Whats max GPU for non OC and OC core 2 duo E8500 usable on near future on a i7?

[ultracrix]

Hello, I'm from Argentina
I recently revived an old PC, core 2 duo E8500, 2GB ram, mobo asrock wolfdale 1333-d667 R 2.0, 16x PCIe

I wanna to add a video card on it, but I dunno how much can I push the E8500 with stock clock and with a "normal" air OC, reading from the web I ask on other place, but no clear answers, so I decided to register here too to ask

I'm really wanna to add a video card witch can be used on a new system, so, I really doesn't care about bottleneck, 'cos when buy the new PC I had to used the video card on it, but need to know how much can be added to this old PC just to know...

I plan to buy an i7 4770k before end of the year, but really need to use now the old PC with a video card that can run in the near future on i7, at least crysis 3 1080p with medium to high settings, despite the bottleneck right now, I need to know if that new GPU will work on that old PC, and that (very) possible bottleneck will cause system crash? excesive temperature? or some malfunction that can be destroy the new video card or some harm to MoBo or other components? or can I buy any video card, using now, and then buy the new system to use with the video card safely?

thanks

 

[TropicoSuarez]

You should be able to overclock the E8500 to about 3.5GHz, but not much farther past that unfortunately. Older Intel CPU's were never great at overclocking (and AMD chips still overclock better).

If you want to buy a graphics card that will run Crysis 3 ultra @ 1080p, you should get a GTX 770/780 or an R9 280x or R9 290. However, any of those cards will be severely bottlenecked by the E8500, so you could use it, it just won't be fast. When you upgrade to the i7 you won't have any bottleneck.

What power supply do you have? You should have atleast a 600w PSU (preferably XFX, Seasonic, or Corsair) if you're going to use a 770/780/280x/290 and add an i7 later.

Also, you might be better off buying a new motherboard and getting the i7 now, and using the i7's integrated graphics until you get a new GPU. The Intel HD 4600 graphics on the i7 are very good! The motherboard that you have now is only compatible with DDR2 RAM, which is gonna bottleneck the i7 in the future. I would recommend getting a Z87/97 motherboard and atleast 8GB of DDR3 RAM.

 

[ultracrix]

I have a 500W PSU without any manufacturer name (a cheap one) and I tested it attaching 6 x 5meter white LED strip (14.4W / meter), if add another 5 meter the PSU shutdown, so If I've no mistake, my PSU can manage real 500W at least on the +12V.. but now I'll use it with the old CPU, and the new GPU, so probably it will be enough

" The motherboard that you have now is only compatible with DDR2 RAM, which is gonna bottleneck the i7 in the future." actually this MoBo can't use an i7

any way, I'll buy a whole new system near december or before, but I really need to use for my work with a good GPU, and of course play games, so that possible GTX 770/780 will be fine

thanks a lot!

 

[Mortg]

You should be able to overclock the E8500 to about 3.5GHz, but not much farther past that unfortunately. Older Intel CPU's were never great at overclocking (and AMD chips still overclock better).

If you want to buy a graphics card that will run Crysis 3 ultra @ 1080p, you should get a GTX 770/780 or an R9 280x or R9 290. However, any of those cards will be severely bottlenecked by the E8500, so you could use it, it just won't be fast. When you upgrade to the i7 you won't have any bottleneck.

What power supply do you have? You should have atleast a 600w PSU (preferably XFX, Seasonic, or Corsair) if you're going to use a 770/780/280x/290 and add an i7 later.

Also, you might be better off buying a new motherboard and getting the i7 now, and using the i7's integrated graphics until you get a new GPU. The Intel HD 4600 graphics on the i7 are very good! The motherboard that you have now is only compatible with DDR2 RAM, which is gonna bottleneck the i7 in the future. I would recommend getting a Z87/97 motherboard and atleast 8GB of DDR3 RAM.

The E8500 is pretty good at overclocking, on air you could maybe get it to 4.1GHz.(I have one xD)

 

[RobCrezz]

I would go for a 750 Ti, which can be used when you get an i7, then upgrade to the newer maxwell cards when they come out.