A player buys an old gaming PC for 84 euros. With a new graphics card, he can get significantly more out of the hardware. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the PC is overall hopelessly outdated.
What did the player buy? In a Reddit post a user explained that he bought an old gaming PC for 100 US dollars. That is about 84 euros. He himself judges the age of the purchased PC by the age of the hardware, as the CPU installed originally appeared in 2009.
What hardware is in the PC?
- Motherboard: Asus Rampage III Extreme
- Processor: Intel i7 950
- Graphics card: GT 750 Ti
- RAM: 16 GB (DDR3)
Could one still play with the old hardware? The GT 750 Ti was released in 2014 and is not much younger than the installed Intel processor. From today’s perspective, no modern title can be played with it at high details anymore. In particular, in conjunction with the old CPU, which eventually limits a modern graphics card. For some e-sports titles like Counter-Strike or Dota 2, the hardware is still sufficient.
Player replaces old graphics card with a used GTX 1070 Ti
What did the user do? In a further post on Reddit the user explained that he improved the computer with a simple upgrade: He replaced the GT 750 Ti with a GTX 1070 Ti, which he still had from a broken PC at home. You can find a used GTX 1070 Ti for about 100 euros on eBay or similar platforms. And all the older games that he can get running on the upgraded PC show reasonable FPS rates according to the user:
- BeamNG, a car simulation, runs at normal settings with 60 FPS.
- Rainbow 6, a shooter, runs at 66 FPS. Which part he plays, he does not mention.
- American Truck Simulator even runs at 90 FPS.
How good is the GTX 1070 Ti compared to the GT 750? The GTX 1070 Ti is already a significant upgrade compared to the older GTX 750. This is shown by the YouTuber “IT in your Life” in a YouTube video. Here, the FPS count increases significantly compared to the GTX 750:
- Metro Exodus: From 14 FPS to 77 FPS
- Tom Clancy’s The Division 2: From 27 FPS to 121 FPS
- Red Dead Redemption 2: From 26 FPS to 95 FPS
From this perspective, the change of the graphics card was a really sensible decision and has resulted in a significant FPS increase for the user.
Why can’t this be perfectly replicated? The CPU in the user’s computer is relatively old and eventually limits the performance of a fast graphics card. A CPU from 2009 simply lacks modern features that you can find in today’s processors. If an important feature is missing, some games may not even start.
To benefit long-term from the higher performance of the GTX 1070 Ti, the user would need a better CPU over the long term and would also have to replace the motherboard and RAM. And replacing old hardware with similarly old hardware is rarely worth it.
The player himself explained in a further post on Reddit that he ordered a graphics card and a new processor for 30 dollars each from AliExpress and is very curious about the improvements.
A female player wants to build her first gaming PC, but a friend strongly advises against it. A pre-built PC would be the better choice. The player fears that pre-built PCs are significantly more expensive. What does the market look like at the moment: Player wants to build a gaming PC with her saved money, but a friend says: Better buy a pre-built PC
