What do I need to do to upgrade my pc to run Hogwarts Legacy?

Maefind

My current PC has an ASUSTek Computer Inc. Prime A320M-K Rev. X.0x motherboard, an AMD Ryzen 3 2200G with Radeon Vega Graphics 3500 Mhz, an Nvidia Geforce GT 1030 graphics card, and 16 GB of DDR4 RAM. The Asus manufacturer website says that my motherboard supports a PCie 3.0/2.0 slot only. My budget for upgrading would be close to or under $200 if possible. The cheaper the component(s) are the better as long as they are compatible with other components and allow me to run the game smoothly on the lowest settings. I care much more about the performance of the game than I do about the graphics level. PC game benchmark website said that it was my graphics card that was the only problem but systemrequirementslab said that it was a combination of both my CPU and my amount of VRAM. I am excluding the cost of paying Microcenter to install the upgraded component(s) from my budget. I am treating that as an extra given on top of the cost of the component(s). I would appreciate any input I can get for deciding on what component(s) I need to purchase.

magarity

Your graphics card is below the minimum requirement while your CPU is not, therefore an upgrade to the card is the only choice if your budget is $200. While the A320M-K can support 3rd generation Ryzen, no amount of CPU power can overcome the limits of the 1030, which honestly is a very, very low end graphics card. The 2200G's internal graphics are actually comparable to the 1030.

For graphics cards under $200, your best choices are either nVidia 1650 or Radeon 6500XT. HOWEVER, this game is still in early release for the next couple of days. You should wait and watch for reviews of performance on these two respective GPUs before making a purchase. For most games right now these two cards are roughly equal BUT for some the nVidia is much better and others the AMD is much better. Since you are targeting a specific game, don't rely on other games' performances to guide this decision. You could potentially pick the one and end up with 1/4 less performance of the other.

Switching out the graphics card is as simple as turning a screwdriver and pressing the locking tab on the slot. You can totally do it yourself.

magarity

Thanks for the "best answer" vote

I should also mention, if you are going in person to your local MicroCenter, find the open box (AKA returns) cabinet in the build-your-own section of the store. You could be lucky and find an nVidia 1660 or AMD 6600 for $200.

magarity

As I predicted, there are reviews with the two cards mentioned already out:

With a 6500XT: https://youtu.be/WmB1g1FzUVo

With a GTX1650: https://youtu.be/p8Y7Tr78n_c

Maefind

Wow! Thanks a lot! You've given me way more info on this than I expected to get.