Upgrade Questions. Need Help.

[Renny18]

Hello,

            I am looking to make a few upgrades to my system, in particular the processor, video card and power supply in order to get ready for some upcoming PC games.  My computer hardware knowledge is pretty lacking so I'm kind of lost when it comes to figuring out if parts will fit my motherboard and play nice together. My system information is:

Machine: HP Pavilion M8100y

Mainboard Info:

          Manufacturer: ASUSTeK

          Model: Berkeley

          Chipset: Intel P35/G33/G31

          Graphic Interface:  PCI-Express x16

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (775 LGA)(3ghz)

RAM: 4 DIMM DDR2 4 GB (Although I have 8 installed only 4 are recognized from Vista 32)

Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT (512MB)

Power Supply: 350 watts

Not sure what other kind of information to provide. I am looking at the following products. Please let me know if these would be okay or if my system just can't handle it.

Processor:

I looked through the manual under the hardware choices for my system and it seems that I can upgrade to a Quad core processor. I was thinking of the following:

Core 2 Quad Q6600 (K) (2.4GHz / 1066 MHz); 8MB L2 cache; Dual Core

Video Card:

I believe my system has a PCI express x16 slot, 2 PCI express x1 slots and a PCI slot. Looking through the latest videocards I'm just a little confused as to compatibility. Would one of the newer Nvidia GTX cards work like the GTX 465, 470 or 480?

Power Supply:

I would be upgrading the PSU to probably an 800w or higher. Is this enough?

I was thinking of getting the combo deal at NewEgg at the following link (video card and power supply:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130550&cm_re=gtx-_-14-130-550-_-Product

Any suggestions or advice would be very welcome.

Thank you.

[Big_Dave]

Look at the amperage rating required for the video card that you are looking to buy.  Don't over buy on the PSU wattage size but look to match the 12+ volt bus with the needs of the card.  You have the HP mini-tower which is small and air circulation and  heat may be an issue with cards of high wattage usage.

I have seen where some of the newer video cards would not be recognized by the PC's bios.  Some video cards are spec'd for a PCI-E x16 2.1 slot and will not run in a 2.0 slot.

The EVGA NVIDIA GT 240 1gb GDDR5 should run without a PSU change.

Review the ATI and NVIDIA performance specifications. Look at the memory bandwidth specifications and the DirectX level support.

How to replace a power supply.

How to replace a video card.

The faster NVIDIA cards might not perform up to full capability due to your PC's bus and memory transfer rates.

You might want to upgrade to W7 64 bits so the full 8 GB can be used. Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.  When the analysis is complete then look at the 64 bit TAB.

[1ke]

HP BIOS updates are not friendly to aftermarket hardware.  These types of upgrades will require a new motherboard.

[PhotoOtaku]

It does seem those mini towers can get "plenty warm" inside.

The 240 series card seems like a very good choice, ...has it been confirmed to fit in the real world?

[Big_Dave]

The NVIDIA GT 240 does fit in my HP mini tower.  See my spec's below.

[PhotoOtaku]

There you go, I missed that in your sig.!!!

I think I'd go with the GT240 over the 9800gt, ...it fits, it will run cooler, and the performance difference will be negligible.

[Big_Dave]

PhotoOtaku,

I like your spec's!  Smokin' PCs!

[Renny18]

Thank you for the informative advice! When I bought my HP computer I didn't take into consideration tower size or motherboard limitations for future upgrades, but now I know how important those aspects are. I also got a free upgrade to 8gb of RAM but failed to realize that the OS the system came with didn't take advantage of it. Oh well, chalk it up to a learning experience.

I will look into getting the video card that was mentioned as well as upgrading to 64 bit Windows 7. The advisor said I'm good to go but that I would need to do a clean install to move from 32 bit Vista to 64 bit 7.  About the Quad Processor though, it seems that along with the slightly faster Q6700 is pretty much unavailable from most retailers. I did find a buyer though willing to sell it brand new with fan for around $240. Is the gain from my current Duo processor worth the cost? I recall reading some guides mentioning to never spend more than $100 on a cpu upgrade since getting a motherboard upgrade would be a better use of that money.

[Big_Dave]

Upgrade your video card first. 

Then start Task Manager and observed the processor activity and leave it running. Now start playing your game and after a while then look at Task Manager.  What does it say about the processor activity for both processors?