Upgrading Comp

[Patrick McGinn]

I've got a 4 year old computer that used to run games really well and now with all the new graphics and everything thats coming out isnt quite doing the trick anymore. I bought it from someone who knew what they were doing and built it himself so I have no idea what im doing. the problem is starcraft II and heroes of the storm and I want to be able to run overwatch when it comes out, which is what I run and play the most, they're choppy when a lot of items are on screen or a lot of things are going on. the default graphics it tells me to run after scanning my graphics card is high, and that works for me I dont need ultra graphics, this leads me to believe its the processor that needs upgrading. but im stupid so I have no idea.
my specs are as follow-
-Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) 9850 Quad-Core Processor 2.5 GHz
-Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 (version 358.91)
- 4 GB of ram
- Windows 7 Ultimate recently reinstalled completely

 

[bazz2004]

The graphics card is getting on now so I'd look at replacing that rather than the processor. Check that your PSU will handle any replacement.

 

[Patrick McGinn]

How would I check what PSU I have?

 

[Patrick McGinn]

Ok I got it open and looking at it what exactly do I need to know off of it?

 

[bazz2004]

Somewhere on it will be how many watts it uses eg 550w. Make a note of that and the make and model if shown. When you start on a short list of graphics cards you will find that they specify how much power they require. As the person who put your computer together had gaming in mind you may well find that the existing PSU is fine but sometimes a more powerful graphics card requires a more powerful PSU. I'm sure you'll get plenty of advice on choosing a new graphics card from gamers on the forum.

 

[Patrick McGinn]

Ok awesome thanks