hp graphics card help please

i bought my computer about 8 months ago from staples. --->link http://www.buy.com/prod/hp-pavilion...r-3ghz-amd-athlon-64/q/loc/101/205611529.html

been playing world of warcraft on minimum to medium settings with the resolution on standard. on day i was messing around with the settings and i bumped them all up and turned the resolution to meet my samsung widescreen 22" 1680x1050 and the framerate went through the floor. would estimate 5fps. a friend came over and advised a new graphics card. so he suggested http://www.pronto.com/mpm/EVGA-E-GEFORCE-GTX-280-10306021496-CG .
would this fit in my pc? do i need anything else? was looking at other peoples thread and they were suggesting new pcus or something.

also called hp (could hardly understand the guy) but he said id have to replace the whole motherboard to get a new graphics card.

please will soemone help ? thanks

 

Here's a slightly better link to the specs of the machine. The video card inside is actually as nVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE which is your garden variety integrated garbage graphics chip. The 280 is overkill for Wow, and it's likely the power supply that came with the HP wouldn't be able to support such a powerful card anyways. A card like the 4850 or the 9800GTX would be more than enough. You could likely even go significantly cheaper than those but my experience with mid-low GPU's is fairly low so I won't try to tell you something I'm not 100% sure will work for you. You have an open PCIx16 slot so your motherboard is fine. Your only worry is your power supply. If you open up your box and tell us the specs/maker of it it'll help us help you. Also I hear that WoW is largely CPU limited so your processor will likely end up bottlenecking you if you go after a high end video card anyways.

Edit: Just noticed that there are tech specs at the bottom of the page that you linked to. I just woke up it's not my fault

 

There doesn't appear to be any great benchmark testing with WoW and recent GPU's, or at least that I can find but it does appear that the game can actually give your computer a pretty good work out. At least more than I thought it could. Your processor is the AMD 6000+ which is solid and shouldn't give you any problems. I probably wouldn't go any cheaper than the 9800/4850 price range of around 160$ but I wouldn't go any higher either. It seems the one quirk about WoW is that for the vast majority of gameplay you'll be pumping out framerates above 100 (Your monitor can't display anything above 60 anyways), but once you hit a chaotic scene it starts using far more resources. In the largest fights and places like the gold house I couldn't promise that you won't see dips with those cards, but if you do it's probably a limit of the CPU anyways.

Edit: I'm still browsing around. It seems most HP machines have 300W power supplies. The 6000+ appears to use around 130W while under load. Add in power consumption for all the other components and you're not left with much of anything for a GPU to run off of even if you actually get the full 300W from the PSU (Which you won't). Looks like if you want to upgrade, you'll have to upgrade your PSU as well. Your motherboard is fine though. Don't worry though, a new, good PSU and a mid-range GPU will still cost you less than the 280 alone you were first looking at

That being said if you went with either of the cards I recommended you would most definitely be pleased with the performance. You'll still need to make sure your power supply can handle it though.

 

first i wanted to say thank you for both your detailed replys.


seems you recommend 4850/9800 for a graphics card.

looking now inside to see what i can tell you lol (not even sure what im looking at?) dont see what im looking for lol maybe an example of what you need if you still need it?



you said i will probably need a new pcu?do you have one you recommend? do you have links to both(would be appriciated )

and are they hard to install?

 

You would need a new PC, basically. A big graphics card won't run on that power supply, and a new power supply won't fit in that case. You may as well buy a new machine.

 

theres no way buying a new machine is the only answer.

 

says on the sticker:::::
dc output 300w

imput 100-127v~/8a 50-60hz.
output +5v /25a max 12v /19a max +5Bsp /2a max.
combined power on +5v and 3.3v rails not exceed 175w max.
combined power on 12v and 5v rails not exceed 268w max.
continuous total dc output must not exceed 300w.

if you need more than that please let me know.

 

Time for you to take some measurements. Standard PSU size is:
"Dimension: 5.9"(W) x 3.4"(H) X 5.9"(L)
150mm(W) x 86mm(H) x 150mm(L)"

See if that would fit in your case. If it won't, I'd rather just Frankenstein my rig and have my PSU outside my case. It would be ugly and you'd want to hide the tower behind something but it's definitely worth just working with what you have. Depending on your abilities, and on which direction you are short on room, you could always modify your case to make it work.

HP motherboards still use standard power connections right?

 

i measure the box the sticker was on that the power is connectedto? and what do you mean by do they still use the standard power for mother board. thanks

 

Yes, those dimensions need to fit as a box into the power supply area. The other questions was more so directed towards anyone who has previous experience with HP's, I'd assume the power connections would be the same.



The power supply bay could be on the bottom or top of the back of the case depending on your model.

Edit: Seems the motherboard is fairly standard. The two power connections from the PSU to the motherboard are:
"# One 24-pin ATX power connector
# One 4-pin ATX power connector"
Either way you'll want to make sure the PSU you get has those connections, shouldn't be a problem as that is fairly standard.

 

I'll warn you now, that looks like an identical platform to the HP-Compaq system I upgraded over the summer, and that did not fit a standard ATX power supply.
You could always get a low power graphics card like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161262
That would work fine, and is a significant step up from the 6150SE, I'd probably hazard a guess at it being about ten times as powerful, though it itself is only a quarter of the power of the high end cards you were considering.

 

okay read the reviews and that low power card looks pretty nice. are you sure that will work in my setup? (if i wont have to upgrade my pcu then i dont want to ). does anyone else agree that will work? will it allow me to play my favorite game world of warcraft in full high settings, with a fast framerate?


ps. height 3.5 inches length 6 inches width 5.5 inches.

 

Depends on the screen resolution, but generally no. It will play it on medium detail with a reasonable frame rate, but on high, it will probably still lag in busy areas.

 

I doubt you'll be happy with the lackluster performance of any card that would stay under those power constraints. If I was in this situation I'd just ugly-fy my box by having my PSU sit outside my box and just run the wiring through the opening where the old PSU was. Not to mention down the line if you upgrade and build your next computer yourself, that a decent video card by todays standards will still be acceptable in a few years, whereas if you spend money on a mediocre card you'll end up having to buy a new one with the new computer. Same thing with the power supply. The standards for power supplies rarely change and you'll want to buy something that will suit you not only for this machine but your next one as well so you don't buy the same thing twice.

Also make sure that any video card you pick up will fit inside your box. GPU's are longer than they used to be, the 4850 is 23 cm long, not sure how the length of nVidia cards compare.

 

The HD4650 is far from a pathetic card, it's streets ahead of the stuff that usually comes in PCs like this.

 

so confused now. i want the best prossible with high resolution and the best settings. i dont want to ruin my stuff or spend more than i spent on my whole setup. i dont care if its ugly, loud, shiny, cold , i want it to be preformance based

 

Then basically, buy a whole new PC.

 

how do you go about getting one built? i dont know anyone thats good with computers. im okay with software but hardware dif story. and theres no responses to the "frankenstien" ?