HP Compaq dc5800 Small Form Factor Restoration and Upgrade

[foxfaisal]

Good day.

Previously I asked about the noisy PSU fan in my HP Compaq dc5800 Small Form Factor in the following thread created by other people, but I was then advised to create my own thread to comply with the forum's rules and regulation.

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Hp-dc-5800-Upgrades/m-p/645908...

I salvaged  my sister's no longer used HP Compaq dc5800 Small Form Factor. It was a used computer that she bought from her employer. The original spec are as follow:

1) Operating system: Windows Vista (but was downgraded to Windows XP since before it was bought by my sister).

2) CPU: Intel Pentium E2200 (TDP 65W).

3) Memory: 2GB DDR2 800MHz.

4) Storage: 60GB Western Digital HDD (already have some bad sectors by the time it was salvaged).

The Windows XP had become corrupted somewhere in 2014. Since my sister is no longer interested in using the PC, I requested permission to take it and restore as my own personal project. I decided to install Windows 10 because both Windows Vista and XP have expired. Even though HP websites only provides the drivers up until Windows 7 for HP Compaq dc5800 Small Form Factor, I still decided to go for Windows 10 because Windows 10 is more stable and feels smoother (based on my experience).

Immediately after installing windows 10, I noticed that the PSU fan throttle up to a very deafning level. At first I thought it was because the hardwares were not powerful enough to run Windows 10, so I decided to do some upgrades as follow:

1) Operating system: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit.

2) CPU: Intel Core2 Quad Q9650 (TDP 95W).

3) Memory: 8GB DDR2 800MHz (at that time I didn't know that HP Compaq dc5800 Small Form Factor can go up until 16GB DDR2 800MHz).

4) Storage: 1TBB Intel SSD.

5) BIOS is also upgraded to the latest version.

The PSU fan noise level was not improved at all by thetime I performed these upgrades. In fact, the noise level becomes worse by the time I replaced the Pentium E2200 (TDP 65W) with Core2 Quad Q9650 (TDP 95W). At this moment, I have temporarily put back the Pentium E2200 until the problem is solved.

So far, I notice that the PSU fan didn't throttle up to an uncomfortable deafning level (I define this as 'rampage mode') whenever I'm using microsoft office or surfing common websites such as web based email, facebook, this forum etc. I notice that so far, the computer goes rampage whenever I surf a video streaming website using both google chrome and mozilla firefox (feel free to inform me if you would like to have the URL of the website). I have 3 other newer computers (from different brands), but so far they don't go rampage whenever I surf the same video streaming website.

Please advice if there is anything that I should do to solve this problem.

If this so called rampage problem is solved, I would like to push the computer's limit by doing the following upgrade:

1) Add an NVidia GeForce GTX1030 graphic card (preferably MSI or Galax).

2) Add a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy FX.

3) Add the memory to 16GB DDR2 800MHz.

Thank you and have a nice day.

[foxfaisal]

Dear @kevin-t

Thank you very much for restoring this missing thread. Have a nice day 🙂

[foxfaisal]

Good day,

I would like to inform the latest update of my HP dc5800 Small Form Factor.

Few days ago I told about my HP dc5800 Small Form Factor's problem in my country's gaming PC community Facebook page. One of the members in the community suggested me that I can still buy used ATX or micro-ATX motherboards that supports Intel Core 2 processors and DDR3 at a reasonable price, then transfer my Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 (and Intel Core 2 Duo E8600) from my HP dc5800 to the new motherboards (together with new casing, power supply units, DDR3 etc.). The list of the Core 2 chipsets are available in the link below:

Core 2 chipsets

Beside that, the same member in the gaming PC community also suggested me to replace the thermal paste at the North Bridge heat sink of my HP dc5800 Small Form Factor because it is suspected that the thermal paste at that area has dried up. I think this suggestion makes sense because while the HP dc5800 Small Form Factor is on, I touch both the heat sink for CPU cooler and North Bridge - the heat sink for CPU cooler is normal while the heat sink for North Bridge is hot. Now I suspect that the North Bridge is the culprit all this time.

When I removed the heat sink at the North Bridge, I notice that there were no thermal paste at all on the die at the north bridge - the only thing that I saw was some kind of pink glue surrounding the die at the North Bridge. I suspect that this pink glue thing was not a dry thermal paste because it did not dissolve when I wipe it with alcohol swab and I have to scrape it from the North Bridge heat sink using a screw driver.

After appying the thermal paste on the North Bridge and switch the PC on, the HP dc5800 Small Form Factor's CPU fan finally no longer goes rampage noisily at an uncomfortable level. Sometimes the fan does throttle up, but not as terrible as before. Hence, it is confirmed that the main problem all this time has something got to do with the North Bridge.

