Will this be future proofed?

[Ssiss]

I am buying a HP envy 27-b all in one computer. 

 

It contains the following specs

I7 7700t

16gb ddr4 ram

Gtx 950m 4gb

256gb nvme m. 2 drive 

1tb Sata 7200rpm

4k ips display

 

I want to be able to play games at 4k resolution. You might be laughing at the gtx 950m but wait.. It has thunderbolt 3 unlike most aios including the surface studio. 

 

I am thinking of getting either a 1080ti or a rtx 2080 for now and run it using a HP omen accelerator. You may be thinking why did I not just buy a gaming computer. I have one but its bulky and I kind of want a minimalist lifestyle, I know you have to pay for that!! 

 

My question is.. 

 

Do you think this 7700t is good enough for gaming for the now and the future, and won't cause a bottleneck? 

 

Also anyone else experience aios with egpus? 

 

Thanks

[Crunchy Dragon]

Thunderbolt 3 will bottleneck a GPU more than your CPU will.

 

I'd just build a new system personally, 7700T is a little outdated by now.

[Fasauceome]

Nothing is future proof because we can't see the future. Specs look good though, just that thunderbolt for a gaming PC is a hefty investment on top of the preexisting extra cost of a laptop. Maybe consider a tower for 4K?

[Brooksie359]

Egpu is a bad solution. You take a performance hit by using one and the cpu get hit as well. What is the point if having an AIO if you have a large Egpu enclosure next to it anyways? 

[Slottr]

If you're buying an all in one to conserve space, build an ITX system instead. You'll get more for your money

[mxk]

I agree with Crunchy Dragon, the 7700 is a little outdated, plus the 9700k and 9900k have double the cores of the 7700..

[Ssiss]

Thanks all. I have already bought the aio. 

 

In terms of performance hit I am aware of this. But the hp envy has hdmi out and hdmi in so using hdmi in it would be an external display right so minimising the loss. 

 

I may decide against the omen accelerator and get the smaller aorus. But i wont be gaming all the time so can store the egpu away when not using. 

 

I hope the 7700t is good enough for now. I have a 4690k in my pc which ran anything and it seems on cpu benchmarks the 7700t is better. 

 

Thanks

[Arttu89]

3 minutes ago, Slottr said:

If you're buying an all in one to conserve space, build an ITX instead. You'll get more for your money

 

Like Slottr said.

Build something in a small form factor an all-in-one will be a bit of a waste of money, especially if you want to play in 4k and unlike an aio it actually allows some kind of future proofing - you can open the case, fairly easily replace parts and sell the old ones, while an aio might only allow for a little bit of modification in the future.

[Brooksie359]

9 minutes ago, Ssiss said:

Thanks all. I have already bought the aio. 

 

In terms of performance hit I am aware of this. But the hp envy has hdmi out and hdmi in so using hdmi in it would be an external display right so minimising the loss. 

 

I may decide against the omen accelerator and get the smaller aorus. But i wont be gaming all the time so can store the egpu away when not using. 

 

I hope the 7700t is good enough for now. I have a 4690k in my pc which ran anything and it seems on cpu benchmarks the 7700t is better. 

 

Thanks

Most AIO can't be used as a monitor while being used as a computer so I don't believe that would work. Like I said before the cpu has to translate the signal  from the thunderbolt connection before it can display it which is why you get the performance hit. The hit will likely be much larger when trying to hit 4k as you need alot of bandwidth and thunderbolt 3 will likely not be enough so you take another hit on performance.  

[Ssiss]

10 minutes ago, Arttu89 said:

 

Like Slottr said.

Build something in a small form factor an all-in-one will be a bit of a waste of money, especially if you want to play in 4k and unlike an aio it actually allows some kind of future proofing - you can open the case, fairly easily replace parts and sell the old ones, while an aio might only allow for a little bit of modification in the future.

The only real modification I could probably do is replace 2x8gb for 2x16gb ram sticks. 

 

I have decided on this pc as I really like the design. I wonder if I could update the processor in fact. Its a HP lga1151 motherboard. Do you think they are locked in the bios to only running the processors that they sell the computer with (7400t and 7700t?)

 

Wonder if I could unlock the bios if the case. 

[Ssiss]

8 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Most AIO can't be used as a monitor while being used as a computer so I don't believe that would work. Like I said before the cpu has to translate the signal  from the thunderbolt connection before it can display it which is why you get the performance hit. The hit will likely be much larger when trying to hit 4k as you need alot of bandwidth and thunderbolt 3 will likely not be enough so you take another hit on performance.  

So your saying if i used hdmi in the computer would have to be switched off and nothing would display on the screen? 

 

Hmm.. 

 

I thought 4k resolution is better for egpu as there's less frames so less bandwidth. 

[Brooksie359]

5 minutes ago, Ssiss said:

So your saying if i used hdmi in the computer would have to be switched off and nothing would display on the screen? 

 

Hmm.. 

 

I thought 4k resolution is better for egpu as there's less frames so less bandwidth. 

