Need some help determining possible upgrades for Emachines ET1331G

[Chris1989]

Hello there, was wondering what my options would be for a graphics card update, because I bought Diablo 3 and it runs awful. My graphics card is actually on the list of unsupported cards. The specs for this computer are as follows:

PSU- 100-127/220-240 VAC 6/3. 15A (6/3,15.A) 60/50 HZ, pretty sure it is 250w
Graphics card is an integrated Nvidia GeForce 6150

Any help would be much appreciated, thank you.

[Chris1989]

Was also wondering if this would be an acceptable one to replace it and run League of Legends and Diablo 3 with a better FPS

Newegg.com - Refurbished: EVGA 01G-P3-N959-RX GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

[Chris1989]

[stroyal]

Welcome to TechIMO!

The reason, you are not getting replies, is because we have to ask questions, and e machines are usually worthless to upgrade.

Your power supply info is useless. Input volts and amps are nothing we need.
We need the brand name and the model number.
We also need the 12volt amps, and the number of 12v rails.
This is all on the label.

I'll see if I can look up the computer, and give you a comparison on the old and the new card, but to make suggestions, we need a budget

Edit
Is this it
Walmart.com: eMachines ET1331G-07w Desktop PC with AMD Athlon II X2 Dual-Core Processor and Windows 7 Home Premium: Computers

[stroyal]

OK, going by Passmark, which is only close, but very good for the big picture, at a glance.
PassMark Software - Video Card Benchmarks - Low End Video Cards

9500 GT 348 Passmark
GeForce 6150 SE 55 Passmark

In theory 6 times + better.

However the 9500 calls for a 350 watt power supply, and I think you have a 300watt. (at least the one I linked to dose)

If your 300watt has 18 amps on the 12volt rail, it might work, but our first recommendation is always a brand name of the correct size.
If it is a brand name, I would have no problem with a 300 watt, it should have at least 18 amps.

I haven't looked up the gaming requirements yet, and your CPU will limit the upgrades to maybe a card twice again the 9500. (12 times better than the original on board.)

Some of our other members, are better at judging CPU bottlenecks. even thought it is a dual core it is pretty slow for gaming.
Most new gaming calls for at least a dual core @3.0.

[ShyguyXPC]

9500GT will run the game like crap as well, at least in a general gaming standard, it will run better than the onboard you have now, but it will still run like crap, a 9500GT was low end when it was new, its even worse now, 5 generations later.


the 9500GT meets minimum system requirements, sort of, as its comparable to the Geforce 7800GT range of performance (though uses less power, and supports DirectX 10, but not much else beyond that), but is VASTLY out performed by the recommended system requirements for the game.

Diablo III System Requirements - Battle.net Support


Its so far away from a GTX 260 its not even funny, and a GTX 260, though out dated, is matched by current generation $100-150 cards, which are on the lower mid range market area.


Whats your budget for upgrades?

Best I can suggest on a tight budget would be a new Power supply and a Radeon 6670 or a Radeon 7750, preferably the latter since its so low on power consumption and a decent starter range for this level of gaming.

7750 only uses 55W (God damn site and its slow loading crap, STILL not fixed ) anyways, it only uses 55W or so of power, but is easily WELL over twice the performance of the 9500GT, and well into the Minimum needed, the 7750 comes pretty close to the GTX 260's range of cards.

And actually comes close to the Radeon 4870 (the 260's equivalent range competitor), sometimes bests the 4870 cards as well.

usually about $100-110 for a 7750, and another $40-50 for a good PSU replacement (400-500W).


Assuming your case can use a standard ATX power supply, and your not using a low profile half height "Slim" style case.

[ShyguyXPC]

also just for future reference, this is why you don't go out and just BUY a game with out first checking if your PC can even run the thing.

You don't just go out and Buy an Engine or Transmission for a car to upgrade it, you need to find out if it can even hold the thing or mate it to the other parts first, before jumping that far in. Same goes for PC's, their not console gaming systems, where everything is the same, just buy the game and your done.

PC gaming has been like this for over 30+ years, and still isn't any different, you need to read what the game needs, and make sure your PC is compatible before buying the game, if not, you need to find out what needs to be upgraded or replaced first before spending on a game, in case its a waste of money.

[stroyal]

Diablo III System Requirements - Battle.net Support

Recommended specs are a AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 5600+ 2.8 GHz
and NVIDIA® GeForce® 260 or ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 or better

Your processor is just below min requirements (Athlon™ 64 X2 4400+), and the passmark on the recommended video cards are 1748 and 1738 respectively.
CPU Passmark
PassMark CPU Benchmarks - Low Mid Range CPU's

Athlon 64 dual core 4400+ 1150 passmark (Min requirement)
Athlon II X2 250u 980 passmark (Your's)
Athlon™ 64 X2 5600+ 2.8 GHz 1516 passmark (recommended)

[stroyal]

What He said.

