Temporary upgrad for my 8 year old PC. New GPU or whole new MOBO and use integrated graphics?

[Jinchu84]

Hi,

So I have a 2nd PC I only use when I am at my girl friends house. But it is nearly 8 years old now its not exactly ideal for gaming. I am looking to give it a bit of a boost.

I'm not sure what the MOBO is but the GPU is a GeForce GTX 650 and CPU is i5-3470. 8gb RAM.

Would a brand new gaming MOBO be better than this GTX 650, if I only use the integrated Intel HD graphics? Or would upgrading the 650 give a better bang for my buck? I can not really afford a whole new build right now I just want to give this old girl a bit of a boost so my weekends at my girl friends place is a bit more bearable.

If something like the MSI Z170A Gaming M7 is more powerful than my GTX 650, even without a graphics card. I may as well get it, and buy a 1070 later when I can afford it. But if I can get an upgrade for the 650 that will work better immediately that might be a cheaper option for the moment.

What do you think?

Thanks, Jinchu.

 

[Keannu]

That's alot of ram for an old system. Setting that aside, If I would be in the same situation, I would probably make up my mind to buy a 10 series video card for the system. Buying a new video card wont bottleneck significantly so you can use it along with the new gpu until you decide to upgrade the processor.

It wouldn't bring much performance improvement to the table if you went for a Processor+Mobo+Ram combo since the new processor would still be hindered by the gtx 650.

 

[ArchitSahu]

System is still good enough. Get a new GPU to save costs. A 1050Ti, or 1060 should be good for now, or a second hand 970 or 980. Note that there is a GPU release this month.

 

[fagetti]

8GB ram is for sure is fine even for gaming. If there is a certain game like Pubg you like to play which is memory heavy (rare) then you can upgrade but makes no sence because you can just lower video settings.

I have even few years older cpu i7-875k from 2010 its working fine with newer games, ofcourse there is a certain percentage of games which are cpu heavy and it wont work that well but 75-80% will not be bottlenecked at all.

Just look here for benchmarking :
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

I7-875k score 5451 (mine is overclocked to get over 7k score)
i5-3470 score 6641 (you could try overclocking depending on your motherboard)

Just update your graphics card. What power supply and motherboard you have?
Download aida64 extreme trial version and check with that :

https://www.aida64.com/downloads

 

[Jinchu84]

OP here,

Hey thanks all for your awesome responces.

I got that aida64 and my motherboard is Asus P8Z77-V LX but couldnt see my power supply anywhere. I can see that when I open my case up though.

So if what you guys said is all good what I will do is actually buy a 1070 or 1080, depending on price (or one of the upcomming new GPUs) and put my current 970 from my main PC into this old one. Does that sound ok? No issues?

Thanks again.

 

[pete_101]

OP here,

Hey thanks all for your awesome responces.

I got that aida64 and my motherboard is Asus P8Z77-V LX but couldnt see my power supply anywhere. I can see that when I open my case up though.

So if what you guys said is all good what I will do is actually buy a 1070 or 1080, depending on price (or one of the upcomming new GPUs) and put my current 970 from my main PC into this old one. Does that sound ok? No issues?

Thanks again.

That sounds like a very good solution.

BTW, your old GTX 650 is still better than modern Intel integrated graphics. http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-650-vs-Intel-HD-630-Desktop-Kaby-Lake/3154vsm178724

 

[Karadjgne]

Decide. If you plan on saving cash later, then spend it now. Buying a very expensive gtx1070/1080 will mean for sure it'll get passed on to the next pc you build. If you need a cheap fix just for now, then a gtx1050ti/1060 would be a better gamble.

Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB ROG STRIX Video Card ($814.98 @ Newegg) Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GAMING X 4G Video Card ($244.98 @ Newegg)

 

[fagetti]

Or just get a gtx 680 / 770 which you can get used for 50-120$ and its better than 1050ti

 

[neiler0847]

My first thought... when you're at your girlfriend's place, spend your time with her (and not on your backup gaming PC).

But if you must game, just upgrade the GPU. A new GTX 1050 or 1050ti will crush the performance of the old GTX 650. Maybe you can a used GTX950 or GTX960.