HP Compaq Elite 8300 Tower (QV994AV) video card replacement

[BillHolland]

For my current AMD Radeon HD 7450 video card, I am looking for one with more processing power (GPU) and on-board memory. The PC has a PC9057 - 320W Power Supply. When I measure the power drawn from the mains, it varies between 30 watts (idle) and 90 watts (all cores of CPU at 100%). So there seems to be enough power left for a video card upgrade. The only question is how much the PCI slot can deliver. I believe that is a maximum of 70 watts. Furthermore, I am not sure if the motherboard has a PCI-Express 3.0 slot. What maximum video card could I put in the system for better GPU performance? Thank you for your information and help.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

According to the HP Quickspecs at the link below, the PCIe x16 slot in the Tower supports up to 75W (page 14).

HP Compaq Elite 8300 Business PC

The PCIe slot is Gen 2.0 according to the Intel specs for the Q77 Express Chipset.

Intel® Q77 Express Chipset

A decent performing card that shouldn't break the bank would be either the Nvidia GT 1050ti or the Nvidia GT 1650.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Specs | TechPowerUp GPU Database

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Specs | TechPowerUp GPU Database

Here are video card performance comparisons between your current card and the 1050ti:

UserBenchmark: AMD Radeon HD 7450 vs Nvidia GTX 1050-Ti

Here are video card performance comparisons between your current card and the 1650:

UserBenchmark: AMD Radeon HD 7450 vs Nvidia GTX 1650

And performance comparisons between the 1050ti and the GTX 1650:

UserBenchmark: Nvidia GTX 1050-Ti vs 1650

[BillHolland]

Hi Paul, thank you very much for your reply and information. Both cards you suggest are PCIe 3.0 x16. That is not a problem in combination with PCIe 2.0 x16?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

The cards are backward compatible with PCIe 2.0.

The cards just won't run at their maximum rated performance from a PCIe 2.0 slot.

You can google the question and here is one link that explains what may happen.

Can You Put a PCIe 3.0 Card in a 2.0 Slot? (The Complete Guide)

[BillHolland]

Thanks again! I saw in a local online marketplace some used gtx 1650 for sale but they all differ in size (1 or 2 fans) and brand (MSI, Zotac, Manli, Gigabyte, Palit, Asus, Inno3D) and sometimes with additional designations (super, aero). Of the brands, I know only MSI, Asus and Gigabyte. Does it matter which one I would take in terms of quality, functionality and driver?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Who makes them doesn't matter.

The graphics chip is the same and you can use the Nvidia drivers from the Nvidia website.

I just don't know which would be better...the one or two fan models.

I'm thinking two fans might make more noise.

I've only had graphics cards with one fan or fanless with a large heatsink.

I have used Zotac and Gigabyte as well as EVGA.

[BillHolland]

Somebody offered me a used  MANLI GeForce® GTX 1650 GDDR6   Is that a good option? I don't know the MANL brand at all and have no idea if this is good quality. The specifications seem OK to me.  An other card available is the ASUS PHOENIX GTX 1650 The brand Asus is more familiar to me.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

I never heard of the Manli card either, so I can't offer any firsthand knowledge about that brand.

Asus is a popular, and reliable brand.

I guess it comes down to the cost difference.

If the Manli card is considerably less expensive you may want to go with that.

Try finding customer reviews on it.

I did find this info:

Manli GeForce GTX 1650 vs Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GDDR6: What is the difference?

Here's their website:

NVIDIA Graphics Cards - MANLI

[BillHolland]

Thanks Paul for the information. There is indeed a cost difference, the Asus is $20 more expensive, which is not much in absolute terms (however 28% as a percentage). I am going to study the information you gave me.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

No matter who makes the actual video card, the nvidia graphics chip is made by Nvidia and the card manufacturers all use the same chip.

It comes down to the quality of the components the chip is going to be installed on including but not limited to the fans circuit board etc.

So, just because the card costs less doesn't necessarily mean it is of an inferior quality.

Maybe the company has less overhead, etc., than a huge company such as Asus, and can sell the card for less.