A newbie wants to upgrade his graphic card ... suggestions pls :)

Hello guys!
Greetings from singapore! :)

I've this compaq presario SR5890D and want to upgrade my graphic card. But I am scared that other hardwares will bottleneck my new graphic card.
I am choosing between gtx 550 ti & gtx 560 ti. But I am also open to other suggestions as well.
I did some research about upgrading graphic card so I think I need to upgrade my power supply as well.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I am a total newbie on DIY desktop. This is my 1st time trying to upgrade something
I am hoping to get some help from pros :)

This is the price list from the shop that I am planning to get from. (their price is in S$)
http://www.cybermind.com.sg/pdf-uplo.../cybermind.pdf

Please suggest me which gpu and psu I should get :)
Do I need to upgrade my RAM as well? *confused*

Monitor: HP 2309m (1920x1080)
Motherboard: MCP73M01H1 (Napa)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66 GHz
Memory: 4 GB PC2-6400
Graphic card: GT 130 (768MB)
PSU: 350W
Detailed Info: Compaq Presario SR5800 Desktop PC series - Compaq Presario SR5890D Desktop PC Product Specifications - c01686183 - HP Business Support Center

P.S. I want to play GTA IV, Skyrim, Dragon Age 2 with good FPS and graphics :)

Seasonic 620 watt M12-II 620 power supply from that list is high quality and will run any single video card.

You might not notice any difference if you went from 4 GB of RAM to 8 GB. I'd probably leave it at 4 unless you have some particular reason to need 8. Most people do not use all of 4 GB. You can look in Resource Monitor in Windows and see how much RAM you are using at any particular time.

As regards upgrading your RAM, HP lists the maximum supported DIMM size as 2GB. Two of those give 4GB. I don't know whether the board will support more. The largest kit offered at www.crucial.com is 4GB (2 X 2GB).

As far as I can tell, the machine supports a standard ATX power supply. (24 pin power, 4 pin ATX 12V.)

Upgrading appliance PCs like this is always a bit of an adventure: did HP do anything nonstandard? (From a quick look, I'd say no, it's standard.)

I won't be upgrading RAM for now. I am not sure whether HP use anything nonstandard or not because I am very new to hardware scene ...

After some research, I think I might buy MSI GTX560 TwinFrozr II 1024MB (S$279) & SilverStone 500W ST50F-ES (S$85). Is it worth to buy Seasonic 620 watt M12-II 620 power (S$125) for future upgrades now?

Okay, final decision time ..
Is it worth to spend S$56 more to get 560ti?
MSI GTX560 Ti TwinFrozr II OC 1024MB GDDR5 S$335
MSI GTX560 TwinFrozr II 1024MB GDDR5 S$279

SilverStone 500W ST50F-ES (S$85) should be able to handle any 1 of these right?

razefast1 said:

Okay, final decision time ..
Is it worth to spend S$56 more to get 560ti?
MSI GTX560 Ti TwinFrozr II OC 1024MB GDDR5 S$335
MSI GTX560 TwinFrozr II 1024MB GDDR5 S$279

SilverStone 500W ST50F-ES (S$85) should be able to handle any 1 of these right?

The ti would be marginally better than a regular 560. Only you can decide whether it'd be worth the extra money (equivalent to about $45US). The 448 core model would be a more significant upgrade, at a more significant price premium.

Another vendor (www.evga.com) recommends a 500W power supply with at least 30A available at +12V for their similar cards. The Silverstone lists 34A. That's OK, but (for my own PC), I'd prefer a little more margin. What's the price of a Silverstone ST60F-ES? (In the US, it's only a few dollars more than an ST50F-ES.)

bobkn said:

razefast1 said:

Okay, final decision time ..
Is it worth to spend S$56 more to get 560ti?
MSI GTX560 Ti TwinFrozr II OC 1024MB GDDR5 S$335
MSI GTX560 TwinFrozr II 1024MB GDDR5 S$279

SilverStone 500W ST50F-ES (S$85) should be able to handle any 1 of these right?

The ti would be marginally better than a regular 560. Only you can decide whether it'd be worth the extra money (equivalent to about $45US). The 448 core model would be a more significant upgrade, at a more significant price premium.

Another vendor (www.evga.com) recommends a 500W power supply with at least 30A available at +12V for their similar cards. The Silverstone lists 34A. That's OK, but (for my own PC), I'd prefer a little more margin. What's the price of a Silverstone ST60F-ES? (In the US, it's only a few dollars more than an ST50F-ES.)

I think I'll get ti. My local shop doesn't have the 448 core.
ST60F-ES is S$98 (13 more). the price is okay for me.
but can i know what's the margin for? does it improve performance? or for future upgrades? or for overclocking? (I've nvr done that b4)

razefast1 said:

bobkn said:

razefast1 said:

Okay, final decision time ..
Is it worth to spend S$56 more to get 560ti?
MSI GTX560 Ti TwinFrozr II OC 1024MB GDDR5 S$335
MSI GTX560 TwinFrozr II 1024MB GDDR5 S$279

SilverStone 500W ST50F-ES (S$85) should be able to handle any 1 of these right?

The ti would be marginally better than a regular 560. Only you can decide whether it'd be worth the extra money (equivalent to about $45US). The 448 core model would be a more significant upgrade, at a more significant price premium.

Another vendor (www.evga.com) recommends a 500W power supply with at least 30A available at +12V for their similar cards. The Silverstone lists 34A. That's OK, but (for my own PC), I'd prefer a little more margin. What's the price of a Silverstone ST60F-ES? (In the US, it's only a few dollars more than an ST50F-ES.)

I think I'll get ti. My local shop doesn't have the 448 core.
ST60F-ES is S$98 (13 more). the price is okay for me.
but can i know what's the margin for? does it improve performance? or for future upgrades? or for overclocking? (I've nvr done that b4)

"Margin" won't improve performance. It would help with future upgrades or overclocking, but I doubt that either one of those is relevant to you. The main reasons are to assure reliable operation under full load, and to reduce the risk that the power supply might fail. Some PSUs are specified to run at their full rated power continuously, but I'd prefer not to count on it.

The main concern with a PSU failure is that it might take the rest of the system with it. I don't think that using the 500W version would put you at much additional risk, but the 600W one is close enough in price that I recommend it.

Thx for all the helps guys :)
I just went to local store today to buy gtx 560 ti but they changed my mind and I end up buying msi radeon 7850 twin frozr oc 2gb. I also bought seasonic 650W.
But the issue now is my monitor cannot detect anything from 7850 but it does from my on board graphic.
I've opened a new thread for this issue so I really hope you guys can help me there. T_T

New graphic card doesn't work (msi 7850 TFIII 2gb oc)

p.s. hi admin. please help me to close this thread.