Awww yissss, got a total speed demon SFF card, HD6450 with 800Mhz RAM 🤣 ... yet another "throw in" on another deal. That seems to be #1 way I am getting HD6450s... where an older selection of parts is concerned, it's Rage 128s, go back to 2/3/486 stuff and it's Trident 8900s.... anyhooooo, that will be a $10 SFF system passoff to friends and fam card most likely, well maybe not, it might displace the tester, and that one goes.

Something I should have mentioned in among the 1x stuff, is that 1x interfaces supply a very minimal amount of power and the card has to ask for more, so if card won't wake up on that and say "feed me" then it will seem dead, no video, maybe POST fail if there's no onboard. So yah, if you are determined to use that card, on a 1x slot, broken out or otherwise, then you might get on better with a powered "mining header" which has ancillary power connector on it.

So I've got Sapphire R7 250 Low Profile Micro-HDMI and it's a clear winner in my book. Catalyst 13.12 has official support, without any workarounds required. GPU voltage is rated at 1.025v, so it's even more efficient than FirePro W4100 (1.050v) and relatively cool.

At 900 Core / 1250 Mem FEAR 1600x1200 4x 16x AF results are 69 min, 113 average, 237 max. It doesn't have 2 Gb of memory though, but that's hardly a problem for Windows XP games.

If small and Windows XP compatible is all you really need, the MinnowBoard MAX or Turbot, if you can still find one is about as small as you can get. They're pretty much unobtanium now.
Comes with an Intel Atom E3800-series and Intel HD Graphics. This is on par with high-end graphics from 2004 or 2005-ish. Definitely good enough for anything from before 2006.
You may even find a laptop or All-in-One with this configuration somewhere. They also make PC/104 boards, but those are quite a bit larger.
The smallest All-in-One is probably the ASUS Zenfone 2 (Intel Atom Z3580), which can be made to run Windows with either a modified BIOS/EFI or storage device drivers to allow booting from SDcard/MMC flash. Such drivers exist, but integrating them onto the system might be quite difficult.

I kinda wanna know if those Samsung Q1 Pro are any good, or if they'd only be like a PIII-1000 with a TnT2

Update on HP T730. Looks it works very unstable with cards that draw 30W+, although I tested it only on Linux, maybe it's better on Windows. Theoretically it should work with 30W cards, but probably very susceptible to transient spikes, which can go beyond that limit. Quadro K620 works without an issue, since it's a 20W card and K1200 eventually goes to black screen during heavy 3D. So be careful with any "boosting" cards, you'll probably have to mod it and disable boosting and/or undervolt.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2024-10-28, 16:25:

Update on HP T730. Looks it works very unstable with cards that draw 30W+, although I tested it only on Linux, maybe it's better on Windows. Theoretically it should work with 30W cards, but probably very susceptible to transient spikes, which can go beyond that limit. Quadro K620 works without an issue, since it's a 20W card and K1200 eventually goes to black screen during heavy 3D. So be careful with any "boosting" cards, you'll probably have to mod it and disable boosting and/or undervolt.

Could the power adapter have something to do with the 30W limit? It may not be a limit of the motherboard, but the power supply does not have enough power, it is just an idea, I do not know what consumption is the rest of the computer.

It may not be a limit of the motherboard

The power bricks for all HP T6xx/T7xx are rated at 19V, so they do not power PCIe directly.

I have two 85W adapters plus one sketchy 90W (no brand on the sticker). All three behave the same way. Like I said, it mostly likely has something to do with semi-modern cards doing small boost spikes that go over a card power limit, before they settle to it, which HP T730 motherboard very much does not like with the slot hard current limit.

I've tested Dell Radeon RX550 with 32W BIOS limit and got a black screen instantly, while trying to access FEAR benchmark. Simply adjusting power limit below 32W did not work, only hard-locking the card to low power mod or editing the card max boost clocks and voltage worked.

NightmareJoker2 wrote on 2024-09-24, 21:38:

If small and Windows XP compatible is all you really need, ...
You may even find a laptop or All-in-One with this configuration somewhere...

I've had very good luck with "Acer Aspire One" - a friggen TINY netbook that was available with either WinXP or Linux.
(I have a couple running XP) - Intel Atom CPU, Intel graphics, 1G RAM, 120-160G HD etc. I think I might have
mentioned it in more detail earlier in this thread.

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2024-10-31, 19:01:

The power bricks for all HP T6xx/T7xx are rated at 19V, so they do not power PCIe directly. […]
Show full quote

It may not be a limit of the motherboard

The power bricks for all HP T6xx/T7xx are rated at 19V, so they do not power PCIe directly.

I have two 85W adapters plus one sketchy 90W (no brand on the sticker). All three behave the same way. Like I said, it mostly likely has something to do with semi-modern cards doing small boost spikes that go over a card power limit, before they settle to it, which HP T730 motherboard very much does not like with the slot hard current limit.

I've tested Dell Radeon RX550 with 32W BIOS limit and got a black screen instantly, while trying to access FEAR benchmark. Simply adjusting power limit below 32W did not work, only hard-locking the card to low power mod or editing the card max boost clocks and voltage worked.

I had already seen that the original T730 power supply is 85W, with that connection, there are 120W power supplies, used I think mostly in AIOs and some strange HP computers, but in All In One, I have seen them several times.
But well, it would be a blind shot, precisely near the PCIE connection on the T730 board there are four mosfets and their coils that could be the PCIE power supply and would be the limit, they may get too hot when they reach their limit.
Just a thought that crosses my mind.

