HP ENVY Phoenix 860 i7, 32G DDR4 Desktop

Does it burn CD/DVDs of any type or just a player of all types (CD, DVD, Blu-ray)?

It is a player only.

Didn’t know they even still made player only drives… Kinda makes these computers seem dumb since BR burners only run like $40-$50 anymore.

Can I upgrade the Graphic card to a GTX 970 without upgrading anything else on this?

Your issues are BIOS, power supply, physical space inside the computer, and output ports. The GTX 745 is not your typical NVIDIA card, it’s made for OEM installations like this one. So it only uses 55 watts and it has two HDMI outputs. It’s probably smaller and thinner than a high end gaming card like the 970.

Most likely the 600 watt power supply is big enough to support the 970. The CPU uses 130 watts. The 970 uses 145 watts and requires two 6 pin power connections from the power supply. So that’s 275 watts for the CPU and GPU. The power supply is big enough. You may have a heat problem because of the compact design of the case.

There is probably one 6 pin power cable for the GTX 745. You will have to find another 6 pin power line on the 12 volt rail of the power supply. The power supply might not be able to carry 145 watts on the 12 volt line.

You will have a lot more heat generated and you’ll have to figure out a way to get it out of the case. Also the 970 is physically much larger and it might not fit in the computer.

You can’t just uninstall the 745 drivers and install the 970 drivers. You have to get into the BIOS and make some changes there. HP doesn’t want you to mess with the BIOS and they don’t give you any information on changing settings. So you will probably have to pay HP to do that for you. And of course they will void your warranty at the same time.

Finally you need to make sure the 970 has the output ports you want for your monitor(s).

I hope there’s something helpful in there.

Can’t thank you enough Lorenzo! You helped me a lot.