just bought an SFF HP to turn into a gaming rig. noob needing advice!

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Budget (including currency): ~$300 for GPU

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Asseto Corsa, Asseto Corsa Competitione, Dirt Rally 2, Forza Horizon 5, BeamNG, Automation, Halo, maybe some other stuff

Details: 

copying from reddit because i watch a lot of LTT—

i just bought an Elitedesk 800 G4 used. it’s running an i7-8700 and 16 GB of stock RAM from HP. it also has a stock 512 GB NVMe SSD (might be SATA in an NVM form factor tho? idk). i’m planning on putting an RTX A2000 in there.

basically i’m copying this build: https://youtu.be/3HDpR7FZgAw, but my i7 is one generation newer + PSU is bigger. since my GPU runs solely from my PCIe slot, power draw should not be an issue as my PSU is 250 W.

this is my first gaming PC, and i haven’t owned a windows PC since 2015 because i switched to Macbooks for personal/creative usage. i have many questions lol:

 

1) i know the mobo is an LGA 1151, but how do i know which revision it is?

 

2) what’s the best generation/speed/amount of RAM i can upgrade to?

 

3) is there a way i can adjust fan speeds for the CPU and/or GPU? i couldn’t find such settings when i was digging around the BIOS, and i wanna make sure i don’t run into overheating issues considering the SFF.

 

4) i’m planning on adding an Intel AX200 wi-fi card…will that work?

5) is it really necessary to have a separate boot drive from your secondary drive?

 

6) if i did get a secondary drive, should i get a high capacity NVMe SSD or save money by going with a 2.5” SATA SSD?

 

7) is there any additional cooling i can add? better CPU fan? opening up all the PCIe slots to allow more air in?

 

8) is it a bad idea to buy a used GPU? i know these A2000s are used a lot for mining…would an old mining card be bad for gaming?

 

9) is a Computer Upgrade King GPU fine, or should i try to get a PNY if possible?

 

10) i’m planning on taking apart my CPU and applying some Corsair XTM50 thermal paste i got from BestBuy. should i do the same w the GPU when i get it? i’ve also heard that Nvidia cheaped out on the thermal pads. should i change those on the GPU as well??

 

11) is there any useful software i should use/install to check on my computer’s performance? all i know about is Task Manager and MSI Afterburner

sorry i know that’s a lot of questions, but i’d appreciate y’all helping ya girl out!! <3

 

[filpo]

4 minutes ago, censoredialogue said:

Budget (including currency): ~$300 for GPU

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Asseto Corsa, Asseto Corsa Competitione, Dirt Rally 2, Forza Horizon 5, BeamNG, Automation, Halo, maybe some other stuff

Details: 

copying from reddit because i watch a lot of LTT—

i just bought an Elitedesk 800 G4 used. it’s running an i7-8700 and 16 GB of stock RAM from HP. it also has a stock 512 GB NVMe SSD (might be SATA in an NVM form factor tho? idk). i’m planning on putting an RTX A2000 in there.

basically i’m copying this build: https://youtu.be/3HDpR7FZgAw, but my i7 is one generation newer + PSU is bigger. since my GPU runs solely from my PCIe slot, power draw should not be an issue as my PSU is 250 W.

this is my first gaming PC, and i haven’t owned a windows PC since 2015 because i switched to Macbooks for personal/creative usage. i have many questions lol:

 

1) i know the mobo is an LGA 1151, but how do i know which revision it is?

 

2) what’s the best generation/speed/amount of RAM i can upgrade to?

 

3) is there a way i can adjust fan speeds for the CPU and/or GPU? i couldn’t find such settings when i was digging around the BIOS, and i wanna make sure i don’t run into overheating issues considering the SFF.

 

4) i’m planning on adding an Intel AX200 wi-fi card…will that work?

5) is it really necessary to have a separate boot drive from your secondary drive?

 

6) if i did get a secondary drive, should i get a high capacity NVMe SSD or save money by going with a 2.5” SATA SSD?

 

7) is there any additional cooling i can add? better CPU fan? opening up all the PCIe slots to allow more air in?

 

8) is it a bad idea to buy a used GPU? i know these A2000s are used a lot for mining…would an old mining card be bad for gaming?

 

9) is a Computer Upgrade King GPU fine, or should i try to get a PNY if possible?

 

10) i’m planning on taking apart my CPU and applying some Corsair XTM50 thermal paste i got from BestBuy. should i do the same w the GPU when i get it? i’ve also heard that Nvidia cheaped out on the thermal pads. should i change those on the GPU as well??

 

11) is there any useful software i should use/install to check on my computer’s performance? all i know about is Task Manager and MSI Afterburner

sorry i know that’s a lot of questions, but i’d appreciate y’all helping ya girl out!!

