Upgrading HP 3800+

[saladfork]

First of all, does HP utilize a proprietary motherboard?

Should I be looking for a new mobo, or a new mobo and case?

I'd like to outfit it with a midrange dx10 card.

 

[Trotter]

If the HP is a fairly recent model, like within past 4 years, the mobo will be standard. If it is older, probably not. You will need a mATX board (micro ATX).

The DX10 cards are all PCI-E, so you'll have to have a board with a PCI-E slot.

You'll need to relpace the PSU, though, even if you re-use the case. Most pre-builts come with a 250W PSU, possibly a 300W... not enough to run newer cards.

 

[saladfork]

Yeah..

Actually, now that I look at it, I want to have this comp be able to play c&c3, bf2, and oblivion.

the motherboard has an agp slot, will this card be able to handle those games on decent settings with good frame rates?

Newegg.com - EVGA 256-A8-N506-AX GeForce 7800GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X CO Video Card - Retail

 

[krazieaznboi]

whats your system specs?

this card should be able to run oblivion and bf2 on low-medium settings depending on the rest of your system. bf2 takes a lot of ram.. also what resolution are you planning to play on?

 

[saladfork]

Will, its an AMD 3800+ running on 1 gig of ram, I'm sure Ill upgrade it to 2 if I get this card.

Planning to run games at 1024x768..... tired of running newer games at 800x600 =[ lol.

 

[krazieaznboi]

get 3GB of ram if your planning to play BF2

 

[Trotter]

get 3GB of ram if your planning to play BF2

Two gig work fine.

I played BF2 fine on my old GFX card, a 7800GTX. That 7800GS should handle it great as well. Actually, I ran the C&C3 demo, as well as Oblivion, on that card.

Check your PSU. That card requires a 350W PSU.

 

[krazieaznboi]

i heard that BF2 takes 2GB alone so wont you need more RAM to maintain your windows xp or vista?

 

[Trotter]

No, 2 gig will cover it all. I'm running 2 gig and have no problems whatsoever. One gig will run it, but it will have to use the page file. Anything less than a gig and it can get ugly.

 

[krazieaznboi]

ahhhh. thanks for clearing this up for me.