Graphics Card - Compatibility check please

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kiwiharry

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#275987 20-Sep-2020 10:19

Hi.

I got a "surplus to requirements" desktop pc offered to me for free from my workplace recently.

My 14yo son wants to change the graphics card. Yes he probably knows more than me about this but before I commit the $$$ to buy the card, can somebody let me know if the card is compatible? The most I've ever done on any pc is upgrade RAM.

He is looking at this card

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1650 OC 4G GDDR6, GPU Upto 1635 MHz, 80mm Blade Fan, 2 Slot, DP/HDMI/ DVI-D, 170mm Length Max 3 Displays

Here are the existing specs of the desktop.

Let me know if there is any other info you need.

Thanks

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surfisup1000

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#2568597 20-Sep-2020 10:40

That z420 seems to have pcie 3.0 slots, which should be fine for that GFX card.

The gfx card specs say there is no power connector (n/a) meaning it draws power from the pcie slot alone.

So, you have the right slot, and power is through the slot - this should work OK.

The power supply on your machine needs to be at least 300W -- you can open the machine up and it should be printed on the power supply unit somewhere. 300w is pretty low, so it is most likely fine.

xpd

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#2568603 20-Sep-2020 11:12

As above - PSU is the main thing.

I've got the Asus version of that card in an old i5, use it for daily gaming quite happily, just with my system I get bottlenecking with the CPU - but still happy with constant 60fps in overwatch :)

XPD / Gavin

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kiwiharry

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#2568604 20-Sep-2020 11:21

Thanks for the replies. The power supply is rated 600 watts

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xpd

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#2568615 20-Sep-2020 12:11

Yup youre good to go then :)

XPD / Gavin

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Mehrts

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#2568655 20-Sep-2020 14:49

Is the Z420 a SFF (small form factor) or tower style PC?

This will determine whether you can fit a standard height GPU into it, or whether you have to opt for a "low profile" half height/half length card.

I've got an HP EliteDesk 800 SFF, and recently put in a GTX 1650 low profile GPU. My particular machine only has a 200w PSU, and at absolute max load under benchmarks, it's pulling 160w as measured by an external power meter. This is with an i5-6500 CPU, 24GB RAM, one NVMe drive plus two 2.5" HDDs.

kiwiharry

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#2568656 20-Sep-2020 14:54

Mehrts:
Is the Z420 a SFF (small form factor) or tower style PC?

It is a tower

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kiwiharry

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#2568657 20-Sep-2020 14:56

I've purchased the graphics card now.

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1024kb

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#2568659 20-Sep-2020 15:01

That's a more than reasonable base unit to start working from too. Xeon processors are a premium line, designed to handle high workloads in server / workstation environments. If a computer has a Xeon processor installed from new, the chances are high that it will also have quality hardware throughout - PSU, RAM, network cards etc.

Yours is an HP Z range PC, that's an expensive but worth it range of high quality & seriously powerful computers. It's likely that there originally was a graphics card - probably an Nvidia Quadro or ATi FirePro - that's since been removed.

Ok, it's a generation or 2 old now but it's still a very capable performer. There's no substitute for quality.

Megabyte - so geek it megahertz

kiwiharry

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#2568661 20-Sep-2020 15:13

1024kb: That's a more than reasonable base unit to start working from too. Xeon processors are a premium line, designed to handle high workloads in server / workstation environments. If a computer has a Xeon processor installed from new, the chances are high that it will also have quality hardware throughout - PSU, RAM, network cards etc.

Yours is an HP Z range PC, that's an expensive but worth it range of high quality & seriously powerful computers. It's likely that there originally was a graphics card - probably an Nvidia Quadro or ATi FirePro - that's since been removed.

Ok, it's a generation or 2 old now but it's still a very capable performer. There's no substitute for quality.

My son was licking his lips once he saw the specs of the machine. He wants to use it for gaming.

It was being used for some reasonably high end tasks at work.

It currently has the Nvidia Quadro graphics card installed. Also came with wiped128GB SSD and 1TB HDD.

If you can't laugh at yourself then you probably shouldn't laugh at others.