New to this - Are these okay hardware specs ?

[ivandrago_mustbreakyou]

EVGA2 GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1024MB GDDR5 128bit, Dual Dual-Link DVI, Mini HDMI, Graphics Card 01G-P4-3650-KR
amd phenom 9500 quad processor 2.2ghz
3070mb of ram
direct x 11
windows vista ultimate
640gb hard drive
generic pnp monitor (can wire up to my hdtv)
HP pavillion media center m8330f PC

Dont know if you need anything else ?
I am trying to play some newer games on like high settings maybe ? really dont know much about computers so help would be appreciated

[Calum]

Is this the system you already have, or something you're considering buying/upgrading?
First thoughts are that your CPU is fairly old now and will bottleneck your graphics card.  Your graphics card though isn't bad, it will suffice for most games at medium details.

[ivandrago_mustbreakyou]

okay thanks, i already have this computer.. any cpu suggestions that arnt super expensive ?

[Calum]

You can't upgrade to anything better as your motherboard won't support it - because it's a HP system the upgrade options are very limited.

[ivandrago_mustbreakyou]

Okay so I didnt buy a new cpu because i cant upgrade ? Would there be anything I could get as I have been told I need a new processor if anything. I just bought a new power source (500W) to run the graphics card so what do you guys think I could run a game at setting wise with these specs ? (wont be able to put everything together for a few days thats why i'm asking instead of testing it out myself)

[Calum]

What power supply did you buy?
You may run into overheating issues with that case, I've just seen it's a small media centre style one with not much airflow.
A new CPU would help but to do that you would need a new motherboard, and more than likely new RAM, your PC seems to use DDR2 rather than the more modern DDR3, and new boards use DDR3.
As for what settings you could run, it depends on the game and your monitor resolution.  For demanding games, low/medium, for less demanding games, medium/high - at a guess.

[ivandrago_mustbreakyou]

dont know the exact model (im at work right now) but it was a strock futureshop one for about 90$  ... and yah price wise its tight for me to drop another few huindred dollars for a new processor and motherboard, ill likely do that in the future... I previousley had a 8500gt graphics card which was not meant for gaming and was using a 327W power source and could run gta4 on low and arma2 on medium-low, should i see improvement or is the rest of my system going to hold back the new card ?

[ivandrago_mustbreakyou]

..any recommendations on motherboard and processors that arnt gonna devestate my finances ?

[Calum]

You'll see a huge improvement with the 650Ti, for sure.  The Phenom will hold the card back but not to the point where it will be unplayable or anything, there'll still be a huge difference.
As for recommending a new motherboard/CPU/RAM, what sort of budget were you thinking of?

[ivandrago_mustbreakyou]

okay well thats great news ! .. and say 350$ or less ? i dont know if thats enough for both, but i just dropped like 300$ yesterday so i cant afford alot right now

[ivandrago_mustbreakyou]

.. my main goal is to be able to play arma 3 on medium settings without frame rate issues and gta4 though gta4 runs crappy on all systems so..

[ivandrago_mustbreakyou]

in relation to my board and the graphics card will they be compatible slot wise ?
Motherboard
•One PCI Express x16
•One PCI Express x1
•Two PCI
Card
PCI Express® 1.1 compliant or higher motherboard with one available dual-width X16 graphics slot

just unsure as to the dual width x16 ? would mine cover that?

[patio]

What's up with your User name ? ?

[ivandrago_mustbreakyou]

lol why whats wrong with it ? .. (its from rocky 4 my all time favourite movie)

[patio]

It looks broken on this end...with an icon almost at the end of it.