HP Desktop M01-F3214 Upgrading for Gaming

[DirtTrackZac]

I have an unopened HP Desktop M01-F3214, given to me by family member and unfortunately past the return date.

My goal is to have a PC desktop that will allow me to game mostly casually but able to run new AAA games at low resolutions with a high frame rate. 

I’ve been doing tons of research online about upgrading PCs. I have no prior knowledge of building/upgrading PCs and am just beginning to learn the “lingo.”

This website has been very helpful!! What I have learned so far is that achieve my goal I will need a better graphics card and likely additional RAM. However, in order to put in a better graphics card from my specific model I will need to upgrade the power supply (PSU). 

I’d like to create a list of compiled recommendations from across this website and get feedback on if it will work, suggestions, or anything else that may be useful to know!

Here’s what I got so far:

• 500-watt power supply with HP p/n: L05757-800
• Some sort of GPU (eg, gtx1650, rtx 2050, rtx 3050) that doesn’t require a pcie power cable.
• For RAM i guess another stick of 8 GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM memory 3)?

any recommendations on graphics cards could be really appreciated! Additionally regarding RAM, the specifications state that it can be expandable to 32 GB? I am not sure if that means that I can fit four sticks of RAM in there? Clarification on this would be helpful as well.

[NonSequitur777]

@DirtTrackZac,

Welcome to our HP Community forum!

You are on the Right Track, so to speak!

Your HP Desktop M01-3214 is a very nice and upgradeable platform.

Yes, on the 500-watt L05757-800 power supply -which, incidentally, is equipped with one 8-pin PCIe and one 6-pin PCIe power cables.

Graphics card: one of the best options currently in terms of most bang (performance) for your buck (under $300), would be a smaller-sized (dual fan) RTX 4060, such as this quality purchase option via Amazon: Amazon.com: ASUS Dual GeForce RTX™ 4060 EVO OC Edition 8GB GDDR6 (PCIe 4.0, 8GB GDDR6, DLSS 3, HDMI ....  This card is powered by a single 8-pin PCIe power cable.

As far as RAM is concerned, yes, I suppose you could add another identical (or at least as identical as possible) 8GB RAM stick, but I would recommend 2 x 16GB DDR4 PC4-25600, 3200 MHz, Non-ECC, UDIMM, 288-pin RAM modules, such as this affordable/quality 2 x 16GB dual rank (2Rx8) RAM kit: Timetec 32GB KIT(2x16GB) DDR4 3200MHz (or 2933MHz or 2666MHz) PC4-25600 Non-XMP CL22 1.2V Non-ECC Un....

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[DirtTrackZac]

Thank you very much for this reply! I have been telling everyone about how helpful this site has been. 

A couple follow up questions:

1. Unfortunately I will not be able to purchase recommended graphics card. I plan to continue shopping  around. Could you provide information regarding what specifically to look for? It seems, in general, there are no compatibility issues other than PCI, pins, and of course power supply and size. Could you confirm this?

2. this may be a silly question but is it possible to mix and match ram? For instance, can I buy from 16 GB stick of RAM to combine with the 8 GB stick (for a total of 24 GB).  A brief search into this appears that this has been done before. Are there any specific concerns I should be aware of if I were to mismatch?

[NonSequitur777]

@DirtTrackZac,

You are welcome -anytime!

1.)

a.) I would strongly recommend Nvidia cards, and I wouldn't go less than, say: an RTX 3050, GTX 1660 Ti or GTX 1660 Super.

b.) Correct: carefully watch what the minimum wattage power supply an individual graphics card requires, and how many (if any) PCIe power cable(s) it needs.

c.) In principle you could make any graphics card in your PC work as long as it physically fits in your case and if you can power it according to its wattage requirement.

d.) I would use this link to check on the aforementioned GPU requirements.

2.) You can mix & match RAM, but best RAM performance is obtained by using matched RAM modules: same brand, model and capacity.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[DirtTrackZac]

I cannot thank you enough for all the help!

I’ve added a list of the three things I purchased for upgrades. Now the next step will be installing them...

I was wondering if you would be able to provide any helpful resources to do this in the correct way.

Additionally, I have provided the things I have ordered, plan to document the experience that will hopefully be useful for reference for someone who finds themselves in a similar situation as me.

HP Power Supply 500w Z2 G4 800 880 G3 901759-013 DPS-500AB-32 A US

ASUS Dual NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6GB OC Edition Gaming Graphics Card - PCIe 4.0, 6GB GDDR6 Memory, HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4a, 2-Slot Design, Axial-tech Fan Design, 0dB Technology, Steel Bracket

https://a.co/d/c9GEIxB

Silicon Power DDR4 32GB (2x16GB) Turbine 3200MHz (PC4 25600) 288-pin CL16 1.35V UDIMM Desktop Memory Module RAM - Low Voltage (SP032GXLZU320BDA)

https://a.co/d/d1lrjYc

[NonSequitur777]

@DirtTrackZac,

Changing the parts you mentioned should be very straightforward and easy to do.

Take a look at these YouTube instructional videos and see what you think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QhI0xGxcv0&ab_channel=Mxkdi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fELywrIDarA&ab_channel=HPSupport

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8qDUzUbtS8&ab_channel=TechHarmonics

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[DirtTrackZac]

My final question and then I think I will have all the knowledge to finish the project.

After upgrading my HP computer's RAM, GPU and PSU, will I need to change/update/modify the "BIOS"? I have seen videos describing this process and specific settings to function optimally. Is this recommended?

[MetalChef]

I cant express how much I appreciate this showing up when it did. I am literally making the same upgrades to the same model pc at the moment. I ordered the L05757-800 and the asus rtx4060 based on the information I found here.  I find it interesting that the op of this post has the same exact questions as a reddit forum member that Ive been engaging with. Either way, thank you both for the info.

[NonSequitur777]

@DirtTrackZac,

Yes, it is always helpful to keep your drivers/BIOS as up-to-date as possible: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/hp-desktop-pc-m01-f3000a/model/2101311135?sku=577L8AA.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[DirtTrackZac]

Ok so a few updates and a few more questions. I'll provide brief update, followed by numbered questions to make it easier to find information/more organized

I upgraded PSU and RAM successfully without any issues. The GPU was a little bit trickier. I ordered an RX 6600 that ended up being too large for the case. I sent it back for a return and ended up purchasing an AMD Radeon RX 6650XT Core 8GB. Which ended up potentially providing better performance considering the extra VRAM. For others who may consider the same, it was almost close to fitting, but i was so eager to get it in that I just modified the case a tad bit to make it fit.

Kingdom come deliverance was unplayable prior to all upgrades, now I average 70 fps on the default visual settings!!! 

1. Regarding BIOS, it appears that not much is configurable in this desktop/motherboard? I have seen recommendations to adjust memory settings to xmp preconfigure profiles (despite voiding warranties?)

However I was unable to find out how to access this. Additionally I have downloaded the AMD chipset software but am unsure if I am able to access the AMD UEFI? Is this something supported with my motherboard?

2. Now that i can play games i need storage... Do you have any recommendations on how to achieve this? From other articles on here (and Erica9 specs) there's two M.2 expansion slots. Key A is not for storage. Key M is for storage but is already occupied by the 256GB it comes with.  So I could potentially upgrade the Key M type 2280 to a larger SSD.

However, considering I am clearly working on a budget, this seems like a waste of 256GB? Are there other options? Are there storage options that can be placed in the optical drive area? 

Again, I cannot thank you guys enough for all the help! Sorry took so long for an update, been playing KCD too much!