@Brickwizard :-
You have to remember, Brian; HP - from what I've seen of them! - seem to decide what combo of components they'll use in a given machine, then figure out a power-supply envelope to
just cover that demand.....with a tiny bit to spare. My quite extensive research these last few days shows that their machines over the last decade are running at 80-85% PSU usage, minimum, in standard trim.....ALL THE TIME. Their PSUs are only JUST enough to do the job.
Being almost on the limit in standard trim is NOT a good place to be. And many others are of the same opinion; the more power-supply 'headroom' you have, the better. For a fixed, non-upgradeable component, that's fine.....but for a system - like a PC - where upgrading is a normal activity, it seems rather short-sighted to me.
Of course, I think HP would prefer you NOT to do your own upgrades. They'd rather sell you a ready-upgraded machine..... A couple of threads on Tom's Hardware pretty much stated that HP machines were never designed to be upgraded, and were only ever intended to be used as they came, OOTB.
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My guess is that that list of medium-wattage CPUs takes into account the low-output PSUs that came as standard with all HPs of that generation. The 400W PSU I now have is not 'standard', and in fact research shows that when these machines first came on the market, around 2018, nobody made aftermarket upgrades.....HP themselves would at the time have been the sole source for slimline PSUs that would fit the chassis.
After-market upgrades for these PSUs are a recent development, this last 2 to 3 years.
It seems, too, that HP almost never use 'standard' ATX/mini-ATX boards. Invariably, their machines use custom components all the way through. There is nothing 'standard' about them at all..!
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Further research shows there's 2 variants of the
843b 'Lincs' mobo.
Extensive trawling through the HP Community forums unearthed several threads from folks who had the same revision of the 843b as me. Many of these people were making fairly common queries - RAM upgrades / storage upgrades / CPU upgrades / GPU compatibility, etc.....the usual stuff. Most of the replies revealed that the H370 supported both 8th- AND 9th-gen Core i5/i7s, and the 843b, more generally, was used in several different HP ranges. The specific CPU I've ended up with was referenced more than once, and at least one individual confirmed they had it working on that board.
By all accounts I've read, this 'upgrade' should work. If it doesn't, well.....ya live & learn. I CAN return it for a refund.
(
shrug...)
Mike.
