Need some help with my new PC...

[Victor99]

Hey yall. I just got a brand new desktop. It's an HP Pavilion m7580n. It's a pretty solid entertainment PC with a lot of cool features. I also got it for a really sweet price with an 19" LCD Monitor, Printer, and 3 year service plan included. Anyway, I'm trying to find out how good it's gaming capabilities are. Especially for system demanding games like F.E.A.R. Here are it's specs.

Windows XP 2005
AMD 64 Athlon 4600 Dual Core Processor 2.4 GHz
2 GB RAM
280 GB Hard Drive
nVidia GeForce 7300 Graphics Card w/ 256 MB Shared Memory

From the research I've done online it seems like it has enough horspower with the exception being the graphics card. The problem is it won't take the latest cutting edge graphics card because the power supply is too small. So ultimately, I've got 2 qustions for yall.

1-Where can I find a good mid range graphics card that is better then the factory installed one?

2-How do I check the power supply on my PC to see if it will take the new graphics card?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[RubenDouglas]

Re: Need some help with my new PC...

i think you can open up the tower and look at the PS specs.

thats only about 80 bucks to increase power.

[Victor99]

Re: Need some help with my new PC...

Thanks. Can you recommend a graphics card? nVidia? ATI Radeon?

[Defel]

Re: Need some help with my new PC...

What kind of vacant slots do you have in your PC? AGP, PCI, PCI-Express?

[Victor99]

Re: Need some help with my new PC...

What kind of vacant slots do you have in your PC? AGP, PCI, PCI-Express?

Not sure. I wanna say PCI-Express. How can I check?

[Victor99]

Re: Need some help with my new PC...

Ok, looked it up online. The graphics interface is PCI-Expressx16. Whatever that means.

[Victor99]

Re: Need some help with my new PC...

Again, does anyone know how to find the watts of the power supply on a PC? Some of the graphics cards I've looked at online need anywhere between 300 to 450 watts of power. Any help would be appreciated.

[Victor99]

Re: Need some help with my new PC...

Here are the full specs of my desktop.

Brand HP
Series Pavilion
Model M7580N(EX332AA#ABA)
Recommended Usage Media Center
Colors Silver
Processor AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+(2.4GHz)
Processor Main Features 64 bit Dual Core Processor
Cache Per Processor 2MB L2 Cache
Memory 2GB DDR2
Hard Drive 320GB SATA 7200 rpm
Optical Drive 1 DVD SuperMulti Drive with LightScribe Technology
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 7300LE graphics card with TurboCache supporting up to 256MB shared video memory, and TV-out capability
Audio High Definition Audio
Ethernet 10/100BaseT network interface
Keyboard HP wireless keyboard
Mouse HP optical mouse
Operating System Windows XP Media Center
Software Included Photo and Video
- HP Photosmart Premier: Organize, edit, share and protect photos; enjoy photos with the remote control
- Sonic DigitalMedia Plus – featuring LightScribe Technology: Edit, burn and archive data to DVDs and CDs
- muvee autoProducer: Automatically create professional looking home videos and burn to DVD

Entertainment
- Sonic MyDVD Plus: Make movies and slideshows and burn to DVD or CD
- InterVideo WinDVD 5 player: Play DVD movies
- RealPlayer: Find, play and organize digital programming - sports, entertainment, news and more

Productivity
- Microsoft Works 8: Includes a word processor, spreadsheet, database and calendar
- Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003: 60-day trial version
- MSN Encarta Standard Online: Access a complete online encydopedia, maps center,dictionary and thesourus(1 year trial subscription included)
- Adobe Reader 7.0: Read and print PDF files

PC Security
- Norton Internet Security 2006: Protect your PC out of the box(60 days of complimentary live updates)

