Helping a friend upgrade.

[Drew J]

My friend purchased a HP Pavilion Elite HPE-500y from a big box store, rather than have the patience to let me build him a system. Now he regrets it and wants me to help upgrade it.

Mostly, he just wants it to be 'better'. Vague, right?

I'm thinking trash the cruddy PSU they have in there, stick a solid 600W PSU with a good 12v rail in, and throw in a 6770-6870. If his BIOS isn't locked I'd like to stick a Hyper 212 plus on there and overclock it a wee bit, too.

Question: What graphics card would balance best with his CPU? Any further, possibly specific component, advice?

Items in consideration,
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600
Cooler Master Silent Pro M600
Rosewill Hive 650
MSI R5770
His IceQ X 6870

Thanks!
Drew J

 

[truegenius]

you can through any graphics card on this cpu, it can handle any card
other components are also good to go

 

[Drew J]

Yeah, I'll probably go with a 6870 and psu. He'll be a happy camper. It'll be a couple worlds of difference from the 6450 he has in there now, lol.