Can I upgrade my Pavilion Slimline 290-p0043w ?

[DevoPallett]

Hello ! Recently I purchased a HP Pavilion Slimline 290-p0043w online on eBay. The system itself is very good, & does what I need it to do fairly well. (Casual web browsing, working from home, online shopping etc.) However this is where my issue starts. I have a little cousin who lives with me, & I let him play on my stuff when I go to work during the day. I've literally watched him try to play very minute games such as Minecraft on this thing, & it has a fit trying to do so. Can't get anymore than 25fps consistently. Basically I would like to know what kind of upgrades this little thing can take, (That is if it's even possible to upgrade it due to it's size.) I want to add a graphics card, better power supply, more RAM, & SSD. I need to know what upgrades are compatible/recommended for this machine, (If there even is any.) instead of going out & buying a whole new system. 

Any & all responses are greatly appreciated, thanks.

[old_geekster · Accepted solution]

@DevoPallett , welcome to the Community.

I will begin by saying that Slimline models are not meant to be upgraded.  The smaller cases don't allow for good airflow.  The minute you begin adding more powerful components, you begin having heat problems.  With that said, you could upgrade the processor to an i7-8700.  Here is the Product Specifications page.  If you look at the section titled "Processor/Processor upgrade information" you will see where I got this information.  You could add more memory.  Look at the section titled "Memory/Memory upgrade information" for the specifications and maximum amount of memory (8 GB).  It is best to install memory modules in matched pairs since the motherboard has Dual channel memory architecture.  This will give you the best system performance boost.

The motherboard in your computer is HP proprietary. It has a 4-pin power connector instead of a standard 24-pin ATX power connector.  This makes it very difficult to upgrade the power supply unit (PSU) and difficult to add a video card without the power increase.

The only other upgrade that I would recommend is a M.2, SSD, for the boot drive.  This will be the least expensive upgrade with the most amount of performance boost, dollar for dollar.  The motherboard has a M.2 socket: M.2 socket 3, 2280 type for SSD.  You will need to buy a SATA, M.2, SSD.  I don't believe the motherboard will be compatible with a NVM2 drive.

Please click the Thumbs up + button if I have helped you and click Accept as Solution if your problem is solved.

[DevoPallett]

@Old_geekster, thank you for the warm welcoming & the response ! 

The information you provided was very useful at helping me consider my options here. I'm probably going to go ahead & purchase an Intel i3-8100, (As I feel like an i7 is just too much for what this PC will be used for.) & SATA M2 SSD. Also, do you think it would be worth buying a 24pin ATX to 4pin adapter for PSU ? I know that there's power units that would no doubt fit in the chassis but like you mentioned, this computer only has a 4pin power connector, and without the PSU I'm going to constantly overheat. I know that adapters exist but I'm not sure whether or not it'd be worth doing considering I can just do those cheaper upgrades mentioned previously & still get better performance. But I figured if I can get the adapter then I might as well go for the graphics card & everything else. Thank you again for your response tho ! Much appreciated 🙂

[old_geekster]

You are very welcome, @DevoPallett!

There are much newer HP motherboards that have the 4-pin power connector.  We have not been able to find any adapters that will allow for the install of a standard ATX PSU.

Good luck!