I had bought the same platform from staples over the summer. only differnce: mine had a 5400 rrpm harddrive. I ended up swapping that out with a 7200 rpm disk because the system was so painfully slow. all in all as a general computer (not a wow machine as presented) very happy with it (now)

chirolisa wrote:So, for running a small office, this thing would kick ass, right? email, spreadsheets, billing program, at most?

Right. Unless you are doing something with demanding graphics, very little of the discussion here is applicable.

I have this computer from when it was offered the first time in August (same price). Has been flawless and fast. Not a review for gamers, as I don't do the heavy graphics stuff, but big spreadsheets are no problem.

I've looked through the VMWare community, but it's not entirely clear. Does anyone here know if this box would support ESXi?

If I burn the Windows 7 backup disks, then load up Linux over Win7, can I change my mind and reload Win7?

I don't think I'll need to go back. If I can't, I'll partition Win7 down or boot Linux from an additional disk. But as long as it comes with a Win7 license, I don't want to throw it away.

I have this system, which I got off of Woot. I play alot of Starcraft 2, which is a very graphics intensive game. It runs great on medium, but I do suggest upgrading the graphics card if you want to play on the higher visual level.

Goosenuts wrote:Not a chance. You'll need something around AT LEAST 500W.

Yeah, how the hell do they get away with a 250w from the factory anyway? I had my main PSU go out and had to use a 500w for a few weeks with a similar setup (phenom, radion HD8500, 8gb ram, unplugged all drives but 1 hard drive) and it would randomly shut off.

I'm confident that the PS is not going to last long in this thing.

According to the spec sheet, this cpu even has hardware support for virtualization. Nice.

Lost me at AMD.

ARG! I just bought this same basic computer from Best Buy for $529 on Friday! Great system for a small home server.. bumped it up to 16gb of RAM for $199 and run multiple Virtual Machines off of it...

Would definitely suggest upgrading the video card if you want to do some serious graphics.

Runs nice and quiet and quick!

After shopping PCs extensively last fall, I can tell you this is a great deal. You can always nitpick, and this won't please the hard-core gamers. But if you are looking for great all-round family computer, this will be excellent.

I thought I got a good Black Friday deal, but I paid way more for a very similar HP machine that didn't have the wireless built in. I've never had an HP refurb, but I got 7 years out of my Dell refurb as an every-day PC.

Beware. The one thing that you don't get (that turned out to be somewhat important when I purchased a similar machine off of Moofi): the actual OS source software. Kinda makes it hard to reinstall Windows 7, if needed. Learning things the hard way isn't fun.

We bought this same exact thing at Staples on February 20th, 2011 for $399.00. From my understanding it is a sale going on until the February 26th.

Also most PC's do not come with Windows CD. So back up your system ASAP! This one doesn't.

hkinney2011 wrote:Found the same version (refurb) on Amazon for ~$100 more. Link for that is Right Here!

I see what you did there.

Hi there,

I'm pretty new to this technology thing :-)

Will i lose anything by using vga hookup and not having an hdmi in/output on this unit?

Also - i tried to do a product for product comparison by building a computer through HP and got to about 750 bucks - however, there's no way to get hp to use the exact graphics card or processor. As a novice, this concerns me. Any comments?

The only options are:

MD Athlon(TM) X4 640 quad-core processor [3.0GHz, 2MB L2, up to 4000MHz bus]
-$50.00
AMD Phenom(TM) X4 840T quad-core processor [2.9GHz, 2MB L2 + 6MB L3 shared, up to 4000MHz]
Included in price
AMD Phenom(TM) X4 955 quad-core processor [3.2GHz, 2MB L2 + 6MB L3 shared, up to 4000MHz]
+$30.00
AMD Phenom(TM) X4 960T quad-core processor [3.0GHz, 2MB L2 + 6MB L3 shared, up to 4000MHz]
+$70.00
AMD Phenom(TM) X4 970 quad-core processor [3.5GHz, 2MB L2 + 6MB L3 shared, up to 4000MHz]
+$90.00
AMD Phenom(TM) II X6 1045T six-core processor [2.7GHz, 3MB L2 + 6MB L3 shared, up to 4000MHz]
+$110.00

