Video card upgrade, HP M8525F - HELP!

[Mikenor 13]

Hi - I own an HP M8525F and just purchased a 550 watt power supply as well as Geforce 9800GTX+OC. I looked to upgrade to this combo to increase my frames - needed a better vid card than the GeForce 9300GE that came with the computer. specs: quad cpu Q6700 @ 2.66GHZ, 4GB RAM, GeForce 9300GE After spending an hour hooking up the power supply (and much *@#$%^&), I finally reached the fun part which was to install and try the video card. I unfortunately found out that the card is too long (9"+) and wont clear a couple of connectors located at the back of the tower. Has anyone encountered this with HP computers? Not sure what my option is now... Would there be a smaller foot print Nvidia vid card that would perform as well as the 9800GTX? Any help here is appreciated - thanks in advance! Mike

[Guest UlfB]

Hi - I own an HP M8525F and just purchased a 550 watt power supply as well as Geforce 9800GTX+OC. I looked to upgrade to this combo to increase my frames - needed a better vid card than the GeForce 9300GE that came with the computer. specs: quad cpu Q6700 @ 2.66GHZ, 4GB RAM, GeForce 9300GE After spending an hour hooking up the power supply (and much *@#$%^&), I finally reached the fun part which was to install and try the video card. I unfortunately found out that the card is too long (9"+) and wont clear a couple of connectors located at the back of the tower. Has anyone encountered this with HP computers? Not sure what my option is now... Would there be a smaller foot print Nvidia vid card that would perform as well as the 9800GTX? Any help here is appreciated - thanks in advance! Mike

Mike,Sorry, but I can't give you any advice on your specific problem. But I'm familiar with them. Many years ago (I'm an old man by now) I purchased prebuilt computers and sometimes got problems such as yours. At one time I purchased a longer video card. It did fit in the case, but some connectors on the motherboard obstructed the card. Nowadays I allways build my own computers. I spend a long time investigating chassis, motherboards, psu's etcetera, just to make sure that things will fit. I read reviews and examine motherboard and chassis layouts carefully. But you get what you pay for. Quality comes with a price. It's not that difficult to build a computer. The most important thing is not to rush things.

[bobbyjack 61]

That's a Slimline case. It fits in small places. I think the answer is buy a new case. I have an Antec 300 that cost less than $50, and is great.Bob

[Mikenor 13]

Thanks guys. A larger case wont help as the connectors are located on the motherboard. I researched a bit further and will end up picking up an ATI Radeon HD4850 which is slimmer and slightly shorter. Specs are similar. Hopefully that will solve my problems.Thanks again for the responses.Mike

[bobbyjack 61]

MikeJust for my own info, what connectors are blocked? IDE, SATA?Bob