Upgrading video card

My kid wants to be able to play NBA2K15 and NBA2K16 on Steam with the PC.
We tried - according to the Amazon info we met the specs:
AMD Radeon HD7450 graphics card
Intel Core i7 3770 3.4 gHz processor
Lenovo M series ThinkCentre desktop
Win 7, 64 bit with 535 GB free

But it was not to be. Had to set the game on the lowest sliders and couldn't see players' faces. That stopped the lagging but made the graphics bad and put a black box around the action. It was awful. Went back to NBA2K14, which was the last one to come out on disc.

Now he wants to try again. Can we update the graphics card?
This site tells the requirements and the recommended systems for NBA2K15:
http://support.2k.com/hc/en-us/articles/203320473--PC-NBA-2K15-System-Requirements
This site tells the requirements and recommended for NBA 2K16, which comes out next month.
http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=23233&game=NBA%202K16. (You have to scroll down on this one to get the required and recommended specs.)

We would like him to be able to play the newest version when it comes out. If we need to just save up for a better computer, we can do that. But if it's a cheaper fix to update the card, we would rather do that. We just don't want to chase our tails and end up not buying a video card that's good enough to get the full experience of the game.

Thanks for any help you can give us.

 

Your system specifications are fine. You need to look at your internet connection. What are your download/upload speeds, and the ping.

Go Here.

 

Ping 12ms
download 17.12 Mbps
upload 4.46 Mbps

 

The HD7450 is an OK 2D card but is very poor at 3D (gaming), it's really a multimedia card, for playing movies.

The game debate recommended minimum GT340 is close to 3x more capable at 3D: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=1418&cmp[]=297 (link might be broken by the forum software copy/paste it).

I would move up to a more modern card, like a GT640 (get DDR5 not DDR3), that has a GDR rating around 1300.

Ensure that you have upgraded DirectX to include the full DX 9.0C version for maximum compatibility: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109

 

Thanks for the recommendation. Does that mean that the internet speed we have is adequate? I can't figure out why the game wouldn't run on what we have. I appreciate your time for the card recommendation.

 

The game might not run without DirectX 9.0C installed, even then, with that HD7450, it would choke up and be close to impossible to play (the buit-in GPU of your i7 would be better - some builders add rubbish GPU cards to make it look like you're getting more than you really are).

Internet speed and response stats are fine, better than any I've used for my own gaming. But do check several times at different times of day, local time at 06:00 - 07:00 should be best, 19:00 - 22:00 are likely to be the worst, but that's likely to be the most important time.

The later GT 740 might be better, perhaps cheaper, too. Better still would be the GTX 750 or 750 Ti, ~$100.

 

When we went to investigate this at the Big Box Store where they also install the cards, we were told that clock speed is important. Is this true and if we are planning for future releases of this game, how fast should we try to buy? The salesperson said over 1000 is the preferred speed and that 1300 would probably be best. (I don't even know what this means.)

Also - we have Direct X 11 on the computer according to dxdiag. Thanks for any more direction you can give me!