Upgrading on a budget.

[Kativera]

So, I have had my computer for about 3 and a half years now, Asus Essentio CM6850

It has everything it came with, including its terrible GT 530. I've been wanting to upgrade my PC for a year and now I finally have -some- money. The problem is, I'm on a budget of about $210. Keep in mind this is all for gaming.

I'm looking for a decent GPU/PSU set up. Something that could run a game like Dragon Age: Inquisition on at least High settings.

What would this community recommend on my budget BEFORE the Mail-In-Rebate?

 

[TStahler]

First off, I would get your RAM up to 8GB or RAM. That will be great for gaming and all other tasks as well. A kit of two 4GB sticks of DDR3 RAM can be found for about $80. For the additional $130 in the budget to spend, I would buy a GTX 750 ti graphics card. It will run fine off of the PCI Express slot and won't be taxing on the power supply since it pulls all of its power of the 75w PCI Express slot. If the 750 ti puts you just barely over budget, You could get a GTX 750. Neither one should require a power supply upgrade than what came stock with your computer.

Cheers!

 

[Kativera]

I actually have 8gb of RAM. I forgot to mention when I got it, we upgraded it in the store

So perhaps something like this?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487025&cm_re=GTX_750_Ti-_-14-487-025-_-Product

I should also add my Processor is an i7-2600 3.40MHz
So the 330W is enough?

 

[TStahler]

A 750 ti is low enough power that you won't have to replace your power supply and it is cheap enough under $210. It would be a substantial upgrade from your GT 530. Anything higher than that would require more money because you would have to upgrade your power supply.

Your other option to upgrade would be to get a really good power supply and then in the future you could get a substantially more powerful graphics card even than the 750 ti. Such as maybe a 280X or a 970 GTX, once you have the money.

But, If you are looking for a performance improvement right now, I would get the GTX 750 ti.

 

[Kativera]

Thank you very much. I'll order it Monday and hopefully it'll be here by Thursday