This was tough one to swallow after all the crap I went through with HP SMB Store on the Touchpad fiasco.
In the end I bought one of each. Will definately add Square Trade warranty.Coupon code "LABOR" for 30% off.
Any advice on ram upgrades would be appreciated.

Also confused, it says 3 pci express x1 slots, 1 avail. Is it the tiny black slots next to the larger 1?

if so, will none of my old pci cards fit, like the a10 Tv Tuner? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100021

bryanw20 wrote:Also confused, it says 3 pci express x1 slots, 1 avail. Is it the tiny black slots next to the larger 1?

if so, will none of my old pci cards fit, like the a10 Tv Tuner? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100021

I'm assuming it's a typo and the "PCI-E x1" slots are actually PCI slots, as that seems like an unusually high number of micro slots to have, especially in lieu of standard PCI.

stncttr908 wrote:For about $250 more this can be a nice gaming setup. You'd need a better power supply (500-600W) and a decent video card (NVIDIA GTX 560 Ti or AMD Radeon 6950).

You'd be dealing with a fairly meh processor with no L3 cache and no OC capability, and investing at least another 200-300 into it.

A+++, Great Buy

thewronggrape wrote:Woah - I have a very similar PC with almost identical specs. In fact, I was just looking at the specs an hour ago trying to figure out if I could somehow use my old school TV (S-Video and RCA inputs) as a monitor to watch some shows on a bigger screen.

I can do this with my laptop which has S-Video out but this PC doesn't. I'm connected to my monitor via the DVI port. Could I do VGA to RCA or S-Video with a converter? Anyone know?

Thanks in advance!

Converting to RCA would require some sort of transciever. Easiest way would to be to buy a cheapo vidya card with an S-video output or something.

Shinespark wrote:I'm assuming it's a typo and the "PCI-E x1" slots are actually PCI slots, as that seems like an unusually high number of micro slots to have, especially in lieu of standard PCI.

Alright, I'm buzzed and thinking of micro. Yes your PCI card will work fine in there.

If I upgrade this with a Radeon HD 6670 (or similar video card) will there be any games I couldn't play at 1920x1080 and high settings?

Looking to run League of Legends and maybe something like Global Agenda. Down the line, would like to run Diablo 3, but I'm pretty sure I'd have to upgrade the video card (and of course the PSU) for that.

Question: Will this machine do a decent (30 fps or better at 1200+ x 1000+ resolution) job of the first two games, and how much am I looking at spending for upgrades if the answer is no?

Trying to figure out if this would be a good idea for some frequent casual gaming, or if I'd be better off looking for a bare-bones kit to build on.

I won't ask anyone to get into guessing about D3 support.

Swap the power supply out- no matter what- the one that comes with it is a bestec, I do computer repair on the side, and I have replaced a TON of this brand.... no big deal, it takes a standard power supply, and there is plenty of room inside to work in.... I got one of these hp systems last time woot had them, so far it seems great! I went to geeks dot com for a power supply, got a 650w to replace the 250w this machine came with, the 650w cost $16.... if you wanna play games on this, add a vidcard- even a $77 nvidia gtx 9800+ should give a nice boost (pc connection express) you will wind up with a fairly competent gaming rig for under $400.

HD4200 paired with a Quad Core Athlon II X4 is actually BARELY enough to play GTA IV at its lowest settings. It and HD4250 are the only on-board graphics I know of that will allow GTA IV gameplay out of the box.

That said, HD5770 (now sold as HD6770 really wakes it up for minimal power needs (550-600w is plenty of overhead). I believe you can use a HD6670 for decent performance and have no need for a separate power connector but I would still upgrade the power supply to 500w or better.

Since everyone is saying that the power supply is horrible, does anyone have any recommendations for good ones.

Prices vary so wildly on them and I wouldn't want to spend $20 on a 500-600w one that breaks my system. Nor would I want to spend $60 on one when I could have got a good one much cheaper.

My wife is starting college this week and we were just talking about replacing the super old and really slow HP 515x we got over 12 years ago. But could not afford what was out there - until Today's Woot Deal. Talk about answered prayers!

Using mine now - over a year now and flawless service. BluRay player is icing on the cake. The storage is phenomenal. I have a Samsung monitor that allows switching between this and my Mac - which goes unattended for long periods of time now - except for the artsy stuff.

bought one last time they were here-- same price, 3 benjamins. decent machine, typing on it now. the keyboard is an acquired taste; wife likes old one better. plan to spend a few hours removing hp bloatware, but for a kitchen email / web / homework machine it works great (knock wood).

LarryCebula wrote:I am thinking of quitting my cable package and getting a media center PC to hook up to the TV for Netflix and Hulu and the like. Would this do the trick?

You really want HDMI if you don't want to be too retrokool.

I have no technical/mechanical skills at all so is changing the power supply a matter of opening the case unplugging the old ps and dropping in the new? Does changing the ps have any affect on the HP or ST warranty?

theguruguys wrote:For the price this is a great machine, WAY more than enough power for the office or home. I almost want to recommend it to a customer of mine, but...

Be sure to open the unit up when you get it and make sure it is clean inside, the last time I jumped on an HP refurbish desktop offer that was this good it came full of dust.

The CPU fan/heatsink looked like this:

Thank you for that great tip.
Robski56

mizzou0 wrote:How's this Athlon CPU compare to Intel's i5 or i7? Or is it a stupid question?

Go to CPU Benchmark on google.com and you'll find the answer. Most new business computers are in this speed range. You can by faster ones... but expect to pay a lot more.

In for one (on my other account). It will replace the Atom powered notebook that my wife uses in the kitchen. Then she can run the Fuji Scansnap and catalog her pile of recipes and news articles. Yay!

