Is my Nvidia GeForce GT 440 outdated,or my whole setup? What to upgrade first?

[legbrolas]

So i'm new here and not sure if I'm posting in the right place so feel free to correct me.
My rig is as follows :
- Intel Core2quad Q8200 2,33 Ghz
- Nvidia GeForce GT 440
- 4 gb ram

I can barely run any medium-demanding games and can't run any game on high.
So,not sure what should I upgrade first?

 

[ThatVietGuy]

And complete upgrade would be necessary.

You can start with upgrading to something like a GTX 750ti or R9 270x or maybe even an R9 280X. However this will only take you so far since the other components are going to start to hold you back.

You can even try adding RAM so you have 8GB, but I don't know how feasible that is if you're still (probably) using DDR2 RAM.

In the end, though, you should upgrade to more modern hardware if you want to play demanding games.

 

[Math Geek]

though your system is outdated, a good gpu upgrade will allow for decent gaming on high settings with your current cpu.

my kids' pc has a q6600 with 4gb ram and a new r9-270 and they play on high at 1080p and enjoy the heck out of it.

what kind of budget are you looking at? are you looking for a new system? or only for a couple parts to hold off a complete upgrade in the near future? most importantly, if you only wish to upgrade the gpu, we need to know about your power supply. older pc's tend to have very low power psu's and can't run much of anything. you can do a modest gpu/psu upgrade for around $200-$250 depending on the card. or you can go for a new system for just about any budget over $$400. Obviously the more you spend, the more you can get.

just give us some idea what you're looking at spending and we can steer you in the right direction.

 

[legbrolas]

though your system is outdated, a good gpu upgrade will allow for decent gaming on high settings with your current cpu.

my kids' pc has a q6600 with 4gb ram and a new r9-270 and they play on high at 1080p and enjoy the heck out of it.

what kind of budget are you looking at? are you looking for a new system? or only for a couple parts to hold off a complete upgrade in the near future? most importantly, if you only wish to upgrade the gpu, we need to know about your power supply. older pc's tend to have very low power psu's and can't run much of anything. you can do a modest gpu/psu upgrade for around $200-$250 depending on the card. or you can go for a new system for just about any budget over $$400. Obviously the more you spend, the more you can get.

just give us some idea what you're looking at spending and we can steer you in the right direction.

Not really looking for a new system at the moment. My question is if I were to upgrade to a ~$200 GPU would I be able to run most of the newer games on medium-high? Assuming that my power supply is adequate because I'm not at home right now and I can't check.

 

[ThatVietGuy]

You'll get medium at least (possibly high) with any of the 3 GPUs I listed.

 

[legbrolas]

Without any other upgrades besides a PSU possibly?

 

[ThatVietGuy]

Yes.

 

[Math Geek]

my experience with my xps 420 says that yes a new gpu will give you a huge boost. keep in mind whatever is cpu bound will be slow. load time are pretty long and such but once the game get's going, it is nice and pretty. my kid's don't play the newest AAA games but battlefield 3, some of the COD games, alien isolation and a few other shooters run at high/ultra on 1080p with most of the eyes candy.

a 270 or 270x with a new psu will set you up for now and allow you to change it over to a new build whenever you decide to do it. you should be able to stay around $200 give or take a few and do this. depends on your psu. if it is good enough, you may get away with just a gpu. perhaps a 750ti which runs well on low power is all you need and it's about the same as a 260/260x.

 

[PCBuilderMonster]

Time for a rebuild sir... Budget build is this

i5 4690k
r9 280 (Get em dirt cheap)
8gb ddr3 ram
gigabyte g1 sniper z97
600w psu corsair

Budget build, not future proof, but sh1t tons better than what you have.

 

[Math Geek]

Time for a rebuild sir... Budget build is this

i5 4690k
r9 280 (Get em dirt cheap)
8gb ddr3 ram
gigabyte g1 sniper z97
600w psu corsair

Budget build, not future proof, but sh1t tons better than what you have.

what you're saying is not wrong but since the op has stated he does not want a new build, then this is pretty useless to him. he's looking at a new gpu with or without a new psu depending on what type of psu he has now.

 

[legbrolas]

Thanks for the suggestions,will look into it.

 

[quicksterdnb]

You could buy a 750ti, and that would help, but you would still get bottlenecked by your processor, and ram. Add 2 more gb of ram. I was in the same boat 2 months back. I had a prebuilt lenovo that wouldn't allow me to upgrade my processor. It had 6gb of ddr3 ram. I bought a 750ti OC, and that helped quite a bit with the graphics, but the processor still affected my max framerate. I went from running SWTOR at medium settings 45-60 fps to running it on max with 30-45 fps average. Before the GPU upgrade it would play max at about 15-20 fps average. I wasn't able to play FF14 at all. With the new GPU I was able to play it on standard settings, but the CPU wasn't enough to keep up with it. I could play the game, but it would use 100% of my CPU in crowded areas like cities.

I upgraded to a new pc and put 8 gb of ddr3 ram, and an i5 4690k processor. put my 750ti in that and I'm able to play swtor on max settings with 60fps. no dips. I can play ff14 on almost max settings at 50-60fps.

So it's up to you. You won't be able to play newer games unless you upgrade that processor. the 750ti OC is a great card though once you have a good processor, and will play any game out on medium or better settings with 60fps, with a few exceptions.