Upgrade.

Hi, I'm back again. My original plan was to get a new computer, but my parents plan to get a super laptop next year when I go off to college next year.

My current setup is an eMachines t6520 (http://www.emachines.com/support/pro...es&model=T6520) but with a ATI Radeon X1050 256 MB DDR graphics card.

My current computer is pretty crappy, I play Guild Wars on the lowest settings possible and only get 25 fps best,and under 20 fps when fighting so I get very "choppy" gameplay.

I want to find cheap upgrades (Working at minimum wage means affording anything takes years....) to allow me to play guild wars at higher settings, and some other games (Oblivion, TF2, Supreme Commander, etc).

I am thinking of upgrading to a GeForce 8600 GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130085 ) .

If I do upgrade to the above card would I need a new power supply? My current psu is only 350 watts.....

Thanks

you don't need a new power supply with that card, since it doesn't draw a lot of power. 350W should be enough.

the 8600GT is pretty wimpy by today's standard. however, i think anything more powerful will be bottlenecked by your system.

$90 seems to be a bit too expensive for it though. hunt around for better deals. with new cards coming out from AMD and nvidia soon, look for old prices to drop.

Oblivion is pretty graphic hungry and Supreme Commander requires a lot (A LOT) of memory because of the silly AI.

If you want to play those games at reasonable settings, I suggest 2GB of DDR2 memory and a 8800GT Graphics Card but you would have to drastically change your computer for that.

Heh, Oblivion is ok. I run it on my 320mb 8800GTS at 1680X1050 on the highest settings with X8AA with no lag, only when you hit huge landscapes. Brother's 8600GT seems to handle it with X2/X4 AA pretty well too. But you also need a decent dual core or at least a fast single core to back that up, and the RAM too.

About the 8600GT, my other computer runs an 8600GT too with only a 380watt power supply right now, with no hitch. I guess you could do it on that, but it really depends on the amps and stuff - but upgrading it wouldn't hurt.. anything higher than an 8600GT isn't going to fair well on that PSU. I am adding a 480 watt that I got for free today into it though, it's actually really really nice.. better quality than the one in this computer, makes me sad that it isn't more powerful.. else I'd have used it in my main PC.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130292

Walla. Buy it, be happy. Also, upgrade your RAM (as in get more)

Yep, more RAM for sure as many others have said before me. I currently have an 8600gt, and it's working fine now, but I would personally save a bit more money and shoot for a different card, maybe a Radeon 3850 or nVidia 9600gt. You lasted this long with your computer, it wouldn't hurt to wait a bit longer. It would also help if you put up about how much you are willing to spend on upgrades.

you could go for a 9600GT, however i wouldn't expect to be able run the game perfectly, since your CPU will bottleneck the graphic card.

The CPU isn't going to bottlekneck actual gameplay at any normal resolution. Benchmarks maybe, but actual performance losses are generally small. I'd look into that PSU, personally I wouldn't feel comfortable changing more than the RAM without swapping it out.

OEM PSU's are generally garbage, and are often taxed to the extreme simply running the systems they ship with.

I'll have to echo the memory recommendations. That stuff is pretty cheap these days, 2 gigs goes a long way.

8600gt should be enough to play the games you described at a middle level, and allow maxed or near max settings in guildwars unless you are boosting the resolution into the stratosphere.

The processor is a bit slow, but nothing thats going to stop you playing newer games, its still well above min specs for most games.