Question GPU: GeForce 630 to 3050

[pianosam]

My brother in law has a hp phoenix pc
h9-1215t
12gb of ram.
BIOS UEFI
Pegatron motherboard 2AD5
Windows 10

It currently has a GeForce 630 and he wants to upgrade to a 3050. Is this possible or should we be looking at a different graphics card to upgrade to.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Hi

Its very hard to know with pre-built machines like this whether they're possible to upgrade. From what I can find online about your system it should work technically. I'm seeing a 600W power supply with an option for either a GT 630 and a GTX 680. That's a huge disparity in tier of GPU, so I'm not 100% whether it actually has a 600W PSU as its a total waste for the GT 630, which was barely better than integrated graphics even at the time.

So basically, you'll have to open the machine up, and have a look. Does it have PCI-E power connectors spare in there somewhere? A GTX 3050 would need one.

like these:

Amazon.com

Does the PSU (Power supply) have a label on the side of it, like this?

and can you upload a pic of it to here via Imgur or another picture hosting site.

You'd also need to check if the new GPU will physically fit in the case. You'll have to do some measuring and check against the height and length of any card you might buy.

Two other problems you should be aware of. The PSU in this machine will be very old, and likely to pop at some point, who knows when. When it does it may damage any new graphics card you put in there on its way out.

Secondly, the CPU in that machine is also 10 years old. It wont be too long before it wont be able to play new AAA games at all.

My suggestion would be to save up and build a new system entirely if possible, if not then just know there are risks and the benefit of the GPU will be limited by the CPU, more or less depending on the game.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Kaamos_Llama covered all the bases really well. If it works with the rest of your setup, that's going to be a huge upgrade. Haha

But I agree with Kaamos that the CPU is very old. I'd be interested to know exactly which CPU is in the PC. But whatever it is, it's probably going to bottleneck an RTX 3050. I agree with Kaamos that you're probably better off saving up until you can build or buy a whole new system.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Kaamos_Llama covered all the bases really well. If it works with the rest of your setup, that's going to be a huge upgrade. Haha

But I agree with Kaamos that the CPU is very old. I'd be interested to know exactly which CPU is in the PC. But whatever it is, it's probably going to bottleneck an RTX 3050. I agree with Kaamos that you're probably better off saving up until you can build or buy a whole new system.

HP Pavilion HPE h9-1215t Phoenix Product Specifications and Configurable Options | HP® Customer Support

Specification details and configuration options for the HP Pavilion HPE h9-1215t Phoenix Configurable Desktop PC

support.hp.com

I7 3770. Not the worst news, but it would be below the minimum specs for Dead Space for example, and more games are coming that will be similar. It will play a lot of older games still, and might get some newer AAA stuff to work, it really depends on the games OP wants to play.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

HP Pavilion HPE h9-1215t Phoenix Product Specifications and Configurable Options | HP® Customer Support

Specification details and configuration options for the HP Pavilion HPE h9-1215t Phoenix Configurable Desktop PC

support.hp.com

I7 3770. Not the worst news, but it would be below the minimum specs for Dead Space for example, and more games are coming that will be similar. It will play a lot of older games still, and might get some newer AAA stuff to work, it really depends on the games OP wants to play.

At least it's an i7. But still, it's definitely time to move on. The positive thing about putting a 3050 in that would be that it might give it a temporary boost for now, and they could always carry the 3050 over to a whole new build.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Its a quad core with HT so not too bad thats true
Running the GPU on a 10 year old OEM Power supply of unknown rating and quality is my main worry with that.

 

[Lutfij]

^ To corroborate what my colleague above has said, had we not known any better, then you're free to do what you'd want to do. Sadly we've had many things blow up in our faces or know people who have invested in something(PC wise) and ended up with negative results.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

^ To corroborate what my colleague above has said, had we not known any better, then you're free to do what you'd want to do. Sadly we've had many things blow up in our faces or know people who have investing in something(PC wise) and ended up with negative results.

I have a 10 year old, Gold-rated PSU that is still running strong with no trouble, so that's not always the case. But since he's talking about a 10 year old, prebuilt HP, I totally agree with you guys. Prebuild companies, like HP or Dell, almost always go with the bottom-of-the-barrel PSUs that are crap. So that's definitely something to be concerned about.

 

[Lutfij]

Prebuilt system's will come with gear that are favorable to the company, not the end user. They are also in business to make a profit, not to see a smile across a person with a half chewed wallet. So yeah they won't care if the prebuilt blows up or sets a house on fire since it's already outside of it's useful lifecycle.

Anything that's being done to the prebuilt is by the end user, meaning it's being tampered with. When I've stated useful lifecycle, prebuilt brand's usually bundle sub par componentry together and in this case the motherboard's capacitors might give out(as things spectacularly do when you don't want them to) leading to more spending. This is exactly why I don't bother suggesting anyone spend on their prebuilts as that only drives your investments towards negative, not even a case swap.

Just an FYI,
I have a 10 year old, Gold-rated PSU
the 80+ efficiency rating sticker doesn't denote, if a PSU is good or bad, that certification can also be bought just like the iF Design award. Coolermaster have some units that have all the right advertising and stickers to pass off as a reliable unit but when PSU testers like Aris(the PSU tester on Tom'sHardware and HardwareBusters YT channel) come along and spill their beans, that's when we steer clear of units of that sort. The warranty on a PSU is a good indicator of a brand standing behind their product, though.