I hope the fans are quiet.

LarryCebula wrote:I am thinking of quitting my cable package and getting a media center PC to hook up to the TV for Netflix and Hulu and the like. Would this do the trick?

Yes, it would...about ten times over. It's far more than you would need.

nanaejt wrote:I have no technical/mechanical skills at all so is changing the power supply a matter of opening the case unplugging the old ps and dropping in the new? Does changing the ps have any affect on the HP or ST warranty?

That's all there is to it, but WHY would you do this?

dexelflot wrote:Swap the power supply out- no matter what- the one that comes with it is a bestec, I do computer repair on the side, and I have replaced a TON of this brand.... no big deal, it takes a standard power supply, and there is plenty of room inside to work in.... I got one of these hp systems last time woot had them, so far it seems great! I went to geeks dot com for a power supply, got a 650w to replace the 250w this machine came with, the 650w cost $16.... if you wanna play games on this, add a vidcard- even a $77 nvidia gtx 9800+ should give a nice boost (pc connection express) you will wind up with a fairly competent gaming rig for under $400.

Why in the world would you replace the power supply just because you think it might fail? It will run this machine just fine.

I already have a new "HIS H467QR1GH Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card". Even though this mobo does not have a 2.0 x 16 slot, could I still use this?
I would be upgrading the PS to this "CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply".
I was planning on building a new computer, which would cost me about $200 more after the upgrades, but this will do what I need.

aelryn wrote:Looking to run League of Legends and maybe something like Global Agenda. Down the line, would like to run Diablo 3, but I'm pretty sure I'd have to upgrade the video card (and of course the PSU) for that.

Question: Will this machine do a decent (30 fps or better at 1200+ x 1000+ resolution) job of the first two games, and how much am I looking at spending for upgrades if the answer is no?

Trying to figure out if this would be a good idea for some frequent casual gaming, or if I'd be better off looking for a bare-bones kit to build on.

I won't ask anyone to get into guessing about D3 support.

This computer can play LoL on high at 20 fps but I use a 1024x768 resolution

mizzou0 wrote:How's this Athlon CPU compare to Intel's i5 or i7? Or is it a stupid question?

Not too good, but it is cheap. CPU Mark on this 4 core AMD is 3477. A basic I5-2310 (Sandy Bridge) is 5829. Something more expensive, like an I7-2600 is 8937.

does the graphics card support multiple monitors? thx

I'm surprised no one has mention that HP is getting out of the PC business.

Also note the 10/100 network adapter for those of you considering this for a home server.

Folks, this is a decent entry level computer you can plug in, turn on, and play Farmville with. The moment you want to change something, there are far better deals out there dollar for dollar. Just check the DIY section at the 'egg.

I'm really tempted to get this for my parent's... But they're going to put it in a desk. Anyone have any experience with how hot these run without any upgrades (except mayhaps some RAM)

skahn518 wrote:does the graphics card support multiple monitors? thx

Earlier in the thread there was discussion on this. And no.

nieltj wrote:Nobody has talked about Win 7 64 bit. Has that been around long enough now that drivers are plentiful?

I run into more hardware errors when I stay behind the current OS.

THye dont say what operating system it has. Anyone know? DId I miss that?

LarryCebula wrote:I am thinking of quitting my cable package and getting a media center PC to hook up to the TV for Netflix and Hulu and the like. Would this do the trick?

Another option would be to buy a Playstation 3 for about $250. It will run Netflix and the like with a bonus of a built in blueray player.

Just went in for one. My first woot. Not much of a gamer but I will buying and playing Diablo 3 when it comes out. Hopefully when I replace the PSU and GPU it will be able to handle it (I'm thinking there's no reason it wouldn't handle it on medium/low settings). I'm excited, I've been holding out on a buying a new computer for a long time now. The one I'm using is a p4 3.0 and it is garbage.. can't even watch 720p without lag. I don't have a square trade account and probably won't get one. Wish me luck.

Anybody know what kind of socket the MoBo uses? I wouldn't mind the ability to upgrade the CPU.

Eratosthenes wrote:The mice appear to have hung themselves...

i guess they just couldn't take the slurs and sideways glances being directed at them for being HP's...you know are THEY are...

Cupajo wrote:Anybody know what kind of socket the MoBo uses? I wouldn't mind the ability to upgrade the CPU.

Go through previous post, someone posted the link to the mobo.

szph59 wrote:Go to CPU Benchmark on google.com and you'll find the answer. Most new business computers are in this speed range. You can by faster ones... but expect to pay a lot more.

I think that I've got the right CPU benchmark Here

dexelflot wrote:Swap the power supply out- no matter what- the one that comes with it is a bestec, I do computer repair on the side, and I have replaced a TON of this brand.... no big deal, it takes a standard power supply, and there is plenty of room inside to work in.... I got one of these hp systems last time woot had them, so far it seems great! I went to geeks dot com for a power supply, got a 650w to replace the 250w this machine came with, the 650w cost $16.... if you wanna play games on this, add a vidcard- even a $77 nvidia gtx 9800+ should give a nice boost (pc connection express) you will wind up with a fairly competent gaming rig for under $400.

How do I find a power supply that will fit? geek.com lists 144 power supplies. Help!

Can this sit on top of a Mac?

theguruguys wrote:For the price this is a great machine, WAY more than enough power for the office or home. I almost want to recommend it to a customer of mine, but...

Be sure to open the unit up when you get it and make sure it is clean inside, the last time I jumped on an HP refurbish desktop offer that was this good it came full of dust.

The CPU fan/heatsink looked like this:

Has woot ever defined "refurbished"? What does it mean?