Upgrading my machine

[BlaiseTorrance]

So I have an Acer AX3400G-U4802. I know its dated but, I'm looking to upgrade this machine. I have a 2TB hard drive and was shopping the AMD Phenom II x6 1090T Black Edition CPU. I'm looking (if possible) for a graphics card that will support multiple HDMI. I was wondering what would work best with out bottleneck? I'm okay with a new power supply if needed.

 

[Turb0Yoda]

I don't believe that PC has a PCIe slot for graphics cards at all. I don't see anything at first glance. There is a PCI slot, not a PCIe. The PSU also looks like a custom piece with no upgrade options available...

 

[WrektGlitch]

According to the buyers guide found here, your PC does have a PCIe x16 slot, meaning you can add a graphics card. You're gonna need a power supply swap as well, considering that PC only has a 220W PSU. I wouldn't even feel safe putting something like a 1050 in there that doesn't require an external power connector.

 

[WrektGlitch]

Your main problem is gonna be space. It's gonna have to be a low profile graphics card. I'm finding that others have installed low profile brackets onto dual slot cards and they've fit. I'll see what I can find with a removable DVI port and low profile bracket.

 

[BlaiseTorrance]

I don't believe that PC has a PCIe slot for graphics cards at all. I don't see anything at first glance. There is a PCI slot, not a PCIe. The PSU also looks like a custom piece with no upgrade options available...

Well i found these old posts from 2011 and 2014. One post is in reference to the CPU the other is the GPU. The one referencing the CPU is the one I mentioned above. The GPU is a mid range recommend based on the factory CPU and Power supply.

CPU

GPU

 

[WrektGlitch]

You can pretty much take your pick from anything here, but the only one with dual HDMI ports is an old DDR3 card.

 

[BlaiseTorrance]

Would i be able to update the graphics card and still utilize the HDMI port that came in the machine from factory?

 

[WrektGlitch]

Would i be able to update the graphics card and still utilize the HDMI port that came in the machine from factory?

That's a setting that you would have to check for in your BIOS.

A different direction to go would be to simply purchase a DVI or display port to HDMI adapter like these:

DVI to HDMI
Display Port to HDMI

 

[BlaiseTorrance]

One of the other reasons of wanting to upgrade the graphics card is for photoshop as well. This factory card is not supported by photoshop anymore.

 

[WrektGlitch]

Considering that desktop currently has only the integrated graphics, it's not a surprise that Photoshop doesn't support it anymore. However, just about any modern GPU should be supported by Photoshop.

 

[BlaiseTorrance]

Considering that desktop currently has only the integrated graphics, it's not a surprise that Photoshop doesn't support it anymore. However, just about any modern GPU should be supported by Photoshop.

You are right. I was wondering what would give me the absolute best performance with the upgraded CPU I mentioned earlier. The other question I had, this machine can take a max of 8GB of ram. Is that going to be enough for the upgrades I'm wanting to do?

 

[WrektGlitch]

Considering that desktop currently has only the integrated graphics, it's not a surprise that Photoshop doesn't support it anymore. However, just about any modern GPU should be supported by Photoshop.

You are right. I was wondering what would give me the absolute best performance with the upgraded CPU I mentioned earlier. The other question I had, this machine can take a max of 8GB of ram. Is that going to be enough for the upgrades I'm wanting to do?

Your RAM should be adequate. I always prefer at least 16GB of RAM, but 8 is enough. I do a lot of gaming, though.

 

[BlaiseTorrance]

Considering that desktop currently has only the integrated graphics, it's not a surprise that Photoshop doesn't support it anymore. However, just about any modern GPU should be supported by Photoshop.

You are right. I was wondering what would give me the absolute best performance with the upgraded CPU I mentioned earlier. The other question I had, this machine can take a max of 8GB of ram. Is that going to be enough for the upgrades I'm wanting to do?

Your RAM should be adequate. I always prefer at least 16GB of RAM, but 8 is enough. I do a lot of gaming, though.

From factory this machine is capable of 8GB of ram. If i do the CPU swap will I be able to push it to 16GB?

 

[WrektGlitch]

You would be able to support 16GB of RAM, yes.

 

[BlaiseTorrance]

So this is my thought. Tell me what you Think:

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X Seriers DDR3 1600 PC3 12800 (F3-1600C9D-16GXM)
CPU: AMD Phenom II x6 1090T Processor Black Edition (6 core/125w/3.2-3.6GHz/AM3/cache 6MB)
GPU: MSI GeForce GT730 2GB DirectX12 64-bit (N730K-2GD3H/LP) --OR-- MSI Radeon HD 6450 DirectX11 (R6450-2GD3H/LP)
Power Supply: Seasonic SSR-650RM 650 Watt ATX 12v/EPS12V 80+Gold