Finance
- Quicken New User Edition 2006: Track your home finances and investments(English only)
- Microsoft Money 2006: Manage your personal finances and investments(English only)
Special Features Watch and record live TV
Protection right out of the box
Award-winning support
Warranty
Manufacturer Warranty 24 x 7 toll-free phone support and 1-year HP limited warranty
Motherboard
Chipset NVIDIA nForce6150
CPU
CPU Type Athlon 64 X2
Installed Qty 1
CPU Speed 4400+
L2 Cache Per CPU 2 x 1MB
CPU Socket Type Socket 939
CPU Main Features 64 bit Dual Core Processor
Graphics
GPU/VPU Type NVIDIA GeForce 7300LE
Graphics Interface PCI Express x16
Memory
Memory Capacity 2GB DDR2
Memory Speed DDR2 533
Form Factor DIMM 240-pin
Memory Spec 1GB x 2
Memory Slots (Available/Total) 2/4
Maximum Memory Supported 4GB
Hard Drive
HD Capacity 320GB
HD Interface SATA
HD RPM 7200rpm
Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type SuperDrive
Optical Drive Spec 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R DL, 4x DVD-R DL, 5x DVD-RAM, 16x DVD-ROM, 40x CDR, 32x CDRW, 40x CD-ROM
Supplemental Drive
Media Slots TV tuner (NTSC) with personal video recorder and FM tuner (antenna included)
Audio
Audio Chipset Integrated
Audio Channels 8 channels
Audio Features High Definition Audio
Communications
Modem 56k
LAN Chipset Integrated
LAN Speed 10/100Mbps
Front Panel Ports
Front USB 2
Front IEEE 1394 1
Front Audio Ports Microphone/Audio Inputs/line-out
Card Reader Front panel 9-in-1 memory card reader – supports Smart Media, xD, MultiMedia Card, Secure Digital (SD), Compact Flash I, Compact Flash II, Micro Drive, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro
Back Panel Ports
PS/2 2
VGA 1
TV Out Composite Video, S-Video
Rear USB 4
Rear IEEE 1394 1
Rear Audio Ports Digital Audio(out only)
Expansion
External Bays 5.25": Two
1 HP Personal Media Drive Bay
Internal Bays 3.5": One
PCI Slots (Available/Total) 1 PCI Express x16 Slot (available)
3 PCI slots (one available)
Mouse
Mouse Type HP optical mouse
Keyboard
Keyboard Type HP wireless keyboard
Physical Spec
Dimensions 15.16" x 7.60" x 16.54"
Weight 27 lbs.

[Victor99]

Re: Need some help with my new PC...

Found it. It has a 300 watt power supply.

[Stormlor]

Re: Need some help with my new PC...

The VC isn't that bad. I would keep that for a while, most games will run fine with what you got for atleast a year or so. Right now prices for Video Cards are at their all time high. Some even cost close to $2000. I would just wait to see what's new and then go for it.

As for company, I'm biased towards nVidia.

[Victor99]

Re: Need some help with my new PC...

The VC isn't that bad. I would keep that for a while, most games will run fine with what you got for atleast a year or so. Right now prices for Video Cards are at their all time high. Some even cost close to $2000. I would just wait to see what's new and then go for it.

As for company, I'm biased towards nVidia.

Gotcha. Thanks for the info man.

[RubenDouglas]

Re: Need some help with my new PC...

i have an older version hp desktop from 2003, bought for about that same price. my system feels so inferior compared to that.

anyways, check this out:

Memory Spec 1GB x 2
Memory Slots (Available/Total) 2/4
Maximum Memory Supported 4GB

I would honestly, maybe around Xmas or thanksgiving special time, look for added memory. Might as well bump that up even more.

Use this site, with IE http://www.crucial.com/index.asp

Run Crucial System Scanner. Gives you advice of what you have and whats to offer.

One thing ive learned the hard way is that you should stick with your stock Memory Speed:
Memory Capacity 2GB DDR2
Memory Speed DDR2 533

The DDR2 553 number.

I recently, well last holiday season, upgraded from two 512 chips at DDR PC2700, to just one 1024 chip at DDR PC3200. My system downconverts the 3200 to its maximum 2700 and im getting zero extra speed. my tv tuner also freezes my system and gives me the blue screen of deah once in awhile.

hope that makes sense.

[Victor99]

Re: Need some help with my new PC...

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. Like I said, overall I'm very happy with the total package. The price was just too good to pass up.

[Altimus]

Re: Need some help with my new PC...

Check out sites like newegg.com or tigerdirect.com. They usually have good deals on PSUs and video cards. With Tiger having tons of rebates.

You can probably get a good SLI card and fan for $200-$250.

As far as ATI or Nvidia, I lean toward Nvidia as well.