I will never buy an HP product ever again. They use cheap capacitors. They blow easily. One of the the worst foreign call center "support" teams ever. Don't waste your money.

danyvatt wrote:Your wrong:
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Check it out yourself. This system will run just fine with a 5770 in it, although I wouldn't go with anything more power heavy.

Even if you were worried about a 5770, it would DEFINITELY run a 5670.

Sorry Bro, but I'm not wrong. I quoted the manufacture's requirements for the video card, your using a 3rd party website. Sapphire says you need a 500W PSU http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=643&pid=343&psn=&lid=1&leg=0#

Go lower at your own risk, and be prepared for system unstableness. BSOD can be your friend too.

Been doing this stuff for 20 yrs now (1st system I ever build was a 386 sx16), going below min manufacture recommendations for PSU's are doable, but your asking for a lot of problems.

My advice, if your going to buy this system with any idea's of upgrading the video card, then add the cost of a PSU into it.

dave816am wrote:I agree with everything you said, especially the point where replacing the 2600 with an i3-2100 and reducing the price to $500-550 would make this system much more balanced.

One thing to mention though, the 2600 is a quad-core, not an octo-core.

Apologies dave you are correct, it threads to oct.

Actually I have two HPEs with Core i7s. One at work (purchased in December with the first gen CPU) and one at home (a 510t purchased in April with the second gen 2600 CPU). Since I custom configured both they both have the same GPU (nvidia 420), same 7200 RPM HDD, and same 450 watt power supply. Didn't need blu-ray because I have an external eSATA blu-ray burner and neither has wireless (because gigabit wired is better and it's a desktop so it's not going anywhere).

I went with the nvidia card because I do a lot of video conversion and there's just more CUDA compatible software available than there is for the AMD GPUs. I'm sure that'll change before long. But for "right now" that's the way it is. As far as the 5400 RPM drive is concerned for conversion, it's a non-issue since even a slow drive can push data to memory faster than it can be transcoded.

With the factory 8 GB memory the systems were fast. Once I bumped that up to 16 GB and killed the virtual memory settings, both machines scream like scalded apes.

As far as blu-ray; both system playback fine with the bundled software (and I have a lot of blu-ray titles... mostly Asian dramas and Anime).

All-in-all, this isn't a bad price for what it offers. My December purchase was $1100 (after coupons and discounts) and my April purchase was $749.99. If you're a gamer, you'll probably want another GPU and power supply. While the 5400 RPM HDD could be a bottleneck, you can add a 7200 drive for minimal cost. But then if you're a gamer, you're probably better off looking at another unit.

If you're not a gamer and want a wickedly fast CPU and a chunk of memory, you'll have a hard time finding a better price for a machine you don't have to build yourself.

I've been in IT since '84 and have taught A+ and N+ courses. My first build was a 286 with a "whole" 1 MB (yes... megabyte, not gigabyte, that cost $100 for the memory) of RAM. I could build a system faster than this or either of the rigs I have. But I'm getting too darn old to be playing around under the hood when I can get one that's already got what I want.

PS: If ever I have more money than brains I'll buy a Mac Pro with dual six-cores and 64 GB of RAM. Until then I'll make do with my HPs.

I purchased the HP Pavilion quad core Q6600 chipset from Woot a few years back...best damn purchase I've ever made! PC freakin' rocks. Now it's time to move it to greener pastures (see: give to my wife) and upgrade again.

Woot - I love you, man.

smithmark wrote:
Power supplies are cheap and the absolute WORST part of a PC to skimp out on (mobo is a close second). A power supply can destroy an entire PC when it fries. It it goes, it can blow the capacitors on your MOBO and fry your processor as well. It's worse than plugging a PC directly into a wall socket rather than using a surge protector.

Maybe THAT's what happened to my last desktop! One day the thing just stopped working. It would sound like it was coming on and just die. I thought the power supply had gone bad so I replaced it. Then I would hear it come on and stay on, but I couldn't get any signal from the monitor or speakers (and probably not the keyboard or mouse...hard to tell when you can't see anything). Sorry to derail everything...that comment just kinda set off a light bulb or something for me

conbat18 wrote:I will never buy an HP product ever again. They use cheap capacitors. They blow easily. One of the the worst foreign call center "support" teams ever. Don't waste your money.

Just need to comment - HP's policy is to hand you over to US based employees if you ask for them. The foreign help desks all follow a script. If you stray from the path even by a little they get very confused and you won't get what you need out of the call. This is very typical in all companies, not just HP.

