How to increase RAM for ATI Radeon HD 4200?

Gata unfortunately HP in their infinite wisdom (or stupidity depending on how you want to look at it) and how they like to lock down bioses and block features regardless of how useful they may be, have blocked out that particular setting. Straight from the page for the motherboard in your computer,

Motherboard Specifications, H-RS880-uATX (Aloe) HP Pavilion p6230f Desktop PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

*Integrated video is not available if a graphics card is installed.
Up to 256MB dedicated memory

If it wasn't blocked away it depending on which bios was used on the board, (AMI, Phoenix, etc) the options would look something like this,



That is from the manual for my 780G board, but with the same features as what should be on yours. Not only did they block off any options for increasing the memory, I would bet they also blocked off the Surround View option (when used with an ATI card, you can use up to 4 monitors).

Been quite a few good recommendations for a low power card that should be OK with that 300 W PSU, and here is another one,

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100294L Radeon HD 5550 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

edit: Just went here,

eXtreme Outer Vision - eXtreme tools for computer enthusiasts

and using the specs for his computer it should be OK upt to the 5670 (ther calculator recommends minimum of 224W).

PooMan, the board may have been made by Foxconn, but half the options available on the real Foxconn board are locked or blocked away by HP.

ccatlett1984 said:

stormy13 said:

I would bet they also blocked off the Surround View option (when used with an ATI card, you can use up to 4 monitors).

Surround view is hybrid crossfire. Its controlled in the ATI control panel, not the bios.

Up until the 5000 series cards, the max you could support from one card was 2 monitors, so you would have two running from the onboard graphics and two on the add-in card.

You're confusing Surround View with Eyefinity which is HD 5xxx series only. Surround View is available on any just about any board, with as far as I know at least the HD 3200 onboard video and when paired with an ATI card you can run up to 4 monitors with 2 connected to the card and 2 to the onboard (and yes I have used it on mine). The setting is also in the bios, not CCC.

Uhhh.. to get back on point...

PooMan UK said:

sygnus21 said:

However you need to know if you need PCIE or AGP??? One can't fit in the other so...??? This is where system specs helps....mainly motherboard.

Thanks

He did give his specs ...

Foxconn A85GM

But I agree the cards you have recommended will help the OP considerably ... but the 300W PSU is a bit of a concern

OK....So is it AGP or PCI??? I'm not familiar with the board or Foxconn. Sorry.

PCI-E,

Motherboard Specifications, H-RS880-uATX (Aloe) HP Pavilion p6230f Desktop PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

ccatlett1984 said:

Yes a 5550 or the 5670 that I linked to will work. Sorry for getting off-topic.

Or anyone of these depending on budget

sygnus21 said:

There are two cards that come to mind...

Amazon.com: EVGA 01G-P3-N945-LR GeForce 9400 GT 1GB DDR2 PCI-E 2.0 Graphics Card: Electronics

Amazon.com: MSI ATI Radeon HD4670 1 GB DDR3 VGA/DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card R4670-MD1G: Electronics