 

1. tell us what mobo it is exactly and then we can tell you
2. you can go up to about 2666 mhz ram on ddr4 but your probably already on that speed
3. For either there might not be a way to change it without a sketchy workaround (but i dont know if it can)
4. If your mobo supports a wifi card and you have the antennas then yes but your better off installing a wifi card like this one in a pcie slot with bluetooth and wifi: TP-Link AX3000 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.2 PCIe Adapter with Two Antennas, specialized heatsink, 1024-QAM, Ultra-Low Latency, Intel® Wi-Fi 6 Chipset, Supports Windows 10/11(64bit) (Archer TX55E) : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
5. no not neccesarily if you want to boot off your primary drive
6. Since you already have an nvme ssd (even if it is sata) go with a high capacity high speed sata ssd like a 1tb mx500 or one with less capacity if you dont need the 1tb model: Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD, up to 560MB/s - CT1000MX500SSD1 (amazon.com)
7. You can change the cpu fan if you really want to and it uses standard fan clips in a 92mm or 120mm fan layout. Also adding more fans at the front (if the mobo has the fan headers) would add more cooling. Opening the pcie slots will really just allow more dust to enter than air
8. An old mining card may have more dust than usual but it would probably be fine with a good clean around the outside. The a2000 isn't actually too bad at gaming. And its very low power so should get you going
9. Try and get a name brand if possible. I've never heard of computer king before
10. there would be no need as it would void your warranty and you risk breaking the card. You can do so with the cpu tho but get a 4g tube of arctic mx-4 tho. Its much easier to spread
11. HWinfo64 is really amazing for monitoring your hardware and if you want to do some stress tests check out furmark for your gpu and cinebench (any version from r15 to r23) for your cpu

hope this was all helpful and just advice

[censoredialogue]

34 minutes ago, filpo said:

1. tell us what mobo it is exactly and then we can tell you
2. you can go up to about 2666 mhz ram on ddr4 but your probably already on that speed
3. For either there might not be a way to change it without a sketchy workaround (but i dont know if it can)
4. If your mobo supports a wifi card and you have the antennas then yes but your better off installing a wifi card like this one in a pcie slot with bluetooth and wifi: TP-Link AX3000 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.2 PCIe Adapter with Two Antennas, specialized heatsink, 1024-QAM, Ultra-Low Latency, Intel® Wi-Fi 6 Chipset, Supports Windows 10/11(64bit) (Archer TX55E) : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
5. no not neccesarily if you want to boot off your primary drive
6. Since you already have an nvme ssd (even if it is sata) go with a high capacity high speed sata ssd like a 1tb mx500 or one with less capacity if you dont need the 1tb model: Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD, up to 560MB/s - CT1000MX500SSD1 (amazon.com)
7. You can change the cpu fan if you really want to and it uses standard fan clips in a 92mm or 120mm fan layout. Also adding more fans at the front (if the mobo has the fan headers) would add more cooling. Opening the pcie slots will really just allow more dust to enter than air
8. An old mining card may have more dust than usual but it would probably be fine with a good clean around the outside. The a2000 isn't actually too bad at gaming. And its very low power so should get you going
9. Try and get a name brand if possible. I've never heard of computer king before
10. there would be no need as it would void your warranty and you risk breaking the card. You can do so with the cpu tho but get a 4g tube of arctic mx-4 tho. Its much easier to spread
11. HWinfo64 is really amazing for monitoring your hardware and if you want to do some stress tests check out furmark for your gpu and cinebench (any version from r15 to r23) for your cpu

hope this was all helpful and just advice

okay so apparently the board is a Q370 PCH-H V-Pro.

 

i can’t find the max RAM speed supported. it’s also 2 channel DIMM  with 4 slots. should i run 4x8 GB or 2x16 GB for 32 GB of RAM? 

 

it doesn’t support overclocking which is fine since my CPU isn’t a K series and the GPU is limited to the PCIe power output. i have no idea if the BIOS supports adjusting fan speeds though?

 

i don’t have any antennae in my case for the wi-fi slot, so i would have to wire that stuff up myself. i’ll def look into the card you sent because the install looks way more straightforward.

[filpo]

2 minutes ago, censoredialogue said:

okay so apparently the board is a Q370 PCH-H V-Pro.

 

i can’t find the max RAM speed supported. it’s also 2 channel DIMM  with 4 slots. should i run 4x8 GB or 2x16 GB for 32 GB of RAM? 

 

it doesn’t support overclocking which is fine since my CPU isn’t a K series and the GPU is limited to the PCIe power output. i have no idea if the BIOS supports adjusting fan speeds though?

 

i don’t have any antennae in my case for the wi-fi slot, so i would have to wire that stuff up myself. i’ll def look into the card you sent because the install looks way more straightforward.

8th gen Intel can only support ram speeds up to 2666mhz

if its a hp prebuilt it might not be able to but look in the bios settings to check if it does. 
the card should be better but be aware you need an extra pcie slot not obstructed by the gpu (probably won’t since it’s such a thin and small gpu)

[censoredialogue]

5 minutes ago, filpo said:

8th gen Intel can only support ram speeds up to 2666mhz

if its a hp prebuilt it might not be able to but look in the bios settings to check if it does. 
the card should be better but be aware you need an extra pcie slot not obstructed by the gpu (probably won’t since it’s such a thin and small gpu)

ahhh okay i see, thank you.

 

i tried to look in the BIOS n didn’t see anything, but i’ll do more research.

 

and i have a PCIe 16x4, 2 PCIe 1s, and a long PCIe 4 in that order. i think i should have space but worst case scenario i’ll return the wi-fi card and install an M.2 wi-fi card.

 

 thank you so much!!!

[filpo]

1 minute ago, censoredialogue said:

ahhh okay i see, thank you.

 

i tried to look in the BIOS n didn’t see anything, but i’ll do more research.

 

and i have a PCIe 16x4, 2 PCIe 1s, and a long PCIe 4 in that order. i think i should have space but worst case scenario i’ll return the wi-fi card and install an M.2 wi-fi card.

 

 thank you so much!!!

Absolutely no problem