[ShyguyXPC]

CPU will hold that Radeon 7750 back big time as well, bottlenecking the performance, so may be a waste of GPU to buy, if you can't use the extra performance.

A Radeon 6570 or 6670 might be a better choice, though I suspect they will be bottlenecked some as well, their X2 CPU is only 1.6GHz, and the AMD Socket AM2+/AM3 Dual and Quad cores were comparable to Intel's Core 2 Series from years ago.

I suspect that X2 250u was probably close to a Intel Pentium Dual Core on socket 775, so its still low end, and probably just enough to run the game, but it will certainly choke the video cards to some extent.

My old Core 2 Duo E6400 that ran at 2.13GHz slightly choked my old Geforce 8800GTS 320MB card, and that is comparable to the 6570's in performance, at least for DirectX 9 & 10 games. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if the 6570 matched or bested the old 8800GTS either.

[Chris1989]

I have a computer that runs this game as I made sure to read it before buying it(made that mistake with starcraft 2) however, I am asking for possible upgrades because the one that does run it is the family one. I was looking into upgrading my computer in my room to be able to run it better and have some more playing time, that is the one I listed in the title as Emachines-ET1331G I forgot to add the 03W(which i think this is the correct suffix for this one i own), but the one you listed isn't right. Mine has AMD Athlon II x2 235e Processor @ 2.70 GHz
As far as concerning your suggestions for Radeon replacement.. The Nvidia is integrated, so if I bought the PSU and the Radeon I can just tell my computer to use the installed Radeon card instead of the on board GPU?

*My budget runs around maybe 150-250 dollars. For upgrades that is, If you guys think it is just a better option to get a whole new computer then let me know, I had already planned on purchasing a new PSU for this system, a 400w(Possibly 600 depending on which card I can find to put in this thing) to be able to run the graphics card I listed. If there is a better one that can be ran at 400-600w that my processor can hold I would be very glad to know.

[ShyguyXPC]

yes, once plugged in, and connected to monitor (the card), it should auto detect the card and default to it.

though before doing so you would want to run a Driver Cleaner program and Uninstall the Nvidia Display Drivers (note I said Display drivers, not Motherboard drivers. This also includes the PhysX drivers if their installed).

Then you would shut down the PC and install the new Video card and Power supply.

Power it up, and let windows detect it, install its default Windows VGA drivers, and then you install the new Radeon Drivers (Helps to have those downloaded directly from AMD's website for your Card, and OS version ahead of time, instead of using the ones on the disc that comes with the card.

Your CPU is much more faster than that other one listed so it should be fine.

[Chris1989]

I thought so, this CPU isn't slow but I figured it was the graphics card and I had no idea the PSU on it was so bad or the graphics card for that matter. I haven't bothered to look at it until now as I just bought it off one of my friends and haven't had a need for it lol. But thank you, I will consider all of that and probably end up going with the Radeon card that you listed if there isn't a better one that I could use with this processor.

EDIT: What about these 2, would this be a more viable upgrade for this computer?

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-R775OC-1GI Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

Newegg.com - Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W ATX12V V2.2 Intel Core i7 Compliant Dual 80mm Fans Full Cable Sleevings Power Supply

[ShyguyXPC]

Newegg.com - Antec VP-450 450W ATX 12V v2.3 Power Supply

for the PSU, would be a better unit, and cheaper. The Gigabyte 7750 is factory OC'd to 880 Core, which should give it a bit more boost in performance.

There's an XFX Dual slot 900Mhz model and that requires a external 6 Pin power connector, though the PSU listed above, or even the one you listed would suffice to run it easily enough.

for the Warranty I would get a XFX, even MSI's cards are good. but the XFX and MSI cards are closer to $125.

For that much change you'd be better off getting a stock 7770 like this instead:

Newegg.com - PowerColor AX7770 1GBD5-2DH Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

between the Antec VP-450 and that 7770 it only comes to about $171-172 after shipping.

[ShyguyXPC]

you can see the spec differences between the 7750 and 7770, besides a 200Mhz clock increase, the 7770 has 640 shader cores vs the 512 on the 7750 and has the full 40 texture units of the two as well.

Video Card Comparison - GPUReview.com

for the tad bit more in price, its a better deal/setup than the factory OC'd Gigabyte card.