Hardware Upgrade old Q6600 rig

[thorasgar]

My current PC is getting a bit long in the tooth and I want to build a second one but get what I can out of this one and use it as a secondary rig in the office so the boys can play together and/or I don't have to kick them off when I want to get something done. My thoughts are new GPU and maybe a CPU cooler and overclock. Overclocking was the original plan but I never bought a beefy cooler.

Intel Q6600 (step G3 I think)
Azus P5Q-E MB
8GB corsair ram 2x4. Can't remember the speed
Radeon 4850HD TOP GPU
Samsung 240 SSD
various other storage drives
Mid level corsair 650w power
Antec 1200 full tower case with a ton of fans.

My boys play Minecraft (and mods), Terrairia, Starbound and a few other such diggy hole games, but are now 10 and 13 so will be expanding their horizons shortly. I will build a new one soon just getting caught up on all the current tech.

Any suggestions on a GPU that will not be to much for the CPU handle?

Was thinking a $200 or so GPU and $50 for a cooler. Or is the thing so old I am better off building a budget system for that case?

 

[Originality]

I don't think there is any graphics card that "the CPU cannot handle". Your motherboard may only support PCIe 2.0 (not 3.0), but I don't think there have been any graphics cards out yet that show any significant performance drop from PCIe 2.0 so any graphics card (even a GTX Titan) would work. The CPU may act as a bottleneck to games that put a lot of stress on the CPU (e.g. Watchdogs), but the CPU won't slow the graphics card down at all.

If you want to do an incremental upgrade path, that's OK. But it is more economic to get the best graphics card you can afford (or at least, the best that's required to play at your monitor's resolution) and stick with that for the next 5+ years until you feel the need to upgrade again.

Also, on a more personal note, instead of saying the Antec 1200 has "a ton of fans", you should just just say it as it is - 6x120mm and 1x200mm fans. That case was amazing back when I ran multi-GPU setups...

 

[Joe88]

This is a pretty nice upgrade from the 4850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202149&cm_re=380-_-14-202-149-_-Product

as for the hsf, this is an excellent one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

 

[ILuvGames]

My GTX 770 certainly was a bottleneck with Diablo III ROS when it was paired up with my Q6600 in my old pc. It stuttered as it puts a lot of stress on the CPU as per Originality's advice. Watchdogs wasn't a bad experience for me, but it certainly highlighted the fact that the CPU was struggling with the extra instructions from the GPU. The frame rate was average at best at 1280x1024 with everything maxed out. At the end of the day I guess it depends on what kind of games you play and/or intend to play. You may fare better though with your intended budget of $200 for the GPU.