Again, with HP support, all you have to do is ask for a person based in the US to help you!

PoorOldEdgarDerby wrote:My roommate is building a computer now, and even though it's a little more expensive in some parts, you at least can upgrade easily and know how to fix something that might go wrong later.

Not to mention the gratifying experience of building it yourself.

I have an older HP Pavilion Elite (m9040n)and if the case is anything like the one I have upgrading is a nightmare. If you do anything beyond basic computing you will want to upgrade the power supply and graphics card. On the upside it has been a reliable computer.

It is still 10pm my time and it has already changed to tomorrows woot offer. I would really like to purchase this woot offer.

Sleepwlker wrote:Pros:
-Blu Ray Reader
-Good sized HDD
-Powerful Processor
-Good amount of RAM

Cons:
-Low upgrade potential due to 300W power supply unit.
-Intel i7 2600, not i7 2600k, which means it isn't unlocked for overclocking
-Low end graphics card

Final Verdict:
If you need a high end machine, but don't need to do any graphical processing(gaming, rendering, etc) then it might be worth it. If you need a high end machine and need that graphical processing, avoid this unit. If you need neither a high end machine, nor the graphical processing, stick to your Commodore 64.

Ouch. Kinda rough on the oldies. Then again, that reference means you're an oldie, too. I loved my cassette tape drive! :}

aaltofan wrote:Not to mention the gratifying experience of building it yourself.

How would you know what "The gratifying experience of building it yourself" feels like when not You, but your roommate is building it Himself?

I came SO close to buying this yesterday and I'm glad I held off. I ended up getting a Dell XPS8300 i5, 6gb RAM, 460w PSU, 1tb drive for $510. I feel like that was a much better deal than this.

Unpacked mine today and it does not have a wireless keyboard and mouse. Did any one else have the same problem?

No news that mine has even shipped yet and I bought the wireless stuff so I expect to get it or get them sent. That was an important reason I spent the money. What's up WOOT?

What's up WOOT? Still haven't received my HP either. When's it gonna be here??? I'm waiting very (im)patiently.

If mine hasn't even shipped yet, and the kb/mouse aren't as advertised, I would like a refund!

agreed wrote:While I hate to see a 2600 when a DIY system with a 2600K can get so much extra performance for just minor increases in aftermarket cooling and a decent case, I have to admit a 2600 system with 8 gigs of RAM at this price is tempting. You won't overclock it, but you also won't need to for much of anything for a very long time.

Looks like a really good deal to me. Careful about graphics card - for both fit and power requirements - might need to do a bit of adjustment there if you're the DIY type. But this is reasonably cheaper than you can put similar components together on your own.

Edit: Blu-Ray on a PC is virtually useless. Digital content streaming is far less painful, and requires far lower outlay in terms of software, compatibility headaches, etc.; I've had a BD reader in a computer I built in 2008 and it's literally not been used once. Games are either on DVD or downloaded, and if you want to watch Blu-Ray movies, you'll be past the price of a quality BD player by the time you've got the stuff necessary to play them on this computer without compatibility woes. Assuming they keep their firmware up to date and all that, which isn't an entirely safe bet. Treat it as the gimmick it is and just consider the processor and other hardware.

Step 1 is get a better power supply, step 2 is get a GTX 460 1GB or a Radeon 6950, step 3 is get a small SSD for your operating system, and you've upgraded to a very solid rig. Otherwise, it's a pretty good price:performance machine if you don't want to turn graphics up very far and trust them to keep your blu-ray experience decent. I dunno about it. I do know building a Sandy Bridge platform computer worth a damn will cost you about the same as buying this and upgrading around it, though each has disadvantages - screw with this thing's innards and kiss your warranty goodbye, vs. build your own computer isn't an option for anyone who is technophobic.

Very helpful article. Thanks. I bought this before doing my homework but think it will workout well. I'm technophobic but I have a very talented nephew. I'll go to him for the upgrades after my warranty is out. Again, Thanks

mtw1057 wrote:If mine hasn't even shipped yet, and the kb/mouse aren't as advertised, I would like a refund!

What do you mean the "mouse" isn't as advertised? And mine hasn't shipped yet either. Five business days will be today or tomorrow if the day of purchase didn't count as a day.

They must have shipped some earlier than the others...? (maybe for the first ones they forgot the peripherals!?) jkjk... musta been a fluke. I'm not worried. They always deliver!

