Is it worth replacing my GeForce 8400 GS with a GeForce 7900 GTX for 35 euros?

PMFsisa

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Feb 9, 2015
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I got a new PC for the purposes of document processing, surfing, watching Youtube and occasionally playing a bit of older games. Its specs are:

CPU: Core2Duo E6550 @ 2.33 GHz
Memory: 4x512 MB
GPU: GeForce 8400 GS
OS: Win7 32bit
Motherboard: Gigabyte G31-PS3L

The rig works fine for my purposes but I noticed noise from the tower after watching HD videos on Youtube several hours in a row. I concluded that a component is overheating due to the heavy load. I confirmed this by both downloading HWMonitor and seeing the GPU temperature shoot to the sky and by opening the tower and touching the graphics card with my hand. Also, video games would run fine until there were detailed particle effects, at which point the framerate would plummet briefly.

When I tried to search online for the best replacement GPU, I simply couldn't find enough information for clear comparison. I sort of figured out what I should get by going to the System Requirements Lab website and looking at recommended hardware for some video game I fancied (Witcher is how I got the idea for GeForce 7900GTX).

Now, I will eventually upgrade RAM, switch to 64bit OS and so on, but in the meantime, I have several questions about what seems to be the bottleneck, my GPU:

1. I saw this offer (thread title) on a local website. What do you think of it?
2. What do you recommend I get? (my budget right now is 150 euros)
3. Which GPU is the absolute maximum my motherboard can handle?

My goal right now is immediate improvement. Thanks for reading and replying.
 
Solution
i would suggest that you get a more recent gpu, 7900gtx was very good during it's time but it is too old now and inefficient.

toms publish monthly a set of recommended gpu's per price bracket, it is a good place to start.
as per compatibility, any modern gpu will work (provided that your psu can handle it, this is very important)
a 750Ti is a good cheap card. The problem with your setup is that, your cpu will bottleneck the system if you buy a fast gpu.

a 750Ti will likely not force you to buy a new psu (it depends), and is cheap enough (you won't spend all your money).
of course this is just a suggestion
i would suggest that you get a more recent gpu, 7900gtx was very good during it's time but it is too old now and inefficient.

toms publish monthly a set of recommended gpu's per price bracket, it is a good place to start.
as per compatibility, any modern gpu will work (provided that your psu can handle it, this is very important)
a 750Ti is a good cheap card. The problem with your setup is that, your cpu will bottleneck the system if you buy a fast gpu.

a 750Ti will likely not force you to buy a new psu (it depends), and is cheap enough (you won't spend all your money).
of course this is just a suggestion
 
Solution