Why I can't play DOTA 2 smoothly? What video card should you recommend if it's the problem?

[Seeker_Of_Knowledge_001]

Good Day!

I can't play DOTA 2 because it is laggy. Pardon my lack of knowledge 'coz I am still learning about these stuffs.🙁

THE SPECS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 760 1)
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X 2 Dual Core processor 5200+ (2CPUs), ~ 2.7GHz
Memory: 20148MB RAM
Page file: 1408MB used, 2428MB available
DirectX : DirectX 11

Installed RAM: 2 GB, 1.87 GB usable

Display
Device: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
Chip Type: Geforce 6150SE nForce 430
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Approx. total memory: 825 MB

DirectX Features: All Enabled

PS:I didn't put any video card yet 'coz I don't know what to buy.
I am not aiming for an ultimate pc performance 'coz it's expensive to me.


YOUR RESPONSE WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED!

 

[hang-the-9]

Low end card like a Radeon GT730 GDDR5 should do it. Your CPU is old but it should run DOTA 2. You may want to up your RAM to 4 GB also, that's the minimum listed for the game.

 

[voodoobunny]

What's your total budget for upgrading, and what resolution do you want to play in? Also, what country are you buying in? (there are some recommendations about where to buy that only apply in the US).

Your CPU only supports DDR2 memory, so upgrading anything will probably involve buying new CPU + motherboard + memory. Even a low-end CPU & graphics upgrade will be significantly faster than what you've got now. Your current CPU will bottleneck almost any graphics card that you buy now.

For example, you could get an AMD A8-7670K with integrated graphics that should be 2-5X faster than your current rig, and it's hard not to go up from there.

 

[Seeker_Of_Knowledge_001]

Is it possible to upgrade my CPU w/out upgrading the motherboard ?

 

[Supernova1138]

Is it possible to upgrade my CPU w/out upgrading the motherboard ?

You'd have to post the exact model of motherboard and hopefully a CPU support list can be found, though if this is a prebuilt system from Dell, HP, Acer, etc. there may not be one. On a system that old, most of your CPU upgrade options are also going to be quite outdated. Best case scenario, you might be able to get a Phenom II X4 on your board if your BIOS supports it. Worst case, you may be limited to the Athlon 64 X2s like you have or only have access to the original Phenom CPUs which weren't that great when they came out 8 years ago.

Best option for you if you don't want to do a complete system rebuild is to just buy a low end graphics card, just about anything you get will be a lot better than your GeForce 6150SE integrated graphic and would get you at least okay performance in DOTA 2. The GT 730 DDR5 listed above would probably be the best card worth getting on such an old system.