[SOLVED] Old Computer, New Graphics Card?

[insert_complaint]

Hey there,

I have a pretty old computer (HP p6540f) and I currently wanted to impove the graphics card to potentially increase some performance for playing games (looking at games like Skyrim for example). The current stats are such:

• Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 830
• RAM: 8 GB
• Hard drive: 1 TB
• Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 4200

I'm thinking if I upgrade my graphics card, I should be able to see an improvement. Currently from what I know, the graphics card is actually integrated into the motherboard so I do have th option of adding additional graphics card. I tried to search options online but since it is a relatively old computer, I wasn't able to find any results of the newest graphic card that would be compatible with my computer.

Any suggestions of what kind of graphics card I should get? Should I also upgrade any other portion of my computer? Or is my comptuer so old, I should probably just look into investing in a new computer?

Thanks!

 

[jeremyj_83]

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02155464
From here you can see that you have a 250W PSU and have an open PCIe X16 slot. With a 250W PSU it won't be able to support any GPU needed a 6 pin or 8 pin power adapter. That means you are locked into a GPU that draws its power from the PCIe slot. In theory you could use a 1050Ti or 1650 with that motherboard, assuming the PSU that you choose doesn't need the 6pin power adapter. A safer bet would be the GT 1030 though. Granted with a system that old you would be best just upgrading the whole thing and getting something that will last another 5+ years. What would your budget be for a full upgrade?

 

[insert_complaint]

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02155464
From here you can see that you have a 250W PSU and have an open PCIe X16 slot. With a 250W PSU it won't be able to support any GPU needed a 6 pin or 8 pin power adapter. That means you are locked into a GPU that draws its power from the PCIe slot. In theory you could use a 1050Ti or 1650 with that motherboard, assuming the PSU that you choose doesn't need the 6pin power adapter. A safer bet would be the GT 1030 though. Granted with a system that old you would be best just upgrading the whole thing and getting something that will last another 5+ years. What would your budget be for a full upgrade?

My budget is okay. I recently purchased the following laptop with the following specs:
X1 Carbon 5th Gen - Kabylake (Type 20HR, 20HQ) Laptop (ThinkPad) - Type 20HQ

• Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7600U
• RAM: 16GB
• Hard Drive: 1TB
• Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics 620

Where this laptop can pretty much do everything that I need but I was just looking to see if I could still salvage my old computer and use it to run games on the side. But if it's probably best to get a new computer at that point, I'd probably do that!