Previous
(HP Care Pack Services)


RE VIdeo Card:
512MB DDR3 AMD Radeon HD 6450 [DVI, HDMI. VGA adapter]
Included in price
1GB DDR3 AMD Radeon HD 6450 [DVI, HDMI. VGA adapter]
+$50.00
1GB DDR3 AMD Radeon HD 6570 [DVI, HDMI. VGA adapter]
+$70.00
2GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 420 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]
+$100.00
2GB DDR3 AMD Radeon HD 6570 [DVI, HDMI. VGA adapter]
+$120.00
1.5GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 440 [DVI, HDMI, VGA, includes 350W power supply

chirolisa wrote:So, for running a small office, this thing would kick ass, right? email, spreadsheets, billing program, at most?

In a word, YES.

I built a very similar system for my wife (except 4 Gb of RAM and 32-bit Windoze) and it does pretty much everything in pretty nearly no time. She reports it's obviously faster than her office PC, which is honkin' fast. And I can tell you that the Radeon 4200 integrated graphics (that many here are concerned about) runs Aero and movies flawlessly -- better than I expected, actually.

The only reason anyone would want to upgrade this is to play games. Seriously.

Goosenuts wrote:Your average computer only uses around 75-150 watts. The upper limit (250W) is only required when the computer is under full load, which rarely happens unless you game, and this computer is light years away from being a decent gaming machine. My computer, with its full ATX motherboard, quad core CPU, and 5 hard drives, still never pushes above 150 watts. What I would be scared about is not the amount of wattage the power supply can handle before overloading, but rather how well it provides a stable current to the machine and how efficiently it uses the power flowing through it. A computer like this will have a bottom of the barrel power supply. So yeah, be careful if you plan on using this for anything that will require it to be under full load for long periods of time.

The AMD quad cores by themselves use 90-125w. The 6G of ram might take another 50w (some rams now have heatsinks on them ya know). Disk drive another 20-50w to spin up. 250w may be enough, but don't think about adding a gaming video card without a bigger PS.

RDAC wrote:Got this computer. Replace the power supply, add GeForce card, do nvidia hack...

...congrats. You now have an awesome HD video editor for under a grand after monitor(s).

As I was the person originally asking about HD editing... What's the "nvidia hack"?

btflorey wrote:Recommendation on Graphics upgrade:

If you are thinking about getting this to add a larger graphics card and PSU don't do it! Yes, it is totally possible to do (I did it) but you will be left with a graphics card that gets hot with no way to cool it. The HP stock cases suck for cooling. They only have one fan port in the back and its for an exhaust fan. You have no way to add intake fans to the system nor can you add liquid cooling. I regret not buying my own case with sufficient cooling terribly bad. I can't even overclock my 9800 GT to half of what is possible due to the lack of cooling in my system. My card reaches near 99 F when playing games.

If you're serious about cooling, there's nothing a pair of nippers and a dremel cant fix.

dougsuessegger wrote:Hi there,

I'm pretty new to this technology thing :-)

Will i lose anything by using vga hookup and not having an hdmi in/output on this unit?

As far as HDMI out goes, you can buy a DVI to HDMI converter at Monoprice (link) for less than 3 bucks. That's how I have a HDMI-only monitor connected to my HP PC.

migelito wrote:that's what she said. ;)

lol

mcghee358 wrote:

Also 6 GB of RAM in an AMD System is absolute fail, as it is forced to use 3 sticks which squarely places it in single channel. You might actually speed this system up to reduce your RAM to 4GB (2x2GB) operating in dual channel mode.

Pretty cheap to just grab another 2gb stick and fill the 4th slot.

i added a geforce gts250 vid card and a 450 watt PSU as soon as i purchased the 500GB version of this computer. runs Entropia on very high settings quite well! ;-)

Re: Slots...

