TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Windows 10 support ends in Oct. 2025, so you have awhile before then. There’s no reason that you can’t continue to use Win 10 after that date - many people still run Win 7. One issue is that Windows won’t provide any more virus definitions and security patches for Windows defender, so after that time, you might consider a 3rd party virus detection Ap supplemented by malware and bot detection such as Malwarebytes and SpyBot.

As you likely know, an upgrade to Win 11 requires (in addition to minimum HW) TPM 2.0 (trusted platform management) and Secure boot. Your machines are fairly new and may support these protocols (TPM is implemented in HW), but if not, there are a number of workarounds ( https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/bypass-windows-11-tpm-requirement ). I haven’t tried any (yet) on my 3 machines running win 10, but I will when we get closer to 2025. Win 12 is coming and in addition to the Windows defender support, as OSs age out, there will be less drivers for peripherals and aps that are supported, so you do eventually need to upgrade if you want access to those things, but not for awhile yet.

photoman43

This link may be helpful. FYI, the one I bought four years ago is not up to the tasks of today's software.


https://www.pugetsystems.com/category/Video-Card/

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

As Bill Sprague suggests, go to the websites for each of your applications and look for the System Requirements. Don't buy the minimum. If you want the computer to last another eight years, get at least what is recommended for the most intense application you use.

Also consider your backup strategy... Buying a new computer is a good time to BE SURE you have a good strategy in place — before you migrate from old system to new.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

One caution about building your own computer or upgrading an old one with more power-hungry components: Thermal management is important. Be sure the case is capable of moving sufficient air over the hottest components, so there are no issues with melting connectors, etc. Be sure the power supply output can be handled by the motherboard and all components connected to it.

Back in my lab days, we had a young, newly-hired computer nerd who built a bunch of computers we needed for 24/7 image rendering in our color correction areas. He built a bunch of high-spec (for 2002) PCs with AMD processors, heavy duty power supplies, fast graphics cards, lots of ram and drive space, etc. They were put in cheap, generic cases made for business computers. At first, they hauled proverbial a$$ at rendering files, and everyone celebrated.

The first one shorted out and caught fire a few days after it was installed. It only took two days to clean the fire extinguisher mess out of the other computers and the rest of the room. The second PC shorted out and melted the power supply connector at the motherboard the next day after the cleanup. Fortunately, it blew a fuse before catching fire.

The IT manager immediately ordered four Dells to replace the hand-built units. The third unit blew a fuse and quit two days later. The fourth unit was pulled from service as soon as the Dells were installed. It was given to a customer service person to run office applications, where it was fine for several years...

The young "wizard" who had built those PCs also built several servers for us. The story of how THEY failed, ruined a third of our data, and lost our division over a $ million in sales and profits is not relevant here. Needless to say, the guy lost his job for misrepresenting his competence.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Absolutely. All that heat that’s moved away from the CPU and graphic card by their fans needs to be extracted from the case, so if you’re going to run high power graphics cards and hot CPUs (some AMD CPUs exceed 200W), you need to have multiple high performance exhaust fans to move that heat out of the case. As an aside, some specific NVidia cards have been afflicted with melted high current connectors - NVidia says they have the problem in hand, but it gives you a feel for the amount of power/heat involved.

therwol Loc: USA

I thought they did, but there is also a list somewhere of processers that are supported, and those in my two machines are one generation before the first that is supported.

I'm aware of the workarounds to upgrade. I'll make that decision when the time comes.

Thanks.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yep. My son’s gaming card has three big fans on it. The case has two bigger ones sucking air across the heat sink on the CPU and motherboard. The power supply has yet another fan. When he’s doing esports broadcasting, it’s so loud he has to keep it way away from his microphone.

therwol Loc: USA

I read a year or two ago that there are a couple of Dell gaming computers that can't be sold in California because they use "too much power."

profbowman Loc: Harrisonburg, VA, USA

Before trying to upgrade a graphics card, I am assuming that you will check to see that it has one and is not using integrated graphics built into the processor chip.

While you wait to make your decision on an updated or new computer, you can speed things up by limiting the things that will start up when your computer starts. And keep the caches cleaned out, for the web browser and other programs. Run a program such as Wise Registry Cleaner and Wise Disk Cleaner (both are freeware). every couple of weeks and run them twice in a row.

