CPU or GPU Upgrade first?

[Boomwebsearch]

I have a HP elite 8000 small form factor PC and I have two ways which I can upgrade it. One would be adding a graphics card (the NVIDIA QUADRO NVS 295) or the other one would be to change its CPU for the Intel Q9650 CPU. Which one of these upgrades should be done first, and would the system's PSU be able to handle the added load needed from that upgrade?

 

current specs on my HP small form factor PC:

-1TB HDD from Segate

 

- 8GB of RAM

 

- core 2 duo e 7500 from Intel

 

- 240 watt power supply

[Billy Pilgrim]

4 minutes ago, Boomwebsearch said:

I have a HP elite 8000 small form factor PC and I have two ways which I can upgrade it. One would be adding a graphics card (the NVIDIA QUADRO NVS 295) or the other one would be to change its CPU for the Intel Q9650 CPU. Which one of these upgrades should be done first, and would the system's PSU be able to handle the added load needed from that upgrade?

 

current specs on my HP small form factor PC:

-1TB HDD from Segate

 

- 8GB of RAM

 

- core 2 duo e 7500 from Intel

 

- 240 watt power supply

You should get and SSD

[TheGlenlivet]

CPU first.  The duo won't game very well with a modernish GPU.

[Boomwebsearch]

1 minute ago, Billy Pilgrim said:

You should get and SSD

N.A.N.D flash which these SSDs are made out of have seen inflation in prices due to higher demand and since I don't really need that fast boot times or application opening times, I think that the SSD is not going to be needed right now based on the software which I use and a CPU or GPU upgrade would be more appropriate.

[Boomwebsearch]

1 minute ago, TheGlenlivet said:

CPU first.  The duo won't game very well with a modernish GPU.

Not planning to game on this system and this is going to be used primarily for editing footage with Filmora 9th version. Windows Movie Maker takes advantage of two cores although can't benefit from more and is CPU based. I am not sure about Filmora 9 and if it would take advantage of a GPU better so than the CPU being upgraded within my hardware setup.

[TheGlenlivet]

2 minutes ago, Boomwebsearch said:

Not planning to game on this system and this is going to be used primarily for editing footage with Filmora 9th version. Windows Movie Maker takes advantage of two cores although can't benefit from more and is CPU based. I am not sure about Filmora 9 and if it would take advantage of a GPU better so than the CPU being upgraded within my hardware setup.

AH I see. 

Is Filmora Wondershare?  Looks like it does use GPU acceleration, so maybe the GPU, and probably a better PSU would be more beneficial for rendering.  For editing though, the CPU and HDD are gonna make things pretty slow.  Patience will be required.

[Boomwebsearch]

2 minutes ago, TheGlenlivet said:

AH I see. 

Is Filmora Wondershare?  Looks like it does use GPU acceleration, so maybe the GPU, and probably a better PSU would be more beneficial for rendering.  For editing though, the CPU and HDD are gonna make things pretty slow.  Patience will be required.

The time-line scrubbing in the software has a lot of lag when I am editing and therefore I am considering this upgrade. Export times, I am not too concerned towards. I think that the rendering is running so slowly that the HDD is not being a bottleneck although I could be wrong (in that case please correct me). As far as I know, there is going to be no way to upgrade the 240 watt power supply on this machine since it is a small form factor build. 

10 minutes ago, quakeguy81 said:

You could probably do better than a NVIDIA QUADRO NVS 295, that doesn't seem like a good GPU.  Only 8 CUDA cores.

In the attached list is the officially supported graphics cards with this machine, I know that there are a lot better cards on the market although those are not on the list (unfortunately). And this is a SFF PC which makes GPU form factor compatibility a bit of an issue/struggle to find a compatible with dimensions of the case card.

[Crunchy Dragon]

16 minutes ago, TheGlenlivet said:

CPU first.  The duo won't game very well with a modernish GPU.

I would start with CPU, motherboard, RAM, and PSU before anything else.

[manikyath]

drag it out and save up until you can toss that thing out the window.

 

"upgrading yourself out of it" will cost more, and end you up with a worse pick than if you just suck it up and save up longer.

 

i've got a very likely image in mind of what your system is, and they're not worth sinking any sort of money into, that you cant pull back out for a next build (i.e. an SSD)

[Billy Pilgrim]

42 minutes ago, Boomwebsearch said:

N.A.N.D flash which these SSDs are made out of have seen inflation in prices due to higher demand and since I don't really need that fast boot times or application opening times, I think that the SSD is not going to be needed right now based on the software which I use and a CPU or GPU upgrade would be more appropriate.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6JQS8C/?tag=pcpapi-20

$25 for faster boot times and loading of selected programs

[Boomwebsearch]

41 minutes ago, manikyath said:

drag it out and save up until you can toss that thing out the window.

 

"upgrading yourself out of it" will cost more, and end you up with a worse pick than if you just suck it up and save up longer.

 

i've got a very likely image in mind of what your system is, and they're not worth sinking any sort of money into, that you cant pull back out for a next build (i.e. an SSD)

I bought this machine directly from the link which I will provide, this machine was a refurbished unit. I had them put in 8GB of RAM, a 1TB HDD, Windows 10 Pro, and a 19 inch monitor from Dell. System has a few scratches on the case and a missing PCI express slot cover, although besides that it was not that bad in terms of the cosmetics. Bought this at full price of around 190 dollars like two years back within 2017 and for the software that I was using then it did work okay, although not when I am using different software I am thinking to upgrade. Now, I am really regretting buying this machine if the upgrades are not going to be worth it and have to buy a whole new computer. Although, I think that you are right, to deck out this machine would be around 80 dollars and that is most likely better put towards a new system. Although, if I find a good deal (like 10 dollars or under) for the Quadro NVS 295, then I might buy it and add it to this system to get it slightly upgraded to use until I replace it, and then when I go to re-purpose it then I would have the advantage of the GPU. Also, its been more than a year that I have not cleaned out the dust in this system, although the cooling performance is good as it goes only up-to 42 degrees C. Could anyone let me know how much wattage this card will take and if it would be able to be supplied by the 240 watt PSU which I have in my machine?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fast-HP-Desktop-Computer-PC-Deal-Core-2-Duo-Windows-7-10-XP-LCD-KB-MS/302143986317?hash=item46592f5a8d%3Am%3Am5sV9lcyv4iqCaNGDDNfwTQ&LH_BIN=1

 

 

*Note that a CPU upgrade would cost around 41 USD with thermal compound considered in (although I think that it is too much to spend on a machine that I am likely going to replace anyways).

 

 

16 minutes ago, Billy Pilgrim said:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6JQS8C/?tag=pcpapi-20

$25 for faster boot times and loading of selected programs

Wow, that is not that bad actually in terms of cost and it looks like of being from a reputable manufacturer. I did not have any option to buy a SSD when configuring this machine. Although, I will buy an SSD for sure in my next build in addition to a hard drive for more storage capacity which I need for video project files.