Need Help Upgrading My System

[Jake Benson]

I am only adequately computer literate so I need some advice. I have a Dell XPS 7100 with an AMD 1090t six core CPU. I have been running a HD 6870 grapics card in it for the last three years. I now want to upgrade as the card has recently quit on me. I was thinking of going with a HD7950 because it seems the best for my limited budget. When I upgraded to the HD6870 I was told by Dell that the card would run although technically it required a 500 watt power supply and my psu is only 460 watts. And it did. When I talked to Dell about whether a HD7950 would run in my computer, I was told the motherboard would not support it or any card over 1gb. Plus, I would need a larger power supply. What can I do at this point? I cannot afford a whole new system. What would I have to replace besides motherboard and psu in order to upgrade my graphics card? I just bought Crysis 3 and it was running fine with my HD6870 but I do not want to buy another one. What are my options here for around 500-600 dollars?

 

[g-unit1111]

You're probably better off building a new build from scratch - if there's a way to salvage your CPU, drives, and GPU you could make do with just a new motherboard, case, RAM, and power supply.

Maybe something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme3 ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 500R White ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $347.94
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-06 19:22 EDT-0400)