Power supply or video card?

Psu is enough for the gt210 but the gt210 isn't powerfull enough for real gaming, but if you want better i thinkYou'll need the 500 W, 320 isn't enough for good game cards.
Don't think you'll have to change your mobo because of the psu ? Can you give more specs, what hp, what mobo ? Also what resolution you''ll be playing on ?

a gt 210 is so far behind your old 8800gtx in performance its not funny, its like 20x slower. Why does using a 500w psu from your old system mean you need another motherboard?? that makes no sense? I say use the psu that used to power your 8800gtx, and get a decent gpu. You would have to buy a gts450 or ati 5750 or better to get better performance than your old 8800gtx

Why would you need to buy a new MB if you put in the 500W PSU? GT 210 is not great for gaming. What make is the 500W PSU? I would suggest upgrading the Graphics card and the PSU if it is not a decent PSU.

Well the motherboard is an HP brand one, it doesn't have the traditional 24 pin connector for the power supply.

The model is an "HP Compaq 8000 Elite Convertible Minitower " Motherboard pic

This is what the motherboard looks like, as you can see it's not the traditional PSU I guess it's made only for an HP motherboard. So unless their is some sort of adapter for that connection type (I couldn't find any online) I think I would be forced to used a different motherboard just to use my other PSU.

The PSU I have is a 500W Antec so I think it is a pretty decent one. I wasn't aware that the 210 was that bad, spec wise it seemed better and because it was newer. It was pretty cheap but I assumed since it wasn't a brand new card was why...I feel dumb now  

I play at 1440x900 resolution BTW, 16:10

Would the GeForce GTX 550 Ti be a good choice for a new GPU?

Not with the old psu 320W. You have to think then about an 6670 or 450.

To run a card you are going to get decent graphics our of you will most likely have to upgrade your PSU. Whether or not you will also have to change your mobo, im not sure, I wouldn't think so but I could be wrong.

A while back I did something similar with my old gateway computer, put in a new PSU and GPU at the same time and didnt need to replace my mobo, but that doesnt mean yours will be the same.

Well, as you can see from the picture there isn't a normal 24-pin connector that a power supply normally has to plug into the motherboard I have. So if I get a better video card, the only way to power it is with the 500W PSU but the only way to use that PSU is if I upgrade the motherboard. Seems like my only option would be to get a different motherboard and a better video card. If I had known that card wasn't any good I would have bought a better one but I only discovered this site recently  

The 6670 would be a pretty big upgrade from the 210 and if your psu has a combined +12v of at least 18A it will run.

It has +12V main but only 16A max  

I tried to see if I could upgrade the power supply from HP for one that would work with my motherboard but can't find anything like that on their site...looks like I'm gonna need a new motherboard. Oh well, excuse to upgrade

Maybe you can use this one ; http://www.partsonsale.com/hp.html ( sorry, bad joke )
But i do think you've got more than 18A, it's the combined amperes which matter and you've got two +12v rails doing both 18A if i read it right and this is the right manuel. Look at page 7.3. http://www.manualowl.com/m/Compaq/8000/Manual/111122 But maybe it's another psu, if you got the 16A from the info from the psu itself you're probably right.

Yeah, I read the info right off the PSU. Is there a card that's maybe a little less powerful but still worthwhile? It's starting to look as if I'll have to spend a decent amount on a nice motherboard and if that's the case I might as well just go to a quad-core and a high end card as well...but I really don't have much to spend so that would take a little bit of saving and just buy a decent card in the meantime

I looked at an electronics store today and the price was kind of outrageous compared to what I found online...found a GeForce GT 240 1GB for $35 and free shipping so probably gonna go with that

Saw just now that a 440 or a 520 also will work ; http://www.nvidia.com/content/HelpMeChoose/fx2/HelpMeCh...
Or maybe a 6670, even uses less power than the 220 under full load. It's better than the others but also more expensive than the 240.

bro screw it all build a new pc this seems like a piece of *** that you can do your homework/facebook/microsoft word on it. Build a serious computer and leave the one your friend gave you as a backup for downloads running 24/7 etc

the only thing i see that you could take advantage from this pc is the intel core 2 duo and the ram so you can add it to a new build and that'll save you like a few hundred bucks to afford a better mobo, gpu and power supply

he is replacing an 8800gtx, he will want something at least equal to that, which would be a gts250/450 or ati 5750/6750.

No, he's replacing a 210, the 8800 is no more . . .

Robjordy is correct, the 8800GT is fried. It was causing my old systems PSU to fry (killed 2 before I found out it was the video card)...the other system is an Intel Pentium D dual-core and only 2GB DDR2 ram so I didn't really see the need to keep using it. This system seemed like an upgrade and I thought the video card was too, but I just didn't do my homework.

I would like a cheap card like the ones robjordy listed to get my through until I could get a better system. I figure I can keep the 4GB ram I have and the Core 2 Duo CPU at least and just change the motherboard and video card. Only looking at spending $200-300 though I can't afford anymore

for a video card i suggest the 5570, you can run things decently on it. my bro had a 4650 and the 5570 is 10% better but my bro with the 4650 ran dirt 2 on all high settings with rly smooth 45-55 playable fps so the 5570 would be good for budget gaming. the 4650 is 50$ so the 5570 shouldnt be much more

Well after looking at a few different cards and options I think I've got my shopping list:

Radeon HD 5570 $55
ASUS P5G41T-M $56

With shipping it will be about $115 and I looked at some RAM, 8GB for as low as $55 so might get that in the future...does this seem like a viable setup to play new games at average settings?

Something a friend suggested was maybe going with an AMD board and CPU.

AMDAthlon II X4 640 Quad $100
AMD Mobo $50

I've heard that in general Intel CPUs are better but some ppl have told me AMD is alright. This setup including the Radeon HD 5570 would cost me about $200, would I be better off saving my money and keeping my Core 2 Duo?

why are you getting a new motherboard? its a waste of money if your current one is working. If your going to get a new motherboard, do a platform upgrade. AMD CPU's are good for low end/mid range systems, but intel has the faster CPU's in the top end. If your going to buy a new motherboard anyway, you might as well go for the AMD setup. Most new games really need a quad core cpu anyway...i would suggest spending an extra $20 and getting a Phenom rather than the Athlon

Well I already posted why I would get a new motherboard but the one I have won't work with a standard PSU. The only PSU it will work with is only 320W and that doesn't even have the 6-pin plug to power a decent graphics card. Basically I need a motherboard and a decent video card, but I figure I might as well get a quad core cus like you said most games work best with that. I hadn't really lookd at the Phenom, I don't know much about AMD these days  

the phenom has more cache and has way better per-core performance, even if its clocked lower, so its better for games. so yeah, if your going to get a new M/B anyway, you may as well do a platform upgrade and get a quad core cpu, even if it means waiting a little longer for a new vid card. thats what I would do. You will probably find the on-board video may actually be faster than the gt210.

Phenom II Something such as this?

And yeah I can't afford to order it all in one chunk, will have to order it over the next few weeks or month

Best answer selected by cleonjones.