Hardware & Technical Do I need any further upgrades?

[blazingice]

I have just started playing ED. My hardware is


Vostro 430
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80GHz
RAM: 14 GB
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 310 (ouch!!)


I get around 7-20 FPS when using medium settings. After doing some research I have decided to upgrade to GTX 750 Ti or R9 270X.


After my GPU upgrade, will this be enough to play in High settings around 60FPS?


I am also contemplating getting Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X.


Any suggestions to improve my hardware would be welcomed.


Thanks

 

[Surfinjo]

As you seem to have noticed, your graphics card is letting you down. This is a list of cards in order of their relative power. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

I will strongly suggest you go for a card that comes from the same manufacturer as your Motherboard.

You don't say what sort of storage you use, but SSDs are by a long way, better. Also, I will suggest your DVD and any extra drives are USB, so they can be disconnected when not being used.

 

[Dyro]

Problem with a system like the Dell Vostro 430 is that the power supply has been made to fit. So check if it can at all support a videocard that requires more power.
For most higher end videocards you also need a 6 or 8 pin power cable. It might not be present in the 430's PSU.
Also the case might be too small to fit a larger videocard. So make sure you check that before you order anything.

 

[blazingice]

Thanks for all your comments. I finally went for one of EVGA GTX 750 Ti, because of the reasons that you mentioned above. Their small version doesn't require any power cable and would fit well within the limit of 350W power supply of Dell. Plus is half the size of the big cards. I now get 45-60 FPS in High settings. Great card for the price.

I was toying with the idea of SSDs, but not sure if it is going to make a massive difference with this kind of game. What do people think?

 

[clive]

was the EVGA GTX 750 Ti easy to fit

Thanks for all your comments. I finally went for one of EVGA GTX 750 Ti, because of the reasons that you mentioned above. Their small version doesn't require any power cable and would fit well within the limit of 350W power supply of Dell. Plus is half the size of the big cards. I now get 45-60 FPS in High settings. Great card for the price.

I was toying with the idea of SSDs, but not sure if it is going to make a massive difference with this kind of game. What do people think?

Hi,was eagerly reading your post,and as it is fairly recent,can I ask you If the EVGA GTX 750 Ti,was easy to fit into the Vostro 430 as it is the same pc as I have,and was seriously considering the EVGA GTX 750 Ti myself.(Excuse my ignorance,as I have only upgraded ram before,and nothing much else).

Also,was reading on other forums that the 350W Vostro 430 PSU was not really powerful enough for the EVGA GTX 750 Ti as the minimum requirement was 400W,(so was considering upgrading to a Corsair RM650 PSU,but not absolutely sure if it will fit in the Vostro 430 mini tower).
If you or anyone else could shed a light on this,I would be grateful.

 

[MARPATdroid]

yeah the video card looks to be the issue... to play on high with some medium settings you need something with a score of about 4000 or higher on these charts. http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/ From what I have seen on the forums that seems to be around the cut off, I know I ran all high v-synced on a GTX 660 and the frames stayed around 60, sometimes they would drop, but not too often.


I just looked and saw you got a 750, after I wrote all this congrats on the upgrade. I'll post this anyway in case someone else is curious.