Upgrade HP graphics Card

[adbowman]

Hey guys, I'm looking to buy a new computer and HP has good prices on ones with decent processors and RAM but the graphics cards they offer are limited. Here is the build I'm looking at getting and was wondering if I would be able to upgrade the graphics card at a later time if this one can not keep up with a game I'm playing. Thanks

Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-760 quad-core processor [2.8GHz, 1MB L2 + 8MB shared L3 cache]
Memory 8GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [4 DIMMs]
Hard drive 1TB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
Graphics card 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5450 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

 

[Pallimud]

You'll be able to so long as the power supply is enough. You need to get the specs on it, that will determine how high you can upgrade.

You can always buy a new power supply if you want to go higher too.

 

[rraannddoo]

Get around a 650w-750w psu, usually manufactor computer only comes with minimual psu for the computer. a HD5850 requires 550w and out of curiosity how much was the computer? (buying parts is cheaper then picking the upgrades from hp website)
PS: make sure you got the correct number of pin for your computer

 

[ko888]

Hey guys, I'm looking to buy a new computer and HP has good prices on ones with decent processors and RAM but the graphics cards they offer are limited. Here is the build I'm looking at getting and was wondering if I would be able to upgrade the graphics card at a later time if this one can not keep up with a game I'm playing. Thanks

Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-760 quad-core processor [2.8GHz, 1MB L2 + 8MB shared L3 cache]
Memory 8GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [4 DIMMs]
Hard drive 1TB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
Graphics card 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5450 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

There's a reason why the HP prices look so good and why there is such a limited selection of low end graphics cards. It's all about increasing their profit margin on each machine sold to the detriment of quality and customer support.

They only put in a 300 Watt power supply into their build that you are considering. That 300 Watt power supply may not even have any PCI-E supplementary power connector which cuts down its cost because it doesn't require the +12 Volt rail to deliver a lot of DC current.

This limits the graphics cards that can be offered to only those that can get all of their power through the PCI-Express X16 slot which has a limit of 75 Watts. If you check the power requirements of all those discrete graphics cards that they offer for your build they are all low power cards.

 

[adbowman]

Thanks so far guys. This build was $799 and that seemed like a pretty good price to me when comparing it to individual parts. I would like to assemble my own if I could find everything at an affordable total. Is buying this build with a plan to upgrade the video card and I guess also the power supply in the future a bad idea? Games are definitely not the primary use of this machine, but I do dabble here and there.

 

[Pallimud]

It's a very tough call. The machine specs themselves are not bad, but anytime you buy from a company, the individual components are not as quality as if you'd build the machine yourself.

I'm not sure how prices will be affected, but intel just launched their Gen 2 processors to begin replacing the current i3/i5/i7 line. These processors can be up to 30% more efficient, and might be dropping the price of the Gen 1 i3/i5/i7, but I don't know when. I doubt it will be right away, might have to wait a few months to see prices begin to change to anything worthwhile.

Anyway, $799 isn't bad for that machine, but just know the quality of the components won't be the same as if you hand picked each one. If your primary use isn't gaming, you may want to save the hassle and buy the machine then upgrade the PSU/GPU later on. Depending on how you game, the HD5450 might handle most of what you want anyway.

My suggestion is figure out your exact budget and what you'll be doing on the computer (which games). We all have the tendency to go big or go home, but you don't always have to do that. Get what you need, because you probably will buy a brand new computer in 3-5 years anyway.

 

[adbowman]

Best answer selected by adbowman.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey