Question What is the best GRAPHIC CARD option for very OLD motherboard GA-H55M-USB3 (rev. 1.0) ?

[petrb]

Hi guys 👨‍🔧🖥,
I would like to upgrade a very old computer 👴 what I found at home for playing old games for my 7 years nephew 🧒.
I'm wondering🧐, what could be the best GPU option for this 🌟 :

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3
CPU: Intel® Core™ i3-530 Processor
RAM: 3835MB (DDR3 - 1333 DDR3 SDRAM) - Kingston 99U5471-012.A00LF (4GB DDR3-1333)
PSU: there is some old 400W (not know exact model now - I'll specific later) - I can buy some 550W PSU if is needed.


You will be so kind to help me find optimal old GPU for that. 🙏 Thanks.

 

[Viking2121]

If the PSU works, you should be fine adding in a GPU that doesn't need supplemental power, I guess it depends on the games your nephew whats to play, I would assume Fortnite being the most it would run okish, So I'd look around on the used market for a GPU for a older system like that, Something like a 1050 or RX 560, which both can be had for cheap on the used market and should work fine with the PSU already in the system even if they need supplemental power. Thats about as far as I'd go for a GPU for that CPU.

I would avoid the 1030's, even 1650's, cost too much for what that system is capable of, I'd recommend a used 750 or 750ti, but the 560 or 1050 is quite a bit stronger and they often go for around the same price used.

Good Luck.

 

[PassMark]

Motherboard has PCIe 2.0 x16 slot.
So really in theory any modern video card could be used if you have physical space, cooling and a big enough PSU and are running Win10 or 11.
They should all fall back to using PCIe 2.0

But in practice it doesn't make sense to spend too much as the RAM and CPU will be bottlenecks. Maybe a GeForce 1030 ?

 

[petrb]

Motherboard has PCIe 2.0 x16 slot.
So really in theory any modern video card could be used if you have physical space, cooling and a big enough PSU and are running Win10 or 11.
They should all fall back to using PCIe 2.0

But in practice it doesn't make sense to spend too much as the RAM and CPU will be bottlenecks. Maybe a GeForce 1030 ?

So am I totally wrong with Radeon R9 280 GAMING 3G (has PCI Express x16 3.0 and external power supply).. ?? 🤔

 

[PassMark]

There is no real wrong and right.
Maybe you get a new expensive card, if you plan on upgrading the rest of the machine in the future.
Depends on budget, future plans and if you want to buy new PSU.

 

[petrb]

There is no real wrong and right.
Maybe you get a new expensive card, if you plan on upgrading the rest of the machine in the future.
Depends on budget, future plans and if you want to buy new PSU.

Thank you for reply.

Truth is I already bought used 'Radeon R9 280 GAMING 3G' for good price, but I must modifed my case with shears ✂ (this card is pretty big). But my PSU is not very compatible. So I am wondering if the motherboard and the rest of HW is good to go with this card (if it is PCI-E 3.0).

Now I'm thinking about new PSU Gigabyte P550B 550W GP-P550B (around 55 - 60$). That's price I can still invest to this. 😀

OR

I can watch of another cards like Viking2121 mentioned earlier (1050 or RX 560)

 

[PassMark]

To play the game you replace the video card.
To make it fit in the case you chop it to pieces with shears.
To make the video card work you replace the PSU.
Then you discover that 4GB of RAM isn't enough for both Windows and some of the games. So you upgrade the RAM.
While upgrading the RAM to DDR4 you find it doesn't fit in the motherboard slot and need to replace the motherboard to make it compatible.
After replacing the motherboard you find the existing CPU doesn't fit in the new socket. And the i3 wasn't up to the job anyway. So you get a new CPU.
Then you go to plug in your VGA CRT monitor and find that the new video card doesn't have VGA output and so you replace the cable and the monitor.
Then you find the new motherboard has a super M2 slot and for just a small outlay you can get a M2 drive that is 20x faster than your old HDD.

In the end all you are left with from your existing machine with is the mouse pad

 

[petrb]

So the first PSU was COOLER MASTER ATX 12V V2.3 (product number: RS-400-PSAP-I3. I bought a new one Gigabyte P550B 550W GP-P550B for 50$. I plugged GPU (R9 280 GAMING 3G) and it's working. So happy now 🎉.