I am sure there are at least a few people - myself included - who could do something like this.
What isn't so certain is how many are local and could do it 'on-site' for a reasonable cost.
Sounds like you have a reasonably capable system, perhaps just in need of a video card upgrade. Have you considered this?
If you're considering anything beyond just a graphics card upgrade, the truth is you'd probably require essentially a new system. Here's why:
- The CPU you have is likely at the high end of what the motherboard will support, and upgrading both of those would also mean new memory (DDR4).
- Also, a new motherboard would almost certainly mean M.2/NVMe SSD support (more than 10x faster than the SSD you have now). Although this isn't strictly necessary, it doesn't make a lot of sense to have a faster, new system that is 'held down' by much older technology SATA II SSDs like the Intel X25.
- You would definitely want to change graphics cards, if you're going to replace the motherboard, CPU and memory, else your GPU will be holding the system back.
- And, as much as most people hate it, you'd probably wind up going to Windows 10, depending on the exact system components you wound up with.
So you can see that, in a nutshell: Upgrade your GPU, or replace (almost all) of the system. One route would obviously be cheaper but still could be very effective as an upgrade; the GPU could be replaced with something twice as powerful for a few hundred $, fairly easy to do and doesn't require starting over like a new build will. The other way would offer higher performance overall but at greater cost; you could easily go into $1000 - 2000+ and of course would mean everything has to be reloaded.
Another alternative is you might consider shipping the system to someone who can upgrade it for you. (Of course, this isn't usually very cost-effective, but in terms of cost it is between "Do it Yourself" and "Buy an Entirely New System".)
I'd be happy to go into more detail - PM me if you want.
Last edited by kksnowbear; 10/30/19 09:56 PM.
