Graphics Upgrade for HP Pro 3500

[miningshark23]

Ok, so I have been searching to find out if the power supply in my newly ordered PC (hasn't arrived to check yet) has a spare 6-pin slot in the PSU for a GPU upgrade, I have narrowed my price range down to either a 750Ti (if it doesn't) or the 950 (if it does) could anyone that knows anything about this PC please tell me. I am assuming it doesn't.

I would prefer not to upgrade this power supply at the moment, though I may at a later date.

CPU: i5 3470
RAM: 8GB
MoBo: H61 (I think)
HDD: 500GB
PSU: ???

Thanks in advance

 

[Unolocogringo]

From what I found online it has a 300 watt power supply.
So in that case the 750TI without a power connector is your best option.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

The standard PSU for the computer is a 300W unit that lacks a 6 pin PCI-e connector for a GPU. The GTX 750ti is the best that will fit without a PSU update and make sure that you get one of the vrsions of the GTX 750ti that runs on motherboard power only. The EVGA GTX 750ti Superclocked model 3573 is a card like that. Some of the faster, more powerful GTX 750ti's do need an extra PCI-e 6 pin power feed.

And yes, the motherboard is a H61.

 

[miningshark23]

Thanks for both of the quick replies, the GTX750Ti SC is actually the one that I was considering buying, I see that you have one, what's the performance like? (I've seen the benchmarks, just want some input from a real person)

 

[DonkeyOatie]

I like it. It works well for the RPGs I play where 20 to 30 FPS is fine, and my RTS generally don't matter much. I play at moderate 1080p. The card overclocks quite well. I use MSI Afterburner to overclock it and Kombustor to check performance and have about 10% more performance out of it.

It is also quiet and coolish in my mITX system. Here's what we do at school. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2625445/build-log-consolidated-middle-school-builds.html The card is in the first system and was added later.

 

[miningshark23]

Ok thanks, honestly I would upgrade the power supply and use something like a R9380X or a GTX960, but I'm too lazy to 're-wire' the whole system. XD

 

[DonkeyOatie]

The card is well matched to your system. In a year or two you can move the whole system on t someone else as a 'going concern' and start again. It's great for entry-level gaming and school/business work.

 

[miningshark23]

I was planning on upgrading the power supply, CPU and GPU later on anyway, the motherboard supports quite a few processors, I'm pretty see it supports up to an i7 3770k, thanks for your help.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

The i7 3770K may fit, but the motherboard power delivery may not be up to overclocking it much.

 

[miningshark23]

I probably would just get a 3770 anyway, it is an H-series board, if it was a Z-series or extreme edition maybe.

 

[miningshark23]

Do you, by any chance, know if this MoBo has any support for SSD's?

 

[DonkeyOatie]

It will run SATA SSDs like anything else. The Samsung 850 EVO series is good and fast. It needs an m.2 socket if that's what you were thinking of. All of the school builds linked above have SATA SSDs for the OS and applications.

 

[miningshark23]

SATA SSD's were what I was talking about, just read somewhere that this motherboard didn't support SATA 6GB/s

 

[DonkeyOatie]

It doesn't, but it will support SATA 3Gb/s. SSDs run at about 500Mb/s

 

[miningshark23]

500mb/s is pretty decent, in happy enough with that, you have been so helpful, thank you so much.

 

[miningshark23]

Could someone please answer one more question, would the EVGA GTX750Ti SC fit in this case and be compatible with the motherboard, looking at the board and card side-by-side it doesn't look like it to me, but it most likely does, I would just like confirmation on this.
Thank you.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

It's a very short card. What makes you think it won't fit? It's a standard case with a standard board and you have the access slots at the back.

 

[miningshark23]

It's a very short card. What makes you think it won't fit? It's a standard case with a standard board and you have the access slots at the back.

It's more the motherboard, the layout of the PCI slots makes me think that if I were to install the GPU it would either not fit or cover one of the 1x slots (that really isn't a problem though)

 

[DonkeyOatie]

It will fit and it will cover one of the x1 slots. Slots are 'single' spaced and most modern cards have integrated coolers which makes them 'double' spaced, so they block the adjacent slot. No problem with that. There's nothing you have to put in that slot anyway.

 

[miningshark23]

That's what I was thinking, just thought that maybe the cooler would be too low to actually got in the first place, you have been lots of help, thanks, should be all the questions for now XD

 

[miningshark23]

Actually, one more question, the GTX950 has a recommended power supply of 350W, 300W isn't that much less, if the were any spare molex (or other PSU connectors) could I use an X-to-6pin adopter to power it or would my total system power consumption be too high? Sorry if I sound like an idiot, thanks for the help.


And this is DEFINITELY it.

 

[miningshark23]

According to PC part picker it should go from around 55W idle to 246W under load, I do not know how accurate this is or if my plan would work.