Alienware m17x R3------NEED SOME ADVICE PLEASE

A guy has a Alienware m17x R3 with these specs:

• 
  i7-2820 processor
  500 GB HardDrive
  8 GB RAM
  Nvidia gtx460m graphics card
  120mhz 3D 1080p screen

He wants $400. It has a minor crack in the glass. It does not affect the computer. Is this a good deal? Also, the dilemma is that I want to play Guild Wars 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and SimCity on medium to high settings. Will the GTX 460m do this or will I need a more powerful videocard? If I need another videocard, can I upgrade the 460m to something more powerful? If yes, which other cards. Thanks.

 

Man, that makes me feel bad about my system's value... The only issue I can tell you about on that machine is that the 3D screen will prevent the use of Optimus, and will thus hurt battery life. (And lack of SSD, but that's not killer)

460m has okay performance, but check benchmarks if you really need to be sure. It should also overclock well, to 560m levels or better. If you want to upgrade the video card, you won't find it too hard - but you'll have to stick with nVidia cards, which are more expensive. (3D screen) I believe a 780m will work in an r3 with some tweaking, there should be a guide on doing it soon if this year is anything like previous ones. (List of known-perfect compatible cards: 460m, 560m, 580m. Mostly compatible: 660m, 675m (rebadged 580m), 680m. Strongly suspected compatible: 760m, 770m, 780m)

 

Just to add, the 580m is the best you can get and still retain working 3D. Dell have locked down the R3 and R4 to only work with the GPU's they supply for each model. Better ones will work (with a little effort) but 3D is gone - unless a BIOS (yes BIOS not vBIOS) hack comes along...