Upgrading my Video Card

[TheJHigg]

I recently bought a Dell Inspiron 3000 and am now looking to do some casual gaming. I was looking to buy and run TES V: Skyrim but I saw that my pc's video card doesn't have the recommended requirements. My computer is in the following link http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-3847-desktop/pd?oc=fdcwrp201s&model_id=inspiron-3847-desktop with the only exception is mine has Windows 7. If I do need to upgrade, I was looking at the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 to replace the Intel graphics. Is this card compatible with my pc, and will my computer's power supply be enough for this card. Or, is my computer fine to run Skyrim and I am just being overly cautious. Thanks for the help.

 

[Brillis Wuce]

A big factor here is your power supply. What's the wattage?

 

[i7Baby]

Dell and HP pre-built PCs are often not made to be upgradable. They quite often have non standard power supplies and electrical connectors.

You need to check what Wattage and what make and model the power supply is and whether it's a standard ATX power supply. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX

 

[yosizzle]

How much wattage does your power supply have? And I don't believe that you will get enjoyable framerates with the intel graphics. Any modern graphics card will help immensely.

 

[TheJHigg]

A big factor here is your power supply. What's the wattage?

I believe the power supply is 250-300w

 

[TheJHigg]

Dell and HP pre-built PCs are often not made to be upgradable. They quite often have non standard power supplies and electrical connectors.

You need to check what Wattage and what make and model the power supply is and whether it's a standard ATX power supply. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX

I believe it is 250-300w

 

[i7Baby]

So - a man of faith rather than a man of science eh?

Read the labels on it. They might help.

 

[Brillis Wuce]

A GTX 750/750ti is the max you could run, and even that's pushing it with a cheap, low wattage PSU in a pre-built PC.

 

[TheJHigg]

So - a man of faith rather than a man of science eh?

Read the labels on it. They might help.

Hahaha no I am a firm believer in science. My pc is tucked away under my desk so I was going off memory of what the PSU is. Do you know what the minimum power supply for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 is so I can check later?

 

[i7Baby]

A GTX260 needs a 500W PSU

 

[TheJHigg]

A GTX260 needs a 500W PSU

Cool, I'll make sure to check that wiki page about the PSU and check the actual power supply currently on my pc. And just one last question (sorry for my inexperience). That video card is compatible with my computer right?

 

[i7Baby]

All video cards fit in all motherboards.

Also see http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-750-Ti-vs-GeForce-GTX-260

The gtx750Ti uses half the power of the 260 and gets twice the performance.

 

[TheJHigg]

All video cards fit in all motherboards.

Also see http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-750-Ti-vs-GeForce-GTX-260

The gtx750Ti uses half the power of the 260 and gets twice the performance.

Thank you so much for all your help