LF Help with Upgrades

Attitech

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Mar 3, 2015
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Hey guys,
I received a desktop PC from a friend of mine and after further inspection I am looking to make a few upgrades, but I'm not sure where to start with the graphics upgrade for this particular model. I'm not looking to spend a lot of money but I am looking to get the most I can without justifying an entirely new PC.
Specs:
Motherboard: ASUS P5Q
Processor: Intel Core2Quad Q9400 @ 2.66ghz
Memory: 4GB DDR-800mhz
Graphics: GeForce GTS250 1GB

If it's not too much money, I'd like to upgrade to a better graphics card and more ram, but I'm not sure what kind of graphics card or where to even start.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

 
Solution
Uoles. low quality cheapo PSU. Dont spend any money before upgrading PSU otherwise you risk your new parts getting fried by that cheap PSU.

Frankly though you are looking at a full upgrade in order to do any modern gaming or anything substantial. That is a 10 year old system and upgrading it is basically going from 12% to 16%.
You will also run into issues like your motherboard likely not supporting the newest generation GPUs that are EFI boot only.
So besides a PSU (which can be reused in a new build) I would not recommend spending good money on old upgrades.

maxalge

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you start by looking at the make and model of the power supply

and the case size

what exactly do you want to do with this pc?
 

shanetemple14

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Nov 2, 2014
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The whole system can use revitalisation pronto, but the first place to start would be the PSU, this will allow other components to be upgraded SAFELY . PSU will not provide any performance upgrades (unless your shutting down every few mins) but it will allow more powerful components to be added to the PC in the future.
 

Attitech

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Mar 3, 2015
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Had to take the PSU all the way off to find the info lol
PSU: Silencer 500EPS12V 500watt
Case: ATX
RAM: DDR2, I missed that in my original post.

I'm not intending to use it as a heavy gaming machine or 3D design workhorse, but some of the lower requirement newer games I might touch (Heroes of the Storm, Diablo 3 ect) and I also use Blender for recreation so I don't need the best 8gb Graphics Card (obviously those don't work with this machine but you know what I mean), but anything better than the GTS 250 since it has known issues with current versions of Blender.
 

shanetemple14

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Nov 2, 2014
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Once again I would upgrade the PSU first, last thing you want to do is buy a few new parts and then have the PSU blow up which could potentially take out some of the other components inside your PC.
 

Attitech

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Mar 3, 2015
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I missed your post there, shane. Yeah, I know the 500 isn't going to work being pushed any further without breaking something. Do you have anything else that might help in the graphics card area.
 
Uoles. low quality cheapo PSU. Dont spend any money before upgrading PSU otherwise you risk your new parts getting fried by that cheap PSU.

Frankly though you are looking at a full upgrade in order to do any modern gaming or anything substantial. That is a 10 year old system and upgrading it is basically going from 12% to 16%.
You will also run into issues like your motherboard likely not supporting the newest generation GPUs that are EFI boot only.
So besides a PSU (which can be reused in a new build) I would not recommend spending good money on old upgrades.
 
Solution