Each 4k frame is equivalent to 4 1080p frames in bandwidth so if you are trying 4k 60 it would be the same as trying 1080p 240 fps. And my point about the first part is that it simply wouldn't work. You would plug it in and mostly likely it would still be displaying from the AIO itself. It might still run off the Egpu but it would be running from the AIO to graphics card back to the AIO  then to the display. The way you want it to run is from the AIO to the graphics card to the display. 

[Ssiss]

5 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Each 4k frame is equivalent to 4 1080p frames in bandwidth so if you are trying 4k 60 it would be the same as trying 1080p 240 fps. And my point about the first part is that it simply wouldn't work. You would plug it in and mostly likely it would still be displaying from the AIO itself. It might still run off the Egpu but it would be running from the AIO to graphics card back to the AIO  then to the display. The way you want it to run is from the AIO to the graphics card to the display. 

I'll test it and report back :). Egpu is definitely compatible with it but I hear what youre saying. 

 

Anyone know whether it's possible to add a 8700t to a HP motherboard that per hp does not support it but it's an lga1151 and the same 35w as the 7700t I have in the envy currently? 

[Ssiss]

22 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Each 4k frame is equivalent to 4 1080p frames in bandwidth so if you are trying 4k 60 it would be the same as trying 1080p 240 fps. And my point about the first part is that it simply wouldn't work. You would plug it in and mostly likely it would still be displaying from the AIO itself. It might still run off the Egpu but it would be running from the AIO to graphics card back to the AIO  then to the display. The way you want it to run is from the AIO to the graphics card to the display. 

22 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Each 4k frame is equivalent to 4 1080p frames in bandwidth so if you are trying 4k 60 it would be the same as trying 1080p 240 fps. And my point about the first part is that it simply wouldn't work. You would plug it in and mostly likely it would still be displaying from the AIO itself. It might still run off the Egpu but it would be running from the AIO to graphics card back to the AIO  then to the display. The way you want it to run is from the AIO to the graphics card to the display. 

Actually I still don't get it. 

 

If I'm plugging in an external graphics card ('' output'') into hdmi in on my aio (' 'input' ') and run the video through thunderbolt how is that not doing what your last sentence says. 

[Arttu89]

5 minutes ago, Ssiss said:

I'll test it and report back :). Egpu is definitely compatible with it but I hear what youre saying. 

 

Anyone know whether it's possible to add a 8700t to a HP motherboard that per hp does not support it but it's an lga1151 and the same 35w as the 7700t I have in the envy currently? 

You wouldn't have any problems running any other lga1151 processors from the same or previous generation (i.e 7400t or even a desktop grade 7700/7700k given that the motherboard can provide enough power for those to run without crashing), that said running anything from 8th gen would not be possible, at least not easily. It's not HP spec that doesn't support it, it's Intels. All 100 and 200 series chipsets don't support 8th gen processors even though they have the same socket, Intel claims they're not electrically compatible (the pinout of the socket is not exactlly the same).

[Arttu89]

16 minutes ago, Ssiss said:

Actually I still don't get it. 

 

If I'm plugging in an external graphics card ('' output'') into hdmi in on my aio (' 'input' ') and run the video through thunderbolt how is that not doing what your last sentence says. 

What he means is that when the system in the AIO is running it might be disabling the "HDMI in" port on the back of the unit and allowing input only from the system. Some AIO don't allow external input to the monitor when the system runs, it's something that you would have to physically check yourself or look for someone who has that same AIO and have them check it for you, manufacturers rarely clearly state on the product page if what you want to do is possible with a given AIO as it's not really a very common use case.

 

If that is the case the only way to have the eGPU run the built in monitor is to have the thunderbolt connection send the data both ways, firstly from the system to the eGPU and then back through the same thunderbolt connection to the motherboard to be displayed on the monitor, so the same way as it works on laptops.

[Brooksie359]

26 minutes ago, Ssiss said:

Actually I still don't get it. 

 

If I'm plugging in an external graphics card ('' output'') into hdmi in on my aio (' 'input' ') and run the video through thunderbolt how is that not doing what your last sentence says. 

Because it disables the input while the computer is on because otherwise it would be trying to display 2 inputs at once and wouldnt know which one to use. It could work if that isn't the case and you can simply change the input settings but I doubt it. 

[Ssiss]

On 12/27/2018 at 6:49 PM, Brooksie359 said:

Because it disables the input while the computer is on because otherwise it would be trying to display 2 inputs at once and wouldnt know which one to use. It could work if that isn't the case and you can simply change the input settings but I doubt it. 

 

Guys I have tested this. 

 

Setup 

HP envy 27 b109na all in one

Rtx 2070 Xtreme aorus

Razer core x

 

Working through hdmi in! And therefore as an external monitor. I had to fiddle around with some of the hdmi connections on the graphics card but using the toggle display button it showed the hdmi as active and displayed the computer! 

 

Now I have a beastly all in one that looks quite nice!!