I have an old (10 year old) graphics card on my computer. How should I upgrade it?

[neptunespear]

This is the hardware I have on my computer right now:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2GHz)

RAM: 2GB DDR2

Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 (128MB)

Motherboard: ASUS M2N-MX SE

PSU: FSP HH-350ATX 350W

I need help figuring out what graphics card should replace the current integrated unit. Although, I might have to upgrade the other hardware as well. The motherboard doesn't even have a PCIe x16 port.

The following criteria will guide my decisions:

-The CPU or RAM shouldn't be a bottleneck.
-The PSU should be able to handle replaced hardware.

At this moment, I'm considering buying a PCIe x8-x16 adapter and a 2007-era 256MB or 512MB video card (like a GeForce 7900 GTX, or a Radeon HD2600) for minimal tasks (handling HTML5 video, Google Earth, allowing me to upgrade to Windows 10, etc.)

I don't have the money to splurge on Serious Gamer Hardware, but if I did, I would probably buy an R9 270X (which is consistently priced around $150, even on Craigslist--greedy swine). However, this probably would mean complete replacements of motherboards, processors, RAM and a new PSU.

Does anyone have other suggestions?

 

[maxalge]

This is the hardware I have on my computer right now:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2GHz)

RAM: 2GB DDR2

Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 (128MB)

Motherboard: ASUS M2N-MX SE

PSU: FSP HH-350ATX 350W

I need help figuring out what graphics card should replace the current integrated unit. Although, I might have to upgrade the other hardware as well. The motherboard doesn't even have a PCIe x16 port.

The following criteria will guide my decisions:

-The CPU or RAM shouldn't be a bottleneck.
-The PSU should be able to handle replaced hardware.

At this moment, I'm considering buying a PCIe x8-x16 adapter and a 2007-era 256MB or 512MB video card (like a GeForce 7900 GTX, or a Radeon HD2600) for minimal tasks (handling HTML5 video, Google Earth, allowing me to upgrade to Windows 10, etc.)

I don't have the money to splurge on Serious Gamer Hardware, but if I did, I would probably buy an R9 270X (which is consistently priced around $150, even on Craigslist--greedy swine). However, this probably would mean complete replacements of motherboards, processors, RAM and a new PSU.

Does anyone have other suggestions?

not worth any further monetary investment of any kind

save for a new build

 

[rcald2000]

I owned a HP Pavilion desktop with that exact same processor. I bought it from Best Buy years ago for $550. I had the option of upgrading from the AMD Athlon 64 3500+ to the 3800+ which would have been upgrading from single core, to dual core. The one main difference in our scenarios is that my motherboard had a PCIe Express, which was new technology at the time. I had a HIS Radeon HD 4670 IceQ.

So what type of slot does your motherboard have? AGP? What are your goals with the upgrade? You should know that in this point of time, with this level of technology, you'll most likely be purchasing a used GPU off Ebay. Please answer back and I'll try to help you to the best of my abilities.

 

[neptunespear]

I owned a HP Pavilion desktop with that exact same processor. I bought it from Best Buy years ago for $550. I had the option of upgrading from the AMD Athlon 64 3500+ to the 3800+ which would have been upgrading from single core, to dual core. The one main difference in our scenarios is that my motherboard had a PCIe Express, which was new technology at the time. I had a HIS Radeon HD 4670 IceQ.

So what type of slot does your motherboard have? AGP? What are your goals with the upgrade? You should know that in this point of time, with this level of technology, you'll most likely be purchasing a used GPU off Ebay. Please answer back and I'll try to help you to the best of my abilities.

The M2N-MX SE has a PCIe x8 bus, as per the website: https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M2NMX_SE/

There's really work on two levels when it comes to my goals for this upgrade. The highest priority short term goals are basic OS functionality: Windows 10, HTML5 video playback, 1080p video playback, MATLAB, 2002-2003 era games (GTA III, Flight Simulator X, Simcity 4, etc.), and so on. For this, I would want to connect one or two 512MB graphics cards, but not if the current CPU, motherboard or PSU would bottleneck things.

The second level is to get more modern hardware. I will use the following benchmarks:

-Dolphin (Gamecube and Wii emulator): Newer i5 (like the 3570K), since it's cheaper than a newer i7, and maybe a GTX 460.

-GTA V: i5-3470, GTX 660 or better

I will probably do a custom build from scratch for this second level of requirements. However, it is likely I will still get the parts from Craigslist or eBay and save $300-400 compared to buying retail hardware.

Should I get a dual core 3800+ in the meantime?