I would also cation you about buying an AMD machine. I bought one two years ago as a desktop, and it kept slowing down periodically and then freezing. I had to run the

Wise programs I mentioned above after every week or more.
Finally, Windows and AMD seemed to get together and now they are working well together. As a game machine, AMD would probably be a very good machine.

Just some thoughts. --Richard

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I use an M1 Mac with plenty of graphics oomph from 8 cores integrated on the chip for Apple, Adobe, and Microsoft apps. I don't need — and can't use — a separate graphics card. The new M series Macs don't need them. Even the Mac Pro can't use a graphics card (and certainly does not need one). It does have slots for storage and interface devices.

Jay, one of our twins, has an M1 Pro chip in his MacBook Pro, which he uses for serious media production. It's much faster than my M1 Air when multi-tasking. But since Macs suck at gaming, and his job at UNCG is in esports broadcasting and gaming facilitation, he built a PC for gaming. He's hoping the M3 chips will improve Mac gaming, but won't be able to give up the PC any time soon. When he's calling a game, the machine sounds like a distant jet...

profbowman Loc: Harrisonburg, VA, USA

Hey, Burk, I hope you understand that by replying and quoting your original message, I was not trying to debate what you said but only indicating that I was writing after you wrote your message. I was responding to the original questions asked by the OP. And he said that he only wanted PC suggestions, so that is what I was giving him.

In fact, it has been a long time since I have used a PC with a graphics card. All my computers in the last few decades have used integrated graphics and have worked well for me. I just did not want the user to buy and try to install a graphics card when the motherboard may not h ave been built for that. --Richard

therwol Loc: USA

Integrated graphics is built into the CPU. It shares memory with the CPU. It uses less power and generates less heat than a dedicated graphics card which will use its own memory.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057824/graphics.html#:~:text=Integrated%20graphics%20is%20a%20GPU,is%20shared%20with%20the%20CPU.

When a computer has dedicated graphics, it overrides the integrated graphics in the CPU.

My son has a Dell workstation laptop with a dedicated graphics chip. It is connected separately to the heat sink/fan assembly. I replaced this in his machine because of a malfunctioning fan. This is the assembly that I took out. You can see two places where two chips are connected to this thing. Oh by the way, taking that machine apart was "fun."

(Download)

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

All good!

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

If the computer is a laptop, upgrading the graphics is likely not feasible, but if it’s a tower/desktop, removing a cover will tell you immediately if you can upgrade. You would need: (a) an open PCIe slot (b) enough room beside the card for the fans and behind the card to accommodate the length (c) the correct external power connector and cable from the power supply and (d) openings in the case to add an exhaust fan.

As a general statement without knowing the exact specs, if the computer/CPU is 8 years old and you want to run the latest versions of aps such as PS/LR or other post processing aps and AI based aps such as Topaz in a satisfactory manner, it’s likely time for a new machine that meets (or exceeds) the basic specs I set out above. Can you run those aps with an old machine? Maybe, although some of the tools may be unavailable plus the OS has moved from 7 to 10 to 11 and soon to 12 in the interim, so there will ultimately be security and peripheral driver issues.

A lot has happened in 8 years: 6-8x the number of CPU cores, memory has gone from DDR3 to DDR5, SSDs have largely replaced HDs, graphics cards have gone from 1-2GB VRAM to 8-16GB, but most importantly applications have evolved to use all that HW performance, and support for older HW and OSs is dwindling.

Harry02 Loc: Gardena, CA

Using the integrated graphics works well for MS products- like Office.
Otherwise, get a real graphics card.
And yes- too many of those GPU intensive apps opened will slow you down during conflicts.
Trust me- 24gb ram, an SSD and a decent video card will give you a smile and a fatter wallet.

Just made a neighbor lil girls' broke-azz family happy.
A spare 500gb SSD booter replaced the 5400rpm HD, and a 2gb parts box short video card.
Going from a 8th grade to a 9th grade school was a bit of culture shock!
5 minutes of mansplaining about too many browser tabs and apps open also helped.