---
title: "HP EliteDesk 800 G3 SFF — RTX 3050 LP Gaming Upgrade"
aliases: [elitedesk-sff-gaming, hp-800g3-sff-rtx3050, elitedesk-sff-upgrade]
tags: [homelab, hp-elitedesk, gaming, small-form-factor, rtx3050, low-profile, upgrade]
sources: [raw/I upgraded my HP Elitedesk 800 G3 Office PC..md]
created: 2026-04-30
updated: 2026-04-30
---

## Overview

Full gaming upgrade of an HP EliteDesk 800 G3 **SFF** (Small Form Factor) purchased for £50, transformed into a capable mini gaming PC for ~£330 total. The SFF chassis imposes strict constraints: a 180W PSU with no PCIe connectors and only low-profile GPU slots.

> See also: [[wiki/homelab/hp-elitedesk-800g3-teardown-upgrade|SFF Teardown & Upgrade Guide]] and [[wiki/homelab/hp-elitedesk-800g3-rtx3060-gaming-upgrade|Tower RTX 3060 Upgrade]] for the tower form factor.

---

## Specs: Before vs After

| Component | Original | Upgraded |
|-----------|----------|----------|
| CPU | Intel Core i5-7500 (4c/4t) | Intel Core i7-7700 (4c/8t) |
| RAM | 8 GB DDR4 (2×4 GB) | 16 GB DDR4 (Corsair Vengeance LPX 2×8 GB) |
| Storage | 256 GB SATA SSD | 1 TB NVMe (Crucial P3) |
| GPU | Nvidia GT 705 1 GB (LP) | Nvidia RTX 3050 6 GB LP |
| PSU | 180W 80+ Platinum (stock) | Unchanged |

---

## Upgrade Costs (UK, 2025)

| Part | Price |
|------|-------|
| HP EliteDesk 800 G3 SFF (base) | £50 |
| i7-7700 (eBay) | £40 |
| 16 GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX (Amazon) | £40 |
| 1 TB Crucial P3 NVMe (Amazon) | £40 |
| RTX 3050 6 GB LP (Amazon) | £160 |
| **Total** | **£330** |

---

## Key Constraints

### Power Supply
- **180W 80+ Platinum** — efficient but severely limits GPU choice
- No PCIe power connectors on the stock PSU
- Only GPUs with bus-powered (75W PCIe slot) low-profile cards will fit
- PSU upgrade option: HP-compatible 400W (~£80) or 500W (~£90) proprietary replacements — expensive, not worth it unless going for RTX 5060 LP
- At 500W you could fit an RTX 5060 LP, but the i7-7700 CPU would then be the bottleneck

### GPU Selection Logic
- **RX 6400** — LP, no power connector, but PCIe Gen 3 limits it
- **GTX 1050 Ti / GTX 1650** — older options
- **RTX 3050 6GB LP** — best fit: no external power required, solid perf, native DLSS/FSR support
- **RTX 4060/5060 LP** — require 8-pin; not compatible with stock PSU

### CPU Ceiling
- Platform tops out at 7th Gen Intel (Kaby Lake)
- i7-7700 is the maximum — 4c/8t, ~£40 on eBay
- RAM locked to 2400 MHz regardless of kit speed

### SFF Chassis Notes
- NVMe slot is under the drive bay — use a magnetized screwdriver
- CPU cooler has a plastic shroud that aids airflow — refit it after CPU swap
- GPU takes two PCIe slot brackets; clip the back latch before seating
- Two PCIe slots remain free (e.g., Wi-Fi card)
- No dedicated chassis fan — GPU fan + PSU fan handle cooling

---

## Benchmarks

### Heaven Benchmark (1080p High, DX9)

| Config | Score |
|--------|-------|
| GT 705 (original) | 97 |
| iGPU only (i5-7500) | 308 |
| RTX 3050 6 GB LP | **3,167** (~10× iGPU) |

### Battlefield 4 (1080p Low)

| Config | Avg FPS | 1% Low |
|--------|---------|--------|
| GT 705 | 8 | 7 |
| iGPU | 39 | 30 |
| RTX 3050 (Low) | ~200 | 155 |
| RTX 3050 (High) | ~100+ | — |

### Doom: The Dark Ages (1080p)

Settings that worked: **FSR Balance + Low preset + Frame Generation**

| Pass | Avg FPS | 1% Low |
|------|---------|--------|
| FSR Ultra Performance + Low | ~115 | 74 |
| FSR Performance + Medium | ~65 | 49 |
| FSR Balance + Low (final) | ~72 | 55 |

- CPU sat at ~69% utilisation; GPU maxed — balanced bottleneck
- Playable, though visually blurry at low preset

---

## Game Compatibility Notes

- **Plays well:** Battlefield 4, Spider-Man 2, Hogwarts Legacy (after ~15 min shader compile), Doom: The Dark Ages (with tuning)
- **Struggles:** Indiana Jones and the Great Circle — mandatory ray tracing + CPU bottleneck makes it unplayable regardless of settings
- **General pattern:** Modern games playable; CPU 1% lows suffer on CPU-heavy titles; shader compilation is slow on 7th Gen

---

## Key Takeaways

- An £50 SFF office PC can be turned into a capable gaming system for ~£330 — but the upgrade cost is 6× the base price
- The RTX 3050 6 GB LP is the **optimal GPU** for the stock 180W PSU: no external power, low profile, RTX features
- i7-7700 is the platform ceiling — worth £40 for hyperthreading, but don't pay more
- Doom: The Dark Ages runs at playable framerates with FSR Balance + Low + Frame Generation
- Mandatory ray tracing games (Indiana Jones) remain unplayable — CPU is too weak
- System is very quiet at idle; good candidate for an under-TV emulation/gaming console
- Upgrading PSU to 500W (~£90) unlocks RTX 5060 LP but CPU stays the bottleneck
- 32 GB RAM is possible but pointless for this platform/use case
- With 4 RAM slots, 2 remain free after a 2×8 GB kit install

---

## Sources

- [TechLabUK — I upgraded my HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Office PC](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h82p4FyTX3k) (published 2025-11-03)