Even now, the North Bridge heat sink is still hotter that the CPU heat sink, plus the temperature of my room increases whenever I use this PC for hours. I think I would like to send my desktop to computer shop tho ask the shopkeeper to diagnose more in detail about thy the North Bridge heat sink is always hotter than the CPU heat sink.

Thank you and have a nice day.

[mdklassen]

> Even now, the North Bridge heat sink is still hotter that the CPU heat sink, plus the temperature of my room increases whenever I use this PC for hours. I think I would like to send my desktop to computer shop to ask the shopkeeper to diagnose more in detail about thy the North Bridge heat sink is always hotter than the CPU heat sink.

I think that the shopkeeper's response will be "that is normal operation", especially when the integrated "video" adapter is working "hard" -- such as computer games, or action-filled YouTube videos.

All I can recommend is to try to add another fan to push more air through the case.

Yes, this might be difficult to fit another fan into a "small form factor" case.

I understand that you are contemplating a different case.  This might make it easier to add another exhaust fan.

Or, maybe, add-in a discrete graphics adapter card, to supercede the "integrated" graphics circuitry, which will become "idle" -- not generating any heat.

[foxfaisal]

---

@mdklassen wrote:

I think that the shopkeeper's response will be "that is normal operation", especially when the integrated "video" adapter is working "hard" -- such as computer games, or action-filled YouTube videos.

All I can recommend is to try to add another fan to push more air through the case.

Yes, this might be difficult to fit another fan into a "small form factor" case.

---

Below is how i wasted time, money, and car fuel in the past few days trying to solve the noisy CPU fan problem before deciding to give up and scrap my HP dc5800 Small Form Factor:

1) Drove to a computer shop to purchase the CPU fan with 100W TDP cooling capacity (shown in the link below) hoping to replace the existing fanless CPU heat sink in my HP dc5800 Small Form Factor, but then discovered that the purchased CPU fan cannot be screwed to the HP dc5800 Small Form Factor's motherboard because the purchased CPU fan is only compatible with Intel LGA1150/1151/1155/1156

     ID Cooling DK-03 Halo Intel Red

2) Drove to the same computer shop again to purchase another CPU fan with 65W TDP cooling capacity (shown in the link below) because this model is compatible with LGA 1156/1155/1151/1150/775, but this fan uses plastic clips instead of screws and I cannot push the plastic clips into the screw holes on the motherboard of HP dc5800 Small Form Factor

     Cooler Master Vortex 211P

3) Drove to the same computer shop for the third time to buy 2 x 60mm case fan and tied them at the original fanless CPU cooler for HP dc5800 Small Form Factor using cable ties (one fan configured as intake and another one configured as exhaust), but the CPU fan is still noisy even though the CPU temperatures shown by the Speedfan software are below 40°C for each core.

4) Touched both original fanless CPU cooler and Northbridge heatsink at the same time while the HP dc5800 Small Form Factor is turned on and discovered that the Northbridge heatsink was hot but the original fanless CPU cooler was not hot. Put fresh thermal paste on the northbridge chip and the CPU noise level frequency is finally reduced.

---

@mdklassen wrote:

Or, maybe, add-in a discrete graphics adapter card, to supercede the "integrated" graphics circuitry, which will become "idle" -- not generating any heat.

---

Last year I had intention to add NVidia GeForce GT1030 graphic card to my HP dc5800 Small Form Factor, but I postponed it because of the noisy problem (plus I thought that noisy problem was related to other unknown reasons). This year, the price of NVidia GT1030 (and other graphic cards) have been increased because graphic cards are difficult to be obtained in the market at the moment due to cryptocurrency mining. At the same time, the Ampere-based architecture graphic card will be released by NVidia this year, so I would like to wait if there is any slim-profile Ampere-based architecture graphic card available by that time. Even if I can't afford to buy the new slim-profile Ampere-based architecture graphic card by that time, I might still still be able to purchase the NVidia GT1030 at cheaper price.

---

this one is from the other thread in the following link, but replied here to prevent further hijacking in the other thread 😛
Hp dc 5800 Upgrades!!!
@mdklassen wrote:

Given that you are building a "new" PC, with different components, you probably will need to purchase a new license for the Windows operating system.

If your current hard-drive boots with the new motherboard, the changes in hardware will trigger the Windows Activation process, telling you that you either need to re-activate, or to purchase a new license. Ouch!

