Question Watt usage help

[AdDb]

So I got this Victus HP 15l desktop and it has been working really well. But it has a problem and its that it has a 350W psu so I wanted to know how I could check the power usage to know what is my limit (I have been thinking about getting a Crucial 16GB Kit 2x8gb and then getting an rtx 3050/rtx A2000, I will probably get the rtx 3050 tho since it's cheaper )

HP pc link

Motherboard link

Ram link (idk if this is useful)

 

[Lafong]

I wanted to know how I could check the power usage to know what is my limit

Do you mean you want to check how much power you are using at any given moment, for your entire PC? You can do that with a Kill-O-Watt device. Otherwise, you have to make a semi-educated guess.

I think both of those video cards are relatively low powered....130 watts or less.

Does that PC have an Intel i5-12400 CPU?

The other parts...motherboard, RAM, drives, monitor, might use 100 watts at most.

You would probably be crowding the limit of your power supply, but I'd frankly be more worried about its quality than the watt rating.

 

[AdDb]

Do you mean you want to check how much power you are using at any given moment, for your entire PC? You can do that with a Kill-O-Watt device. Otherwise, you have to make a semi-educated guess.

I think both of those video cards are relatively low powered....130 watts or less.

Does that PC have an Intel i5-12400 CPU?

The other parts...motherboard, RAM, drives, monitor, might use 100 watts at most.

You would probably be crowding the limit of your power supply, but I'd frankly be more worried about its quality than the watt rating.

Wdym about the quality? You mean the psu quality? Also yes, my pc has an intel i5-12400.
Also what is a Kill-O-Watt device?

 

[Lafong]

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Kill-O-Watt

Yes. PSU quality. I have no idea what you have other than "350W". Could be good, bad, or average.

 

[AdDb]

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Kill-O-Watt

Yes. PSU quality. I have no idea what you have other than "350W". Could be good, bad, or average.

Uhh since the board is proprietary it uses an HP psu

 

[geofelt]

Pre built pc's like HP are not built to be updated.

A 350w psu will not have the needed 8 pin aux power that a 3050 card needs. The included gtx1650 is as strong as it can use.

The ram upgrade would be fine.

To upgrade the psu may be a problem.
The motherboard description says customized.
No telling what the limitation might be.
Research that to see if a standard ATX psu will fit the case, and if it can otherwise power the motherboard.

 

[AdDb]

Pre built pc's like HP are not built to be updated.

A 350w psu will not have the needed 8 pin aux power that a 3050 card needs. The included gtx1650 is as strong as it can use.

The ram upgrade would be fine.

To upgrade the psu may be a problem.
The motherboard description says customized.
No telling what the limitation might be.
Research that to see if a standard ATX psu will fit the case, and if it can otherwise power the motherboard.

So wait my psu has less than 8 connector pins and the rtx 3050 needs 8 pins, so I should research if a regular psu (that isnt from hp) fits there?
If thats what I had to do I found this video upgrading the 15L and it used a 500W psu from HP, does a higher Watt psu from HP have more pins?
Also an ATX psu has better connection or like a better speed? Idrk the difference between an ATX psu and like the psu I have...
Video Im talking about

 

[AdDb]

Pre built pc's like HP are not built to be updated.

A 350w psu will not have the needed 8 pin aux power that a 3050 card needs. The included gtx1650 is as strong as it can use.

The ram upgrade would be fine.

To upgrade the psu may be a problem.
The motherboard description says customized.
No telling what the limitation might be.
Research that to see if a standard ATX psu will fit the case, and if it can otherwise power the motherboard.

The motherboard says its

• Customized: 29.09 x 20.3 cm (11.45 x 7.99 in)

So what should I research about it? How much space it takes in the case? I'm pretty new to tech stuff and I still don't get what I should research

I was researching more and i found this

• One PCI Express Gen 3.0 x16
• One PCI Express Gen 3.0 x1
  

I asked a friend that know a little about tech and he said that those are the expansion slots for ram and graphics, so does that help a little bit more?

 

[Lafong]

The motherboard says its

• Customized: 29.09 x 20.3 cm (11.45 x 7.99 in)

So what should I research about it? How much space it takes in the case? I'm pretty new to tech stuff and I still don't get what I should research

I think the dimensions of a standard ATX motherboard are:

12 inches x 9.6 inches (305 mm x 244 mm)

That's a lot different than your HP board, part of their "customization".

The use of non-standard proprietary parts is a major reason to avoid pre-built PCs. You never know what level of customization you might run into and how or if you can work around it.

The HP case may accept an industry standard ATX power supply.....or not. Even if it did, the cables on the standard PSU may not match possibly proprietary connection points on the proprietary motherboard. The HP PSU may itself have weird dimensions apart from its quality or power rating.

You might be able to research what you need to find out in an hour on the Internet. Or you might spend 50 hours without learning much. At some point, maybe you change your plans and move to industry standard parts or live with what you have. Not an ideal situation.

 

[AdDb]

I think the dimensions of a standard ATX motherboard are:

12 inches x 9.6 inches (305 mm x 244 mm)

That's a lot different than your HP board, part of their "customization".

The use of non-standard proprietary parts is a major reason to avoid pre-built PCs. You never know what level of customization you might run into and how or if you can work around it.

The HP case may accept an industry standard ATX power supply.....or not. Even if it did, the cables on the standard PSU may not match possibly proprietary connection points on the proprietary motherboard. The HP PSU may itself have weird dimensions apart from its quality or power rating.

You might be able to research what you need to find out in an hour on the Internet. Or you might spend 50 hours without learning much. At some point, maybe you change your plans and move to industry standard parts or live with what you have. Not an ideal situation.

Thanks, I think I'll just not try to upgrade it since I heard it was a pretty decent pc, and a friend told me that its really, really good for someone that just started with pcs. The thing that I'll prob do is get better ram and use this pc while I save some money to then sell my pc and maybe get another one that isn't a prebuilt.

 

[jakes138]

Thanks, I think I'll just not try to upgrade it since I heard it was a pretty decent pc, and a friend told me that its really, really good for someone that just started with pcs. The thing that I'll prob do is get better ram and use this pc while I save some money to then sell my pc and maybe get another one that isn't a prebuilt.

You're gonna really regret not spending a little more and not getting the 3050. For the money you could get alot better in the used market in that price range. If you saved 100 more dollars you could get a 4060. The power draw is 115w. It works great on out set up.