Does anyone know if this Pegatron Cleveland GL8 motherboard will support SATA III? Meaning if I buy a SATA III drive, will I get the full 6 Gbps that it offers?

Criminy. HP's support sucks ass. It's a yes or no question. All I want to know is if it will work at full speed. One dude said (over and over), "Yes, it comes with a SATA 1.5TB drive, sir." Ugh. He wouldn't transfer me to anyone else "because I cannot, sir." I called back, got yet another dude from India. He said the HPE-577c is "so new, it does not exist on HP's website, sir." Ugh. I told him I'm looking at the model on the website, which is where I got the Pegatron Cleveland model number. Again, I asked to be transferred. He told me he'd transfer me to "headquarters," where I was promptly hung up on while someone chewed on some food. Ugh.

What the freak?

Does anyone - ANYONE - know?!?

I got mine and so far it is quiet and just what I was hoping it would be...... mine came with the wireless inputs.

Yes, the Intel H67 Chipset has SATA III.

http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/chipsets/ec-h67/h67-overview.htm

Picked up the 6770 video card for this machine off of Ebay for $120 delivered (just had to be patient to hit the right auction) and the Corsair 600W "gaming" PS at Best Buy for $90. So - for about 9 bills have a nice gaming machine to give my soon-to-be-teen for his birthday of Friday IF this thing ever ships. Good to see someone has received one -and is happy with it. Yes I know I will be screwing with the warrenty with the upgrades. Anyone know if the slow HD will be major issue for COD Black Ops? Have a couple of external HDD laying around - guess I should check and see if they are any faster.

I ordered and haven't get confirmation on shipment. It is only me? Any one get ship status?

wmfeng123 wrote:I ordered and haven't get confirmation on shipment. It is only me? Any one get ship status?

I am here looking for the same thing! No shipping confirmation and no info here stating there is a delay either! May have to go the emailing the support staff for info route.

kjackr22 wrote:I am here looking for the same thing! No shipping confirmation and no info here stating there is a delay either! May have to go the emailing the support staff for info route.

I didn't receive my tracking number until yesterday afternoon even though it was shipped on the 21st. Its currently out for delivery. I think its highly likely that your computer was shipped before the weekend and Fedex is lagging with the tracking numbers.

same here... no shipping confirmation on HP computer or tracking number. Its been five days already..

mtw1057 wrote:If mine hasn't even shipped yet, and the kb/mouse aren't as advertised, I would like a refund!

I agree. If I don't get the wireless mouse and keyboard, and mine hasn't shipped yet, please keep it and credit my account. It should have already arrived and I see no signs of shipping. And please don't disappoint me with merchandise other than what I purchased. Big disappointment in WOOT if so.

balberchak wrote:Picked up the 6770 video card for this machine off of Ebay for $120 delivered (just had to be patient to hit the right auction) and the Corsair 600W "gaming" PS at Best Buy for $90. So - for about 9 bills have a nice gaming machine to give my soon-to-be-teen for his birthday of Friday IF this thing ever ships. Good to see someone has received one -and is happy with it. Yes I know I will be screwing with the warrenty with the upgrades. Anyone know if the slow HD will be major issue for COD Black Ops? Have a couple of external HDD laying around - guess I should check and see if they are any faster.

So, no updated tracking number or even news if it's shipped and no news on delays for more than just me it seems... What's going on Woot?

Same thing here, No shipping confirmation or tracking yet.

What's the deal with shipping on this item??

agingdragqueen wrote:Sorry, we're still waiting on the vendor to send it to us seemingly. We'll have that out ASAP.

Does that mean you are waiting on FedEx or the sales vendor for the machines? Should I expect it to be shipped to me without much notice or should I expect it to not ship for a while?

agingdragqueen wrote:Sorry, we're still waiting on the vendor to send it to us seemingly. We'll have that out ASAP.

Thanks so much for the info. It's nice to know where the money went....or where it is. Waiting....it was always so hard to do.

Just got my tracking number. Sheesh. I was getting pretty worried there. Still a little nervous about that comment earlier about the keyboard and mouse.

Just got my tracking number as well. However, the link to fedex just tells me that the tracking number was "not found," which worries me a little.

Shipping order received, no info at FedEx yet. If makes it here for son's birthday Friday will accept the package, will other refuse when it gets here. working on a plan b system in case.

I got an Email giving me my tracking number and saying they charged my credit card already last week. I just checked my bank account and they haven't charged anything. What's up woot?