Upgrading video card and PSU on a budget

[Hocknose]

Hi, I'm new to the site and have had a quick look at the forums and articles. Have found them very helpful. I am now looking to get some experienced help with upgrading the video card capabilities of my machine.

Will try and stick to the upgrading question framework as much as possible, so here goes...

1. Gaming limits - I will mainly be playing RPG's and RTS's. Am hoping to be able to run Dragon Age and DOW 2 at a decent level (not necessarily maxed out). Also looking to purchase Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 and The new Star Wars MMORPG in the future.

2. Budget - £150 to £200

3. Current PSU - This is all the info I could find, but I am looking to upgrade this as well

Power Provided - 400 Watt
Voltage Required - AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )

4. Computer Specs

Motherboard - NVIDIA nForce 630i
Graphic interface - PCI-E
Memory - 4GB PC2-6400/800mhz DDR2 SDRAM
CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200
CPU Speed - 2.33 GHZ

For a bit more info. the model of PC is - Fujitsu Amilo Pi 3745 Tower

5. Country - United Kingdom

Hope I've given you enough info to help me out.

Thanks Guys

 

[dustin_ds3000]

here you go

GPU - Club 3D ATI Radeon HD 5770 512MB £112.99 inc VAT £96.16 ex VAT
PSU - Corsair VX 550W £75.99 inc VAT £64.67 ex VAT

 

[Hocknose]

Thank you for that.

just a quick question on your video card reccomendation...

Should I not be looking to get 1GB dedicated RAM or does that not make as big of a difference?

 

[red1776]

what resolution do you game at? dustins VGA/PSU are quality choices, but if you are gaming at a smaller resolution, you could get away with less like the 5750 or 5670. if Dx 11 is not an important feature for you, you might look at the 4770. The 1gb of Vram is only going to be of benefit if you are going to game at higher resolutions.

 

[Hocknose]

I'm using a 22" lcd tv connecting by VGA. The max resolution I will play will be 1366 x 768.
Excuse my ignorance but what benefits will DX11 give me?

 

[red1776]

right now only a handful of games oyut are DX11, and those sre a ways offfrom taking full advantage of the main feature ' tessellation' over the next year that will increase. at the resolution you listed , and the types of games you play.

 

[Hocknose]

so do you think a 512mb card is the way forward based on my resolution?

 

[red1776]

yes, unless you think you will want to play at higher resolutions down the road, if you can find a deal for the 1 GB card for the same as the 512...get it.

 

[Hocknose]

brilliant, thanks for your help guys!!!

 

[klepto12]

i would go with the 1gb 5770 just incase u get a new monitor.

 

[Ritwik7]

The HD 5770 is definitely the best way forward.

BTW red, don't you think that the HD 4770 / 5750 might struggle a bit on the 22 inch?

 

[LinkedKube]

I think those two cards would do fine at those resolutions for a 22inch monitor.

 

[Hocknose]

So have decided on getting a HD 5770, what brand should i look to get? So far the main ones I have found are:

ASUS
XFX
Sapphire
Gigabyte
Club

 

[Ritwik7]

All those brands are very good though I've never heard of Club. XFX is very reliable and usually provides a lifetime warranty on their products.

 

[Hocknose]

Thanks for all your help guys. I bought:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/Components/Graphics-ATI/ATIHD5700Series/H577F1GDG.html

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/Components/PowerSupplies/CMPSU-550VXUK.html

Putting the PSU in was a bit of a nightmare, way too many wires for my mini-tower...but got there in the end.
Graphics card was easy to install and update the drivers.

I've done a system score thing in Windows 7 64-bit and both the graphics results are 7.4 out of 7.9. Am very pleased with this!!!

Again thanks for all your help

 

[Ritwik7]

Good to hear!