Hi all, I'm thinking of upgrading my desktop as it only runs smoothly on a low setting. My current stats are: Dell Dimension 9200 Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 (2.13GHz) 2GB DDR2 RAM Radeon X1300 256 MB Vista Home 32 Bit I'm thinking of upgrading the graphics card to a Nvidia GTS 250 1GB as well as purchasing an extra 2GB RAM. I'd be happy to do this, but i'm worried that my CPU may not be up to scratch. With these upgrades, would my system be able to run the game with 1680 X 1050 res on Ultra, or at least High? Appreciate your help, I'd hate to upgrade my system if it isn't going to run that well anyway. If needed, I'd rather wait and get a new computer instead.
your cpu will be bottlenecked probably on 2v2 late game with massive units and 3v3 and 4v4 are questionable, again maybe someone else would like to chime in on persional experience but from what my friends computer looked like, laggy with multiple units, the graphics card for sure you should be able to run ultra and probably on 1680. Im on an hd4670 on high settings and playing 1440 or something, earlier on I was playing at 1680 and it was a bit laggy but not unplayable. The Ram will help with the load times, for me I just upgraded from 2gb to 4gb dd2 pc 6400, it loads 1/4 or 1/3 faster and I can actually alt tab to windows and it takes only 5 sec vs 25 sec wait time=P~~ I think you should still up ur cpu, Looks like your mobo is Intel 945P Express and only supports up to core 2 duo from what ive quickly googled. If you were to upgrade to a core2duo 2.93 like mine it would cost you $124.99 on Newegg, as I think thast what most of the americans shop from on here.
Thanks for your response. I'm really hesitant to upgrade the CPU, since i'm probably only a year off from a new PC anyway. Plus I'm not that confident I could do it without stuffing something up! I'm thinking I'll get a GT 240 1GB instead, since i'm not sure my 375W PSU can handle the GTX 250 anyway. Given the CPU isn't that great, do you think the lower graphics card will make much difference? I guess i'd be happy with a lower res for the time being, just getting sick of cartoony low setting graphics.
At the very least, I think you should be capable of at least medium with the GT 240. The jump in image quality from low to medium is pretty significant. From medium to high and high to ultra, not so much. The following seems like your best bet: PNY VCGGT2405G5XEB GeForce GT 240 512MB 128-bit GDDR5, $65 ($45 after MIR) I don't think you'll find it cheaper than that.
Your dell system is very close to my Dell Inspiron system... I jumped up to a HD5830 from a 8400GS and upped the RAM from 2gigs to 4gigs. i run on high texture and everything else Ultra... runs fine campaign and multiplayer. my processor is even slower than yours, it's only a intel core2duo e4400 @ 2.0ghz. Give it a shot. if all else fails you can use them into your new PC (if you decide to get one...) im loving mine right now... the amazing part was fitting the 11" GPU in my mobo! LMFAO.
