I'm looking to upgrade my gaming rig after a decade, focusing mainly on the power supply and graphics card. Here's what I have: a Seasonic 650W GOLD power supply, an Intel i5-4670k processor with a stable overclock, an Asrock z87 E-ITX motherboard with 802.11AC, and a Corsair H100i liquid cooler. My RAM is 8GB DDR3 at 1866MHz, and I'm currently using a GTX 980 4GB graphics card. The setup also includes a 2TB Western Digital enterprise hard drive, a 500GB Samsung SSD, and a 2560x1440 IPS display. Ideally, I'm interested in advice on upgrading the graphics card to something more current, especially for running ROMs or possibly a local LLM instance. What would you recommend?
3 Answers
Honestly, if it's still doing the job for your ROMs, it might not be worth the upgrade just yet. But if you really want a newer GPU, I'd suggest looking at a GeForce 3060. Just keep in mind that investing in an old DDR3 system might not be the best move; you might want to save up for a complete upgrade down the line.
Make sure to evaluate what exactly you need to run with that "local LLM instance". In 2025, 8GB of RAM is pretty limiting. If you're just emulating older consoles, like a PSX, your current rig might hold up. Otherwise, upgrading to 16GB of DDR3 would be an easy fix since it's low-cost nowadays. As for the GPU, check your monitor's ports—if it's only DVI-D, your options are limited to older GTX 1000 series or certain midrange RTX 2000 cards, and those might not be ideal. Just a heads-up!
Related Questions
Lenovo Thinkpad Stuck In Update Loop Install FilterDriverU2_Reload