So anyway, after doing some game tests on HP T730 and Dell Optiplex 780 (retrofitted with Core 2 Quad Q9650) I'm pleasantly surprised to say that they have very similar performance, which is impressive considering the former is considerably smaller. HPT620 Plus struggles a lot more, with 40% of T730 performance (subjectively). Still, that's around Athlon 64 performance, so fast enough for some Windows XP gaming.

Update on HP T620 Plus paired with Quadro K620. Running on Debian 12 Bookworm (Mint LDME6):

Doom 3 benchmark (dhewm3) 640x480 Ultra settings - 67.3 fps
F.E.A.R. 640x480 High settings - Min 49 / Avg 105 / Max 195 fps

Native Windows XP so far doesn't look impressive. In F.E.A.R. I've got Min 31 / Avg 85 / Max 205. Unfortunately Windows XP is very ill suited for Bulldozer CPUs.

To continue this topic for people looking for smaller builds,
I just picked up a HP Compaq DC7900 SFF nice and compact with a monitor on top, still have to do some work on it the case is scratched up so will sand down and respray the complete shell in grey/black original color this weekend and setup OS install, updates and drivers.

My reasoning to go SFF is i have many (14) pc builds and (5) laptops for 98se/XP/Vista which i need to sort out and sell off to minimize my collection due to space constraints and focus is always distracted aside from the complete builds i have many spare parts as well.

Specs originally:
DC7900 SFF
CPU: C2D E6550
RAM: 2x1gb 667mhz + 1x2gb 533mhz ddr2
GPU: GMA 4500
Drive: DVD rom
HDD: WD 500gb 5400rpm/16mb cache
OS: Windows 10

Specs now:
DC7900 SFF
CPU: C2D E8500 (installed) will not go for a quad, the 8xxx duo perform great in XP/Vista + power consumption is lower for the aging PSU
RAM: 4x2gb 800mhz (installed)
GPU: HD 5450 placeholder, ordered lp Radeon R7 250 1gb gddr5 and picking up a Quadro K620. i have a GTX 750ti lp will do some testing when all is setup but guess the 750ti needs too much power.
Drive: Blu ray RW + Floppy 1,44 (Installed)
HDD: Seagate 1TB 7200rpm/64mb cache (Installed)
Sound: Creative Sound blaster SB0790 (to be installed need a lp bracket which is on the way)
OS: will run XP pro sp3 32bit and Vista x64 ultimate in dual boot

My major gripe with old SFFs from HP is that they aren't that small at all. 4 slots, 5.25 inch DVD drive, etc.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2025-09-05, 21:26:

My major gripe with old SFFs from HP is that they aren't that small at all. 4 slots, 5.25 inch DVD drive, etc.

Correct it's not the smallest but it was the best comprimise for me in terms of features in relation to size with most of the expansion slots, i have an elitedesk 8000 as well but you can't use it as a monitor stand the side panels are too flimsy and it misses a floppy connection.

Mafiatounes wrote on 2025-09-05, 20:30:

Updated post, fixed some mistakes + clarification why for my use this is a good setup. […]
Show full quote

Updated post, fixed some mistakes + clarification why for my use this is a good setup.

To continue this topic for people looking for smaller builds,
I just picked up a free HP Compaq DC7900 SFF nice and compact with a monitor on top, still have to do some work on it the case is scratched up so will sand down and respray the complete shell in grey/black original color this weekend and setup OS install, updates and drivers.

My reasoning to go SFF is :
- I have many (14) pc builds and (5) laptops for 98se/XP/Vista which i need to sort out and sell off to minimize my collection due to space constraints and focus is always distracted aside from the complete builds i have many spare parts as well.
- Size for an (xp) pc is always a concession a whether going full atx, laptop or small itx, this particular SFF for Xp/Vista is great due to its flexibility > support for Blu-Ray, Soundblaster, somewhat decent CPU/GPU options, Floppy drive, parts are readily available.
- Love the design i have a Elitedesk 8000 sff but don't like it's looks, misses floppy connection + outer shell is flimsy so can't support a monitor on top

Specs originally:
DC7900 SFF (Dusty + completly scratched up outer shell)
CPU: C2D E7400 (made a mistake in previous post e6550
RAM: 2x1gb 667mhz + 1x2gb 533mhz ddr2
GPU: GMA 4500
Drive: DVD rom
HDD: WD 500gb 5400rpm/16mb cache
OS: Windows 10

Specs now:
DC7900 SFF (Cleaned + Resprayed outer shell)
CPU: C2D E8500 (installed) will not go for a quad, the 8xxx duo perform great in XP/Vista + power consumption is lower for the aging PSU.
RAM: 4x2gb 800mhz (installed)
GPU: Radeon R7 250 1gb gddr5 / Quadro K620 / GTX 750ti all lp, will do some testing when all is setup but guess the 750ti needs too much power.
Drive: Blu-ray RW + Floppy 1,44 (Installed)
HDD: Seagate 1TB 7200rpm/64mb cache (Installed)
Sound: Creative Sound blaster SB0730 (to be installed need a lp bracket which is on the way)
OS: Running XP pro sp3 32bit and Vista x64 ultimate in dual boot both fully updated.

Fully in love with this build from functionality pov as well as performance.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2025-09-05, 21:26:

My major gripe with old SFFs from HP is that they aren't that small at all. 4 slots, 5.25 inch DVD drive, etc.

The Dell micro form factor ones are actually quite small, have 0 normal slots, have ngff ssd slot, single 2.5" sata drive bay, and use sodimm memory.

like this guy.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xWxVk02fga0&pp= … gcJCRsBo7VqN5tD

(I happen to have scooped one of that model from work, since it was slated for disposition, being processor generation 7. I'll check if it does CSM.)

Lack of any slots is also not optimal, stuck with anemic Intel graphics. Unless you're willing to do something like that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbRYz6cQbVU