Similarly, if you replace your "out-of-warranty" disk-drive with a new, in-warranty, faster, larger capacity, maybe-SSD, disk-drive, you will need to re-install and to activate, using a new product-key.

---

Below is the list of the items in my posession:

1) 1 x no longer used ATX case.

2) 1 x no longer used micro-ATX case.

3) 1 x no longer used ECS NVidia GeForce GTX570.

4) 1 x no longer used 405W power supply unit (for custom built desktop).

5) 1 x currently used Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650.

6) 1 x no longer used Intel Core 2 Duo E8600.

7) 1 x no longer used Intel Pentium E2200.

😎 4 x currently used 2GB DDR2 800MHz memory.

9) 1 x no longer used CPU fan for LGA 1156/1155/1151/1150/775

10) 1 x no longer used CPU fan for LGA1150/1151/1155/1156

Con of continuing using existing HP dc5800 Small Form Factor:

1) The price of used DDR2 has becoming more expensive than the price of brand new DDR3 (if I want to upgrade from 4 x 2GB DDR2 800MHz to 4 x 4GB DDR2 800MHz).

2) Cannot fit my existing Nvidia GeForce GTX570 (because the HP dc5800 Small Form Factor's case size and power supply rating are not sufficient)

Con of proceeding transfering the Q9650 CPU from HP dc5800 Small Form Factor to new ATX / micro-ATX motherboard and case.

1) Need to purchase windows licence all over again.

2) Need to purchase another 2 x 8GB (or 4 x 8GB, depending on chipsets) DDR3 memory.

3) Need to purchase power suppply unit with higher rating (if I want to use the Nvidia GeForce GTX570).

Since I have both Q9650 and E8600, maybe I'll just proceed with both options (but one by one to prevent me from wasting too much money at the same time 😛 )

[foxfaisal]

Good day,

I would like to inform that I have upgraded the HP dc5800 small form factor desktop with a used GALAX GeForce® GT 1030 EXOC White - Graphics Card (http://www.galax.com/en/graphics-card/galax-geforcer-gt-1030-exoc-w.html). So far the CPU fan seldom goes rampage after the graphic card is upgraded (it does goes rampage, but so far only around 2-3 times after being upgraded).

I think the original HP L1710 monitor that comes together with my HP dc5800 small form factor is not compatible with the GT1030 graphic card. The HP L1710 monitor only only has VGA input while the GT1030 graphic card only has DVI DVI 24 + 1 and HDMI inputs. I tried to use DVI 24 + 1 to VGA adapter at graphic card, but so far there is no video displayed at the HP L1710 monitor.

At this moment, I'm temporarily using the upgraded HP dc5800 small form factor desktop with my LG 42' LED TV through HDMI cable. I will purchase a used AOC 2341Vg 23" in few more days to be used together with upgraded HP dc5800 small form factor desktop.

If everything goes on well, I would like to upgrade the desktop with 16GB of DDR2 800MHz memory (and also NVidia GeForce GTX1050/1050Ti).

Thank you for suggesting me to upgrade the graphic processor to lessen the burden of the north bridge.

[foxfaisal]

Good day. Sorry for not updating anything about my PC status in here for more than 1 year. All this time I was demotivated because the cooling fans of my desktop were still producing the deafening sound.

A few weeks ago I decided to scrap the desktop if the problem was still unsolved. Before scrapping it, I decided to send the desktop to any nearby computer shop for a diagnostic by the experienced shopkeeper. And before sending it to the shop for a diagnostic, I decided to clean install the desktop again for the last time using the latest Windows 10 Pro installer (and also reflash the BIOS for the last time) - the cooling fans of my desktop were still producing the deafening sound after I did these 2 things (and it happened for 3 continuous days). On the 4th day, however, the noisy sound suddenly disappeared for the reason that I still don't know why. Now it is already the 6th day and so far the noisy sound hasn't happened yet (and I am typing this post using the desktop). However, I still don't dare to install any resource-heavy applications on this PC at the moment because I'm afraid that those applications might be one of the culprits that caused the noisy CPU fans. At the same time, I also leave the Windows power plan setting to 'balanced' and don't dare to switch it to 'high performance' at the moment. I will continue keeping this PC if the deafening CPU fan problem is totally gone.

Anyway, I notice that the CPU usage shown in the windows task manager was always near 100% when the CPU fans were noisy. When the PC suddenly become quiet since 2 days ago, I notice that the CPU usage is always near 0% and only becomes spiky whenever I launch an app, as shown in the photos below (I only show the screenshot photos of the task manager after the desktop becomes quiet because I didn't screenshoot the task manager when it was noisy because I didn't expect that the noisy sound would suddenly disappear).