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scc04
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HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:17 am

Hi everyone,

I have a HP ProDesk 400 G4 Microtower PC with a intel i5-7500 processor, 8 GB of RAM, Intel HD Graphics 630 and running OEM Windows 10 Pro - 1709, build 16299.64

Recently I decided do to a monitor upgrade and bought a 27 inch 4K monitor - LG 27UD58

However, that is when the things went south. Now it seems the computer hangs all the time, the refresh rate is set correctly to 60 Hz @ 3840x2160 , DPI 150% (recommended).

The computer hangs terribly, RAM usage is so high (varies between 80-100%) when using Chrome with multiple tabs.

So I decided to buy a dedicated graphics card, maybe this is the reason why the computer is so slow.

Before this, I was using a similar 27inch monitor but only full hd 1920x1080. Everything was smooth.

The connection between the monitor and desktop is via Display Port cable.

Latest drivers for everything are installed.

I was thinking to go for this one (cannot post links yet) Gigabyte GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti OC Low Profile 4G

Any thoughts ?
 
NTMBK
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:40 am

I would recommend a Geforce 1030. It's small, cheap, and power efficient, but it supports large displays and modern video codecs. It's not exactly a gaming powerhouse, but for office use it should work just fine.

EDIT: But be careful which particular 1030 you buy! Some models don't have Displayport. Make sure you check before you buy that it has Displayport out, like this model: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... -_-Product
 
scc04
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:55 am

Sorry but I will have to buy it from Europe, as I live here.
The price difference is roughly 100 EUR which I am more than happy to pay if my problems are solved.
 
biffzinker
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 5:40 am

Might want to check that your using the correct slot. One only offers up to 35 watts of power the other is rated for up to 75 watts.
Image

I also noticed HP used two different wattage power supplies.
Image
It would take you 2,363 continuous hours or 98 days,11 hours, and 35 minutes of gameplay to complete your Steam library.
In this time you could travel to Venus one time.
 
NTMBK
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 6:23 am

scc04 wrote:
Sorry but I will have to buy it from Europe, as I live here.
The price difference is roughly 100 EUR which I am more than happy to pay if my problems are solved.


Don't worry, it's available from EU vendors too: https://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-gef ... -boost?v=b
 
EndlessWaves
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 7:18 am

Don't buy anything. It's definitely not normal for the latest Intel graphics to use 8GB of RAM when running a 3840x2160 monitor.

You need to track down and identify the problem or you risk spending money for no benefit.

Do you still have the old screen? It's worth reconnecting it to make sure the new screen is definitely triggering the issue and it's not just a timing coincidence.

What process does task manager say is using all the memory? Chrome?

What about if you try a different browser like Edge, does that exhibit the same symptoms?
 
scc04
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 7:46 am

Old screen goes only 1920x1080, so it works just fine, just checked it out. I am sorry that I do not have another desktop unit with a dedicated graphics card to test it.

Here is a random screenshot of my task manager

Image

Firefox eats pretty much the same amount of RAM
 
arunphilip
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:18 am

scc04 wrote:
Here is a random screenshot of my task manager

24 Chrome processes equating to about 2.4 GB, sounds reasonable - 100 MB per tab/site.

Having said that, the top 5 processes consume about 3 GB RAM (of a total of 8 GB), yet total RAM usage is nearly 80%. Can you please check the 'Performance' tab in Task Manager, and click Memory on the left, to see how much memory Windows has recognized, is using, how much is hardware reserved, etc.? I'm wondering if for some reason the PC is running with only 4 GB RAM, or if a big chunk has been exclusively reserved for video duties by Intel's Graphics.
 
scc04
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:36 am

Here you go

Image

also the GPU tab

Image
 
arunphilip
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:48 am

scc04 wrote:
Here you go

Alright, that gives some useful information.
  • So, of the 8 GB RAM, 585 MB is reserved for exclusive use by hardware - a majority of this would be the GPU.
  • That means that the RAM available to Windows is 7.4 GB, of which 5.5 GB is in use, leaving 2 GB free. That is not bad in itself.
  • Likewise, the GPU tab shows that some of this 7.4 GB RAM is being used in a shared manner by Windows. Windows has set aside 3.7 GB RAM for GPU duties, but this is not exclusive, it will scale around as required.