* 1 PCI Express x16 slot
* 3 PCI Express x1 slots
* 1 PCI Express x1 mini card socket

Motherboard spec page at HP:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02560084&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&site=null&lang=en&product=4299992&key=null#N439

OMHO - Not a bad deal for a General Purpose desktop PC. If you are a hardcore gamer or video producer this likely isn't your machine, for anybody else - not a bad deal. Not perfect for everybody (which is why HP has different machine...) and investment to highly customize might not be cost effective - but a good GP desktop for somebody needing an upgrade/replacement desktop.

Make sure you buy a warranty.. Referb HP. Failure rate is higher than reg HP. And thats bad ha

Segerone wrote:Lost me at AMD.

AMD has been gaining much respect in the past year giving that studies from pentium processors are burning out much faster than AMD. Do some research you'll find AMDs last longer.

teimpdjim wrote:i added a geforce gts250 vid card and a 450 watt PSU as soon as i purchased the 500GB version of this computer. runs Entropia on very high settings quite well! ;-)

Good idea on the Power Supply upgrade....i own my own PC business and HP ALWAYS puts bare minimum sometimes, too small (not enough watts) power supply's in their machines!

bop13 wrote:AMD has been gaining much respect in the past year giving that studies from pentium processors are burning out much faster than AMD. Do some research you'll find AMDs last longer.

I agree....build my systems with nothing but AMD processors and chip sets!

renglish02 wrote:Can anybody find which version of PCI slots it has? It doesn't designate 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, etc, and I don't know what they consider "standard" anymore.

From the given picture and a quasi-trained eye, it appears to have 3 PCI-Express X1 slots and a single PCI-Express X16. Not sure of the PCI-E version type. The typical gaming machine nowadays would have a PCI-Express 2.0 X16 card in it, but I would be worried about fitting any of the larger GFX cards on the market in this rig due to size, overheating and power considerations.

rhmurphy wrote:As far as HDMI out goes, you can buy a DVI to HDMI converter at Monoprice (link) for less than 3 bucks. That's how I have a HDMI-only monitor connected to my HP PC.

True, you can buy a converter but you will loose some picture quality. Just buy an HD vid card and you'll be fine. You can pick up a HD card and 500watt PSU for about 150$

Just last night I pulled the trigger on an HP desktop at Staples.

$399 + tax

* AMD Athlon™ II 640 Quad-Core Processor (3.0GHz)
* 4GB installed memory
* 1TB hard drive
* SuperMulti DVD Burner with LightScribe Technology
* Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n
* High Definition Audio with up to 7.1 surround sound capabilities
* 15-in-1 memory card reader
* Includes HP USB keyboard and optical mouse
* Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
* 1 year warranty

Less RAM and a different processor but new vs. refurb. Only available in store though.

Woot Deals - HP Pavilion p6710f

dcdjason wrote:Just last night I pulled the trigger on an HP desktop at Staples.

$399 + tax

* AMD Athlon™ II 640 Quad-Core Processor (3.0GHz)
* 4GB installed memory
* 1TB hard drive
* SuperMulti DVD Burner with LightScribe Technology
* Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n
* High Definition Audio with up to 7.1 surround sound capabilities
* 15-in-1 memory card reader
* Includes HP USB keyboard and optical mouse
* Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
* 1 year warranty

Less RAM and a different processor but new vs. refurb. Only available in store though.

Woot Deals - HP Pavilion p6710f

Could someone smarter than me compare these two systems, other than the obvious RAM issue? I don't care that much about new vs. refurb - is the 3.0 processor going to be noticeably better, or do other factors make the difference not a big deal?

I'm not a fan of HP/Compaq.

I used to have the opportunity to pick up their discount machines at a low cost. I resold them from my little shop. I quit because I didn't think they gave my customers good performance for the cost, and the reliability was poor.

I was always disappointed in their specification (Oooooohhh! Quad-core processor!) versus their actual performance. HP always seems to strangle all the nice goodies they advertise with inferior chipsets (the stuff they don't advertise) which degrade performance significantly just when you really need it.

Besides, except for the few who don't need my advice anyway, most normal computer users won't manage to make that Quad-core break a sweat anyway. Processors are almost never the cause of slow computers these days (just avoid the Celeron). Spend you money on lotsa RAM, a good chipset (hard) and a good video rather than on the processor specifications.

