Compaq Upgrade Help/Suggestions

dudeskee1325 · May 12, 2016

So I came across this Compaq CQ4010F slim line pc being given away by my elderly neighbors. I'm working to spruce it up; more RAM, better power supply, SSD, bluray drive, processor (later) and whatnot but I need some suggestions for upgrades for video cards and power supplies. It's slim so I have to look for low profile stuff and I need some suggestions. Checking out newegg,I found a few video cards but need to look for adequate power supplies. Currently it rocks a 200W one but I want at least 350 if that even exists haha. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

I also have limited PC building experience so spare the jargon, the most I've ever done on my own is replace some hard drives and helped a friend build a PC once he got all the components together.

Naeaes · May 12, 2016

Those components (powersupply, case, maybe motherboard) are proprietary and they're not of the common ATX form factor. ATX or variations of it, such as m-ATX are very common in aftermarket parts but please keep in mind that they're not compatible.

If you can verify that the motherboard is m-ATX compatible, you'd get better option is you swapped the case and the powersupply into ATX-compatible ones too.

This is all about the sizes and mounting hole places. Compaq (HP) only has their own spare parts in mind and they have more interest in making stuff incompatible than compatible with other manufacturers.

With that said, it does look to follow some common guidelines. The power supply could be TFX standard. Compaq wouldn't be the only one using it. And the case looks to be standard half height SFF. Again, other manufacturers do have parts for that.

Regarding the CPU, I'd advice against upgrading it. The motherboard is only going to be compatible with CPUs that Compaq used back in the day. You can't get just any CPU that fits the socket. It has to support the motherboard and RAM too.

dudeskee1325 · May 12, 2016

Thanks, the case upgrade is a suggestion that I didn't even think about! I measured and the dimensions for the power supply are 7"x3"x3" (approximately) and some searching revealed similarly sized ones (mini itx) out on the market but I agree, the mounting points matter the most. For the CPU I was just going to look for the best one that was compatible with this particular motherboard at the time it was relevant.