Hp dc 5800 Upgrades!!!

[Mdlucky8]

Hello everybody I got the SFF version of the hp dc5800 and I need help upgrading it.

What is the best GPU I can get for this PC?

What is the best CPU I can get for this PC?

[mdklassen]

See: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01363847.pdf

for the manual for your model.

The motherboard has one PCI-E 16x slot -- ideally suited for as high-performance a video-card as you can afford.

From: https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-business-dc5800-core-2-duo-e8400-3ghz-2gb-ram-160gb-hd-vista-busine...

the CPU is: Core 2 Duo E8400 3GHz mounted in the LGA775 Socket.

So, you could try other dual-core CPUs (3.4 Ghz, for a 11% speed-up) or attempt a quad-core CPU.

Maximum RAM is 8GB of DDR2 (spread over the 4 slots).

I think that you could spend a lot of money, and not get a "large" increase in performance.  Disappointing!

Instead, look for a new computer with a quad-core CPU and DDR3 or DDR4 RAM and a license for Windows 10.

If your computer is still running Windows Vista, Microsoft will stop supporting Vista on April 12, 2017 -- just 2 weeks away.  It's time for you to upgrade to Windows 10, preferably on a new computer.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @Mdlucky8 :

With the small form factor platform, your graphics card choices are limited due to the non-upgradable 240W power supply.

Here are the two video cards I recommend for your PC which will work within the limits of the power supply you have.

I recommend the AMD Radeon HD 6450 low profile card, which was offered as an optional graphics card on the 8200 Elite SFF models with the same 240W P/S

You can also go with a nVidia GT 610 which will also work with the 240 W power supply, and the BIOS your PC has.

Just make sure whatever video card you plan to buy is low profile and comes with the low profile mounting brackets in the box.

Processors...below is the link to the dc5800 quickspecs...the supported processors can be found on page 8.

http://whp-cpq.extweb.hp.com/cpq-products/quickspecs/12863_na/12863_na.pdf

[Mdlucky8]

Ok so I already maxed the ram (my ram got fried) and I pulled a 350 watt PSU I plan on leaving on the outside of the case so since I know the increase won't be huge and I cant afford 500 dollars to build a new PC I was thinking about getting a low profile GTX 750 TI and a q9650 for a somewhat good gaming experience what do you think?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I'm not sure the nVidia 7xx series graphics cards will work with that old of a PC.

I have not read where anyone has installed a nVidia 7xx series graphics card in that old of a PC, so I would not be able to comment on that.

I would also check the power supply main connector with the one you have now.

Unless you get one from another HP business desktop, I'm not sure it will work.

I'm thinking you may want to get the 365W P/S from a dc7800 CMT, if you plan on leaving it outside of the case.

Also, doesn't the P/S fan in the SFF also cool the processor?

What will you do about that?  Just have the electricity going to the P/S for the fan to work?

Or would you get a different heat sink/fan for the processor?

I have only worked within the specs of the PC, so unfortunately, I won't be of any help to you with modifying the thing.

I have a dc7900 SFF with a Q9500 and a Radeon HD 2400, with 8 GB of memory, and I just left it stock.

Of course the HD 2400 would be useless for gaming.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Oh, and one other thing...

I forgot to write that the PCIe x16 slot is only rated for up to 25 Watts (see page 10 of the above quickspecs link I posted).

I know for a fact that other forum members have installed video cards that exceeded that wattage with no problems.

But we are talking about low power video cards such as the GT 610, which draws a max of 29 watts.

I would have no idea if you could get away with installing a card that say, draws 60 -75 Watts.

[foxfaisal]

Good day everyone,

My sister has an unused HP Compaq dc5800 Small Form Factor. It comes together with Intel® Pentium® Processor E2200, 2GB of RAM, and Windows Vista (downgraded to Windows XP). My sister no longer uses the computer after her Windows was corrupted. I tried to format her computer, but even the Windows XP recovery partition was corrupted. In addition, the support for both Windows XP & Vista has already ended. 

Co-incidenttally, I have an unused Windows 7 Ultimate (retail version). Therefore I installed it on my sister's PC, then I upgraded it to Windows 10 (through the free Windows 10 upgrade that Microsoft offered few years ago). However, I noticed that the PC feels slow on Windows 7 and 10 (including the clean install version of Win 10).

I decided to upgrade the PC with new CPU, RAM, and SSD.

At first, I decided to upgrade the CPU to Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q9300 after referring to the following link (because this is the fastest CPU that is listed in this site):

https://h10057.www1.hp.com/ecomcat/hpcatalog/specs/provisioner/05/AK818AW.htm

However after I read the link givven by Paul_Tikkanen, I discovered that the fastest possible CPU to be installed on this PC is actually Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650. However, the price of a used Q9650 on ebay is roughly 3 times the price of a used Q9300. I will proceed with Q9650 if I can afford it (and go for Q9300 if Q9650 is too expensive for me).

Please advice if this upgrade is going to work or not. Thank you.

[foxfaisal]

One more thing. While searching for Q9650 on the internet, I found people selling Intel Xeon Quad Core X5460/E5450 that is modded into Q9650. Can I try this modded CPU or should I play safe and stick to the unmodded CPU?

Thank you.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @foxfaisal :

I would not risk installing a modded CPU in that model.

The Q9650 is listed as a supported processor, so it should work just fine.

If you get a microcode error, then you will have to update the microcode to the lastest one listed on the support page.

BIOS and microcode updates can be done in DOS, so it doesn't matter if the PC is running W10.

[foxfaisal]

Thank you for your feedback. I was also told by other person that Intel Xeon is not compatible with the Q33 chipset, so I think I'll stick with the unmodded CPU.

Btw, all this time I know about BIOS, but this is the first time I hear about microcode. If you don't mind, I would like to ask your opinion about something that is not related to HP. Few months ago I upgraded my ASUS A52JK laptop (Intel® HM55 Express Chipset). Originally it came with i5 430M (Arrandale). I wanted to upgrade to i7 940XM (Clarksfield), but I'm afraid that I'm going to waste a lot of money if the upgrade didn't work. Thefore I decided to start with the cheaper i7 720QM (Clarksfield). However, the upgrade with i7 720QM did not work even though the BIOS had been updated to the latest version. The upgrade only worked after I did it with i7 640M (Arrandale).

Assuming that the i7 720QM was not faulty, do you think that the upgrade didn't work because my laptop was not compatible with Arrandale or because I have to update the microcode? Sorry again if you and other people in here are not comfortable with question not related to HP.

Thank you.