How Difficult to Upgrade Graphics Card on comp I just bought??

kb3056

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I just bought this: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/321916843131

All the black friday/cyber monday Canada deals seemed pretty bad to me so I ended up going with this one. But I'm no expert.

How is this system?

How difficult will it be to upgrade the graphics card? Do I need to upgrade the PSU, or will 460W take something good? How difficult will it be to upgrade the PSU.

Thanks for any info
 
Solution
That system will run a GTX 950, which is a good mid-range card. The 460 watt PSU in that system will run it fine even if the brand is un-known. Unlike Acer and a few generic brands, HP, Dell and Lenovo use decent quality power supplies. Just make sure the case can hold the card, it may not be designed for larger video cards and may have cables or drive cages, etc... blocking the PCIe slots. If there are space issues, the 750 Ti can be found in a smaller form and will be a good upgrade.

maxalge

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it runs on the intel graphics of the cpu, which is pretty terrible

it says it has 500w power supply, but doesn't give specifics most likely you would need to change this.
Usually pre-builts have terrible units.

open your case and post back with the info of the power supply


what graphics card you can get is limited by the case size and your budget




installing the gpu itself is easy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz-Jo0F5HFk
 
That system will run a GTX 950, which is a good mid-range card. The 460 watt PSU in that system will run it fine even if the brand is un-known. Unlike Acer and a few generic brands, HP, Dell and Lenovo use decent quality power supplies. Just make sure the case can hold the card, it may not be designed for larger video cards and may have cables or drive cages, etc... blocking the PCIe slots. If there are space issues, the 750 Ti can be found in a smaller form and will be a good upgrade.
 
Solution

kb3056

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That system will run a GTX 950, which is a good mid-range card. The 460 watt PSU in that system will run it fine even if the brand is un-known. Unlike Acer and a few generic brands, HP, Dell and Lenovo use decent quality power supplies. Just make sure the case can hold the card, it may not be designed for larger video cards and may have cables or drive cages, etc... blocking the PCIe slots. If there are space issues, the 750 Ti can be found in a smaller form and will be a good upgrade.

Thanks for the help. I did end up getting the 950 and it was all fine. The computer still seems fast even though it's old.

Would it be worth it to upgrade the GPU again and do you have a recommendation? Thanks.
 

DSzymborski

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Doing my own research maybe the 1060 6gb is the best replacement?

Holy cow at the price tho!

I was going to grumble about someone necroing a thread until I saw that it was OP popping back in! Glad to hear your GTX 950 served you well for the last five years.

If you're upgrading, I think it will be time for a PSU upgrade. And I'd also wait and see the better GPU availability. Even if you're not getting a 3080 or something like that, a better GPU market will tend to push prices down and there are likely to be some products at the lower end of the 30 series that will crush a 1060, like a theoretical 3050/3050 Ti would. It's just a really bad time to buy a GPU unless you need to buy a GPU and you sound pretty happy.
 

kb3056

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I bought the 950 and didn't actually game that much. Lol. Life is funny like that.

At first glance I figured the 1060 would already be outdated and would be cheap. I thought maybe I could do a cheap little upgrade especially since it's boxing day. Lol so much for that I will wait.
 

kb3056

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As I said a couple years ago, if you upgrade, it's time for a PSU upgrade.

looks like im getting a 1060 6gb for 100 cad. or is it worth to spend 50 more for a 1650 super. i will upgrade the psu next time or just buy a new computer.

prices really crashed huh.

what games are you guys playing that need the latest hardware by the way?
 

Tac 25

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buy the 1650 Super, it's newer and would have Nvidia driver support longer than a 1060.

the 1060 is also one of the more popular gpu for mining, so there's a danger that a mined card might get sold to you.
 
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DSzymborski

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looks like im getting a 1060 6gb for 100 cad. or is it worth to spend 50 more for a 1650 super. i will upgrade the psu next time or just buy a new computer.

prices really crashed huh.

what games are you guys playing that need the latest hardware by the way?

This PSU wasn't good seven years ago. This is a safety issue, not a "maybe I'll replace it next time" issue. This was the "next time."

Since I cannot ethically recommend any GPU with an external power connector being used with this ancient PSU, there's no more help I can supply in terms of GPU advice, so I wish you good fortune with whatever you purchase.
 
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kb3056

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This PSU wasn't good seven years ago. This is a safety issue, not a "maybe I'll replace it next time" issue. This was the "next time."

Since I cannot ethically recommend any GPU with an external power connector being used with this ancient PSU, there's no more help I can supply in terms of GPU advice, so I wish you good fortune with whatever you purchase.

sorry what is the danger?

everything i read says the 460 w power supply is more than fine for the 1060. 1650 super uses only 100 w (even less than the 1060). someone earlier in the thread said HP uses decent quality PSU. i am not understanding what the issue is.
 

kb3056

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buy the 1650 Super, it's newer and would have Nvidia driver support longer than a 1060.

the 1060 is also one of the more popular gpu for mining, so there's a danger that a mined card might get sold to you.

damn didn't know that. i got the 1060 already. maybe i will buy the 1650 super if i see a good deal on one. oh well. I will just stockpile random GPUs for the next time they go to the moon right? lol lol.

no issue with the 1060 so far. is there any way to tell if it was used for mining?
 
sorry what is the danger?

everything i read says the 460 w power supply is more than fine for the 1060. 1650 super uses only 100 w (even less than the 1060). someone earlier in the thread said HP uses decent quality PSU. i am not understanding what the issue is.
Old, especially cheap, PSUs have a tendency to fail, especially when put under high load. And HP uses PSUs that arent great. Good enough, but not good ones. When it fails, it can take the rest of the computer with it. Worst case, it can actually cause a fire. A good PSU is worth it.
 

DSzymborski

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sorry what is the danger?

That you will quickly no longer be the owner of a working GPU.

everything i read says the 460 w power supply is more than fine for the 1060. 1650 super uses only 100 w (even less than the 1060). someone earlier in the thread said HP uses decent quality PSU. i am not understanding what the issue is.

This is an old basic PSU. HP uses "good enough" PSUs for whatever is in the system, for as long as their warranty covers. They don't put PSUs in their systems that are intended to power better GPUs than they included, nearly a decade after their warranty expires.

You're free to do whatever you want, but it's a bad idea. People coming back here because they didn't want to do the prudent thing and now something very bad has happened is a common thread.
 
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Tac 25

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damn didn't know that. i got the 1060 already. maybe i will buy the 1650 super if i see a good deal on one. oh well. I will just stockpile random GPUs for the next time they go to the moon right? lol lol.

no issue with the 1060 so far. is there any way to tell if it was used for mining?

 

kb3056

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