HP Pavilion Gaming 690-0020 GPU upgrade

[insanefire10]

Hi HP community

i have recently purchased an HP gaming desktop (690-0020) and the graphics are fine, but the gpu is getting temps of 75-82C under load and still isnt giving me the full 1080p 144fps i want, so i want to potentially upgrade the gpu, and the only one that will fit in my case and uses an 8 pin connector is this Nvidia Gtx 1660 Ti

https://www.newegg.com/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-1660-ti-gv-n166tixoc-6gd/p/N82E16814932132?item=N82E1681...

Before i decide to buy this, i wanna make sure it will be detected by the machine and that it will work out if the box

has anyone attempted to upgrade the gpu in one of these machines?

[Photoray002]

@insanefire10 

I hope you don't mind, I'm going to condense my answer from a few threads you asked things about, into this thread.

Another user on the forum discovered the basic reason why the ram allocation is messed up, after long discussions with the right person at HP. You're right, the system is constantly allocating 2 GB  of ram for integrated graphics and it shouldn't be.

There is a flaw specifically with the 690 series and the AMD motherboard. HP was able to drop the 2 GB allocation down to 1 GB with a bios update. But HP cannot fix it to drop down any further until AMD sends HP the fix for that custom chipset. Only then can HP complete the process of fixing the issue and it looks like AMD isn't going to come through with it (as far as I and tell). This supposedly affected another OEM also.

Will buying a different CPU like a 2700 Pinnacle Ridge fix the issue? Most likely sure, but I give no guarantees unless someone has proved it so.

That 1660ti you pointed to requires a min 450W PSU and an 8 pin connector. Specs say you have a 400w PSU and a 6 pin connector? I don't know which pin that 400w actually has 6 or 6+2. You would really want to change the PSU to prevent possible issues with power consumption. BUT that PSU for that Sunflower motherboard is proprietary. Its basically a MicroATX form factor, but the Sunflower uses a proprietary 4 pin power main, not a 20 pin main. HP does not sell uATX PSUs above 400w for those motherboards. I don't know the power scheme that extra 4 pin uses and HP doesn't provide that info.

Airflow in that case is not good, so hardware that produces more heat is going to just give you more heat issues to deal with.

Honestly, if you are in need of all these changes... new CPU, GPU, Ram, PSU and I don't know if you added that SSD yet, do yourself a favor and sell that machine and use the money towards one that meets your needs (or keep it for a back up rig). All that upgrading is NOT worth the cost in my opinion.

Hope it helps.

[insanefire10]

hi thanks for responding

I guess you are right about the gpu causing more issues

but even on my current gpu, the temps are still very toasty and since im planning to use this machine for a long time, I would like to find a way to cool it down somehow. You are definitely right about the airflow, as hp really didnt look into that when designing this pc, but now im SOL and dont know any ways to fix this major problem. Do you know any ways to increase incoming airflow to cool everything?

P.S. when i opened up my system to perform a memory upgrade, i noticed that the 6 pin used to power the 580 was a 6+2 connector, so it would work with a 1660ti

[Photoray002]

its a 400W PSU right? It will work until the GPU gets under a HEAVY workload. That means gaming will have mixed results. I cannot guarantee it will perform well enough, but the 6+2 pin will connect, yes.

More airflow? I don't remember if there was any room for another fan, probably not. Try it with the side panel off. Some guys even use the electric drill approach also. 😛

[insanefire10]

I tried taking off the side panel and temps dropped by 6C on gpu and 10C on cpu, but its not worth the dust thats going to accumulate. Is it possible to install any intake fans to the pc? I wish some guy made a custom side panel for this pc specifically with an intake fan that plugs in externally via usb. HP really didnt consider temps for this kind of hardware at all, and the side panel has holes but they are blocked by the hdd cage which makes them useless. I cant wait for my pc to one day overheat and breaking my cpu/gpu then calling them and they are gonna tell me “sorry your pc is out of warranty” despite me just being a normal consumer of their products and it was their fault for not using a proper cooling system. Its not even just this hp product, my elite-book laptop has ok temps, but the fans spin super loud yet theres only a little bit of dust. Im probably never gonna buy a pc from hp again at this point, because theres always going to be a flaw. 

[Photoray002]

Its a small case with no headroom, but it also meets a certain lower end price point. To me, the Omen 880 series is HP's best.

Any OEM's lower end systems are going to have some sort of flaw. You are just switching to a different issue.

Let me know if you have other questions.

[insanefire10]

Hi

i just thought of a new idea to improve the temps and looks of this pc and id like your opinion 

1. Buy a new case, mobo, and power supply

2. Salvage the cpu, gpu, memory, ssd and hard drive, and graphics card from the hp system

3. Import those parts into the new motherboard

4. Temps go down, and i have a nice looking pc

if i want to try this project i only need to spend about $130-160 depending on the psu, mobo ahd case i choose to replace my hp. That way i dont need to buy a whole system. I would return this system but its return date has expired. So i might try this route in a few weeks or months.

the reusable parts altogether are worth about $400-450 so it would make sense to just spend some money to improve the longevity of the components. Id also have not a lot to loose since i can still use the hp board if something goes wrong

[Photoray002]

If you want to do that, sure (most people  aren't willing).

• You will want a new cpu heatsink thats better than the HP stock. The HP stock probably wont line up correctly on a standard Mobo.
• You'll need to purchase a new activation key for Windows. Suggestion: Google Kinguin for legal but affordable keys.
• If you haven't done so yet, you will definitely want to upgrade to an M.2 NVMe SSD (go for at least 1TB). That will make loads of difference.

After a while, you might find you will want to upgrade the CPU to a Ryzen7  2700 or the like. But you will be able to do that.