I also don't trust them to build the required overhead into their systems to support a significant upgrade in video card. More than any other major label (I'm not counting ghost labels like Gateway and eMachines, which is just a sticker on a Acer POS these days), HP really cuts corners on quality (thanks, Ms Carly Fiorina, for ruining a great brand!).

And buying service parts for your HP will cost you mucho dinero. Often more for a replacement motherboard than you paid for the system. HP "tattoos" their motherboards with special bias code to prevent you from using anything but theirs, and theirs alone.

Buy a Dell, or a Lenovo. You won't pay a whole lot more, and you'll be happier down the road. Just know you price point before talking to Dell on the phone or they'll upsell you into the stratosphere.

Just my humble opinion, your mileage may vary, blah blah blah

phartinman1 wrote:Hello All. I don't really know that much about computer hardware. Can someone tell me if this is a good deal/computer and why?

I bought this unit retail last year and paid about $999. The unit serves me well as I use it mostly for gaming but be warned,to play the higher end games like Call of Duty 2 you will need to upgrade the graphics card which can be done for under $100. If you install a new card the unit will recognise it but you must change the graphic card setting in the bios to use the new card exclusively since the graphics card is actually part of the mother board. There are card slots on the front to download pictures and two usb ports on the front

bop13 wrote:True, you can buy a converter but you will loose some picture quality. Just buy an HD vid card and you'll be fine. You can pick up a HD card and 500watt PSU for about 150$

You won't lose quality - the signals are the same.

For example, see here:

"DVI and HDMI are exactly the same as one another, image-quality-wise. The principal differences are that HDMI carries audio as well as video, and uses a different type of connector, but both use the same encoding scheme, and that's why a DVI source can be connected to an HDMI monitor, or vice versa, with a DVI/HDMI cable, with no intervening converter box."

On the other hand, you're right that replacing the mobo video would be a great idea if you're thinking of using this as a media PC.

I am an engin. student and use AutoCad, my laptop suffers. it has a 2.4 GH and 2 Gb DDR3. You think this machine could do it for me? Thanks in advance!!!! (is it cleared from all these hp preinstalled bs? pointless software)

shadowplay1 wrote:That 250W power supply scares me...

I don't understand why so many people are so hell bent on wanting a power supply that will provide more than twice the power the computer system actually needs. A 250 Watt supply for this system is more than adequate.

If you add 2 more hard drives, upgrade the processor to a 3.6 Ghz Phenom II X4, run a CrossFire X video card and add a whole bunch of fans, then yea. You would need a more hefty power supply.

P.S. 2.4 GH Inter 2 duo.

Goosenuts wrote:Consider what you're saying for a moment: if the size of your motherboard has nothing to do with its performance, then why aren't laptops as fast as desktops? Or why are the gaming laptops always twice the size of a standard laptop? Without going into a bunch of techno-babble I'll just say that it's always a good rule of thumb that a full ATX motherboard will always perform better than a micro-ATX motherboard in which both motherboards have similar specs on paper. If you still don't believe me, I encourage you to do a little research. I've been building and fixing computers since the 90s. You can trust what I say.

What Goosenuts said.

Of course the size doesn't make the difference, but it's what the size implies--more components, more spacing (cooling), and better chipset support, filtering, busses, etc.

I've been in the biz for 10 years now. If you think a cheap mini-ATX will compete or last like a full ATX, then you and I completely disagree.

There is deep geek-speak reasons to technically explain why it is important, but I'll just say, "Trust Goosenuts on this one".

xrock wrote:In addition, the performance on my machine exceed Woot! offer. I'm running on AMD Black Edition 3.2 as a Quad. The multiple is unlock. This can be overclock. Most people can get 3.4 - 3.6 GHZ with ease.... just crank the multiple to 18. Anything above that require a better heatsink. The motherboard is 880G chipset with solid capacitor and support the newest AMD X 6 as future upgrade. It has HDMI out as well as DVI out. The PSU is 500W not the 250W.

So, upgrade Woot! offer to mine and you expect to paid an additional 40.00 for new PSU, another 65.00 for new 880G chipset, another...you get the point.

What about shipping?