Recommended Video Card for HP ENVY H9-1300t

[wpb520]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 7-10 days.

BUDGET RANGE: I am pretty flexible on the budget. I want the video card to be a good fit for the computer that will last atleast two or three years.

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: I want video power for modern games such as Battlefield: 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Portal: 2, etc.

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: ATI Radeon HD 7670 and 600W power supply with 250W dedicated video output.

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Full specifications provided below.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: I am partial to newegg.com, amazon.com, and tigerdirect.com as I have dealt with these websites before. However, I am open to using a different vendor if there would be an advantage to so doing.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States.

PARTS PREFERENCES: None

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Original post:

Hello,

I ordered my son an HP ENVY H9-1300t with the following specifications for Christmas:

• Windows 8 (64-bit)
• 3rd Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K quad-core processor [3.4GHz, 6MB Shared Cache]
• 600W Power Supply
• 8GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [2 DIMMs]
• 2TB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive
• 1GB AMD Radeon HD 7670 [DVI, DP, HDMI, VGA adapter]
• Liquid Cooling Solution
• SuperMulti DVD Burner
• Premium Wireless-N LAN card and Bluetooth(R )(2x2)
• 15-in-1 memory card reader, 4 x USB 2.0 (front), 2 x USB 3.0 (top)
• Beats Audio (tm) -- integrated studio quality sound

I am concerned that I should order him a better graphics card for his video games. Is the HD 7670 an appropriately powered video card or are there better options more in line with the overall power of the system? If it is not a good fit for the system, what series or models would you suggest?

I would welcome any miscellaneous input concerning the computer as well.

Thank you.

 

[blacknemesist]

On that system the GPU is very bad.Typical of pre-builds.They even included some CPU WC that wouldn't be needed because you probably wont OC the CPU.
The power supply states 600w but what brand is it?how many amps on the +12v rails?

If you can cancel the order,that system is not balanced.

 

[wpb520]

Thank you for the reply. The liquid cooling was standard with the model. However, the "K" model CPU was recommended to overclock the processor for video gaming.

I cannot provide the brand of the power supply or the amps on +12v rail. However, I was told by HP that the power supply has 250W dedicated for video output.

Aside from the video card which you said was weak, is there something else that is out of order for the system? I don't understand why the whole order should be cancelled, rather than the video card upgraded.

 

[wpb520]

I updated my original post to include the provided forum section infomation template.

I also contacted HP technical support concerning the power supply. They had not information on the brand of the power supply or the amps on the +12v rail

 

[Au_equus]

What quality do you want to play the games? For BF3 (the most demanding game on your list) requires at least a 7850 for high graphics settings. In any case, if you are planning to do an upgrade to a more powerful GPU, then upgrade the PSU. OEM PSU's are generally bad as they do not supply enough stable and sustainable power on the 12V rails and could end up frying your system.
A hp envy phoenix h9 1300t with a 3570K is $940 usd (no monitor).
here is a build around the same price with a HD7870 and you can crossfire with another 7870 (or just put in a HD7970) if your budget permits, while your prebuilt only allows one GPU (a mATX Z75 motherboard).

 

[wpb520]

What quality do you want to play the games? For BF3 (the most demanding game on your list) requires at least a 7850 for high graphics settings. In any case, if you are planning to do an upgrade to a more powerful GPU, then upgrade the PSU. OEM PSU's are generally bad as they do not supply enough stable and sustainable power on the 12V rails and could end up frying your system.
A hp envy phoenix h9 1300t with a 3570K is $940 usd (no monitor).
here is a build around the same price with a HD7870 and you can crossfire with another 7870 (or just put in a HD7970) if your budget permits, while your prebuilt only allows one GPU (a mATX Z75 motherboard).

Thank you for the reply. Since I want this card to last for a while, I will say very high settings for current games so that upcoming games with still play with good / high settings in the future.

The computer's list price was $1,000 due to miscellaneous upgrades but it actually cost $750 because I had a 25% off coupon code. I wouldn't feel confortable building the computer from scratch, but I thank you for the suggestion.

With regard to the power supply, this is a gaming computer model with an upgraded power supply. Would HP not take into account the additional power demands of high end components when selecting the power supply? Should an upgrade be required, is that easily done or would I need a local computer store to handle the upgrade?

Thank you.

 

[Au_equus]

I was in your position once, skeptical of my ability to understand these machines. Then, with the help of this website and others, I took the plunge in to PC building early last year and since then I have built mine (three times over), my father's, father-in-law's and modded several laptops. PC building really teaches you how to troubleshoot your own PC problems rather than taking it to a shop.

The 7670 is not powered by the 12V rail of the power supply, but rather through the PCIe slot. In other words, there's no purpose of the 12V rails other than to power your liquid cooling system (which was just a selling point, as 95% of the time its not necessary as a $30 air cooler will suffice). Otherwise your system could easily run on a quality 300W PSU. My guess is HP's 300W PSUs can't handle more than %80 (or 240W) of load, so they egg the consumer on to getting a "beefier" (at least on their terms) PSU.

I tried, as you did, to find the specs of the PC in your pre-built system and failed. Even if your PSU worked, IMO I would put in a PSU of known quality (at least with a 80+ bronze rating, such as this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028) for insurance. As for the graphics card, I would get this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008
On top of the card, you get 20% off of Medal of Honor: Warfighter (same genre as BF3) and three free games (though, depending on the age of your son, you might want to check these games out yourself: Far Cry 3, Hitman: Absolution, Sleeping Dogs).