HP Pavillion A1040N Compatible or not?

[rspassey]

Hey,

I was justing wondering (for a friend) if the PSUs and Motherboards of the HP Pavillion A1040N are proprietory or not? He would like to get a new motherboard to support a new PCI-Express Video Card. I can't seem to determine this from their website, and I can't make it to his house to check the wiring of the PSU.

Also, do you think he will also need a new (more powerful) PSU to supply enough wattage for a higher end card.

PS- He is using onboard graphics now.


Thanks,
Ryan

[nickweb31]

Do you no the wattage of his current psu and can we have the full specs of his pc

[thefultonhow]

All the HPs I've seen use standard ATX connectors, but the PSUs do not have a whole lot of wattage headroom, so you'd probably have to replace that too. I'm not sure if the case would accept standard ATX or MicroATX PSUs.

[glc]

Okay - that uses a proprietary Asus 915GV chipset micro ATX motherboard. It's a 24 pin, so the power supply CAN handle another micro ATX LGA 775 board, but I can't find the wattage of the stock unit or whether it's standard ATX, micro ATX, or SFX form factor. I suppose you could put another micro ATX board in there, but I don't know if the I/O shield will line up with the new board properly or whether it's removable. Front panel connections are also questionable, and also I doubt the factory XP load will work with a different motherboard. Transferring all components into a different case is an option, but then you have issues with the styled bezels on the HP external drives (opticals, floppy, etc.). Whatever you do here, you can certainly kiss any warranty bye-bye.

[rspassey]

Thanks guys. I will try to get over to his place to check out myself, as he can to me during school thinking that I might be able to help him, but I had never worked with anything HP besides notebooks... I guess this weekend I might be able to go and check it out. I am going to recomend him to replace the motherboard to be able to support a PCI-E card. He wants to play games like BF2, and I know he will want some games in the future to play, so I was going to suggest him to get a 6800 or 6600GT, and I will look deeper into the wattage of the PSU.

The simplest solution would be for him to get a new PC, however he spent quite a bit of money of 4 of these HP computers around 6 months ago (don't ask me why, as I have no clue).

[jayb1234]

Here is a page that will lead you to the motherboard info at HP if you have the HP motherboard model name.

[glc]

Already checked out his mobo, jay. 915GV with no PCI-E or AGP slot. 24 pin.

[rspassey]

I am going to run it [what this all will probably involve] by my friend. Not only is he looking at a new OS, MOBO, Possible PSU, and PCI-E Video Card, he is also looking at skyrocketed Argentine prices.

[rspassey]

Not to worry now, he is going to simply purchase a new PC for gaming. Thanks for the help, though.

[glc]

That's the smart thing to do. You consult with him on parts and help him build it so it's done right.

[rspassey]

Yeah.... I will talk with him, probably lay out a build for 2k US and then after review the parts I will probably post up a list here (or he can) for extra verification or suggestions.