Trying to find a balance between power consumption and best performance for this old PC

[Filingo]

I have a PSU that can only provide 7.5A on the 12V rail. It's an old PC I'm trying to turn into an HTPC.

I was thinking at first to upgrade to a C2Q Q9400 with a GT 710 but then realized the C2Q draws 95W.

Then I thought I'd get the S version of the C2Q, the Q9400S, but although it says 65w, it draws more under load. And I won't have room for a GPU.

 

so I thought I'd get a Core 2 Duo E8600 instead and a upgraded 30w GPU - the GT 1030. But not sure if that would be the best option

 

do you have any other suggestions? Is the E8600 really close performing to the Q9400?

 

Ty

 

[Enzo1001]

The E8600 has 2 Cores, while the Q9400 has 4. I have no experience in HTPC so i cant help you any further