ASUS CM5570-AP003 Upgrade

[REINDEERIV]

If I upgrade the video card in this ASUS CM5570-AP003 system do you think there is physical room to upgrade the 300 watt psu? Also, do you think the Intel E5300 processor can handle a discrete video card upgrade?

 

[Muffin Man]

it looks like that pc has an atx psu, so just make sure the new power supply is also atx and it should fit inside.

when you say if the cpu can handle a discrete gfx card, do you mean like if the cpu will bottleneck a new graphics card? i think as long as its not a really high end card you should be fine.

 

[REINDEERIV]

I bought this system for iRacing only. It has an X4500 integrated video card which I wasn't sure if it was enough for the game but so far it is doing fine. Once I move up the ranks there will be more cars in the race and I'm not sure if the X4500 can handle that and if not I will have to upgrade. Some say if I upgrade the card I will have to upgrade the psu. I'm not sure if it's simply a matter of unscrewing the 300 watt psu and screwing on a 400 watt psu or will I have to drill new holes to secure the new one. If I do have to upgrade the card is there a guide that will pair an upgraded card with my cpu for maximum performance?

 

[kmote]

Whether or not you have to upgrade your PSU depends on the card and your current PSU but normally it is an advisable upgrade anyway. It is just a matter of unscrewing the current one and installing the new one.
For the graphics card, just uninstall the current drivers, put the card in and install the new drivers.
Both components will come with instructions.

 

[REINDEERIV]

So I was looking at today's sales and I saw an HP with a better processor (AMD Phenom II x4), faster ram (DDR3) and a better video card (ATI Radeon HD 4350} but it only has a 5400 rpm hard drive. Why would an upgraded more expensive computer have a slower hard drive and how would that impact a game like iRacing?