PC works perfectly, never had an issue, playing Battlefield 3 on Medium is smooth too...
And if you want to buy this graphics card check on your mother board if it says how many watts mobo in PCI slot...
Mine says 75 W and that's just enough for this card, like they said on their site.

https://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/R72501GD5/