In all, I don't see anything of major concern here.

Couple of other questions - are you running an SSD or HDD? A feeling of hanging can occur when a HDD is being hammered by lot of IO, or if its trying to retry reading a bad/failing sector.
Have you unplugged any other peripherals and left just the bare minimum (mouse + KB + display) to see if there's any difference?
By any chance, is your swap file disabled? (Disabling it is not a good idea in general, unless you know exactly what you're getting into and why you're doing it).
 
derFunkenstein
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:51 am

Well it says 7.4GB on the left, and since you're using integrated graphics that makes sense.

I dare say the memory usage looks pretty normal with what you've got there. ~3GB of application usage, 5.6GB total usage leaves around 2.4 used by Windows and the smaller-footprinted processes. With absolutely nothing open, my system shows 2GB in use. Is that the 4K monitor or the 1080p display attached?

I'd be tempted to get more RAM instead of a graphics card.
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scc04
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:08 am

@arunphilip

before this it was 128MB, I modified it to maximum from BIOS

Samsung 850 Pro SSD main, and 1 TB secondary but it's pretty much empty and barely used.

The only peripherals are the wired mouse & keyboard. Nothing else.

@derFunkenstein

It's the 4K monitor attached.

4K playback is horrible as well, whether is YouTube 4K, Vimeo 4K or offline playback from my drive.
 
just brew it!
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:24 am

scc04 wrote:
before this it was 128MB, I modified it to maximum from BIOS

What are the other choices? If there's a step between 128MB and max try that.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
derFunkenstein
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:30 am

scc04 wrote:
@derFunkenstein

It's the 4K monitor attached.

4K playback is horrible as well, whether is YouTube 4K, Vimeo 4K or offline playback from my drive.

In that case I don't really see anything wrong with the memory consumption in a system with 8GB.

If 4K playback is awful, too, then you're probably right and it's time for a GPU. I just wouldn't expect the memory consumption to drop as much as you might expect. It appears from your screenshot that the integrated graphics functionality is only taking around 500-600MB away from the system.
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
Twittering away the day at @TVsBen
 
scc04
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Wed Dec 06, 2017 12:05 pm

Alright, maybe I can find some RAM to borrow, unfortunately I cannot borrow a Low Profile graphics card.

I'll try to add some more RAM and come back with a review, before ordering the dedicated graphics card.
 
scc04
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Fri Jan 12, 2018 4:07 pm

Update: purchased a Gigabyte 1050 Ti 4GB Low Profile card, part # GV-N105TOC-4GL

Everything works wonderful now. Connected via DisplayPort cable.

Is there any software that I can use to benchmark this particular card and compare it with others ?
 
NovusBogus
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:17 am

Seems like a good choice, AFAIK the 1050Ti outperforms my 960 which itself handles just about any game at 1920x1200. You'll have no problems at all with desktop, video playback, etc. though for gaming you'll want to run reduced resolutions. Most games UIs dont look right at anything higher than 1440p anyway.

PassMark is probably the most popular consumer benchmarking suite, though not necessarily the best. Unigine is the other big one; their Heaven test in particular used to be the industry standard but it's rather long in the tooth these days.
 
ariaspabloj
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Re: HP Prodesk G4 400 video card upgrade

Fri Apr 24, 2020 2:20 pm

scc04 wrote:
Update: purchased a Gigabyte 1050 Ti 4GB Low Profile card, part # GV-N105TOC-4GL

Everything works wonderful now. Connected via DisplayPort cable.

Is there any software that I can use to benchmark this particular card and compare it with others ?



I hope you still viewing this. did you purchase the single post or double post video card?

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