Upgrading a Geforce 8600 GT to a hd 7750 on an old PC

loneoboe

Honorable
Sep 28, 2012
1
0
10,510
Hello,
I've been rocking an HP Pavilion a6442p for the past four years, with a GeForce 8600 GT that I installed to replace the integrated card. No problems at all until about a week ago- card burned out on me, but it had a good run. If I had the resources to upgrade the entire PC, I'd do that, but that's not in the cards. Essentially, I'm wondering if I can run the hd 7750 on my current rig, or if I need a new PSU, or a new PSU and a new CPU, or if it's completely hopeless. Specs/requests to follow...

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within two weeks BUDGET RANGE: $100 or less (for the GPU, up to $150 if a new PSU is needed)

Here's the GPU I'm leaning toward...

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card ( 11202-00-20G)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102969

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:
1.Midrange gaming- current gen gaming on middle settings is perfectly acceptable as long as it's playable (was in the middle of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood when the 8600 gave out)
2. Good movie playback.

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: GeForce 8600 GT and a stock (Hipro D2537F3R)250W PSU: 3.3V@18A,+5V@25A,+12V@14A,-12V@0.8A,+5VSB@2.0A (I don't really know what that means, but those are the numbers)

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS:
Below is the link to my System Specs. I haven't upgraded anything, other than the GPU.

I do have a PCI-e slot, but I'm pretty sure it's 1.0. I know that the hd 7750 is as "high-end" as I can go w/o definitely needing to upgrade the PSU. My other big concern is the Pentium E2200 Dual Core @ 2.2Ghz being too puny...

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01403218&lang=en&cc=us&taskId=101&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=3677047&prodTypeId=12454

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: No Preference, but newegg seems to have the best prices.

PARTS PREFERENCES: No preference, best performance at best price. The GeForce worked great for me, but it looks like my Nvidia options are pretty limited.

OVERCLOCKING: No
CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1440x900

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I'll recap here. I'm looking for a GPU to replace/upgrade the 8600 GT that gave out on me after 4 years. My research leads me to believe that best possible option is the hd 7750, but I'm concerned about the ability of my PSU and CPU to handle it. I'll consider upgrading the PSU if the price is right and that makes everything work, but I'm not in the market to upgrade the CPU or get a new rig entirely. I play current gen games about a year after they come out (because I'm cheap like that), and they don't need to be on eye-blisteringly high settings (never once cared about Crysis).

Thanks!
 

2260121

Honorable
Jun 13, 2012
165
0
10,710
You're system seems to be pretty old and even if you change the gpu, the psu is going to be borderline and bottleneck will happen, even with a 7750. Imo, its time to upgrade (or to begin to save up and upgrade later):).
 
You would need to upgrade that PSU that is for sure. Even if you CPU will be somewhat of a bottleneck you should be fine with the 7750 as long as you get a PSU to go along with the GPU I think you will be fine and once you are ready to upgrade the CPU and mainboard they will care over to the new build. A lot of people will tell you to scrap the whole system and upgrade but it is not always that easy to do when you do not have the money to do it. I have had to do a lot of piece mill upgrade in the past myself.

The best thing you can do in that case is to get the parts that will carry over so when you get the rest of the system updated you do not have to replace those parts again.