Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
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Asus Essentio Six-Core Gaming Desktop
$579.99 + $5 Shipping
Condition: Refurbished

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

I've owned many asus products, ranging from monitors to laptops, and I have to say, their reliability is second to none. If you want a reliable powerhouse, look no further.

Does this play solitaire?

Well how good is this processor?

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Phenom+II+X6+1045T

Can I play MineSweeper on it?

"Gaming Desktop" is a misnomer here. The AMD Radeon 5450 graphics card is puny for gaming at 1080p, they should have put at least a 5770 in it.

CNET reviews

2.5 editor's rating, 3.5 user's rating.

[STAFF: That's a CG1330-05. This is a CB1330-07. Different Processor.]

lol at "gaming desktop" with a $34 graphics card thats worse than the newest intel integrated GPU in sandy bridge processors.

link to graphics card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121377&cm_re=radeon_5450-_-14-121-377-_-Product

Gaming?

Ummm...no. The EAH5450 wouldn't be considered a gaming card by any standards.

Change out the PSU and drop a better card in it then you may have a beast. Otherwise, at this price, it is very meh.

I'm not sure many games are optimized for 6-cores and the video card leaves something to be desired, I don't think I'd recommend this for a true gaming system. But if you are really in the market for a gaming system, you probably know enough to build your own PC.

They wanted $657 for refurb on Amazon before they ran out. Or I guess they moved them here.

lenzflare wrote:CNET reviews

2.5 editor's rating, 3.5 user's rating.

True. But this is also ~$400 off from the price listed there. Quick, large HD. Okay graphics card (don't ask for much here...). But the processor is really a surpriser for me. Six cores at 2.7 MHz? Typically the clock speed takes a walloping when you start slamming more cores in there for the sake of cost - this ain't that bad!

Also, one of their main complaints is online help. We don't need no stinkin' online help!

[Edit!] After the staff update to the reply, you're actually getting even a better deal since the processor is (barely) better than the one linked.

10 high speed USB 2.0 ports. That really is a good thing: you can never have too many of those. No joke.

Can't really call this a gaming desktop.

So maybe not for gaming, but what if you mostly need it for Paintshop Pro and Photoshop Elements - would this suffice?

review at reviews.cnet.com/.../asus-essentio-cg1330.../4505-3118_7-34121960.html

[STAFF: Link no workie]

zyren wrote:lol at "gaming desktop" with a $34 graphics card thats worse than the newest intel integrated GPU in sandy bridge processors.

link to graphics card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121377&cm_re=radeon_5450-_-14-121-377-_-Product

You linked the wrong one - this is the 1 GB DDR3 version:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121365&cm_re=5450-_-14-121-365-_-Product

Still not that great of a card, but better than the one you linked.

parabolic wrote:I'm not sure many games are optimized for 6-cores and the video card leaves something to be desired, I don't think I'd recommend this for a true gaming system. But if you are really in the market for a gaming system, you probably know enough to build your own PC.

Very good points. You're probably better off with a fast quad-core processor. CoD: Black Ops uses multicore processing, but it does it horribly.

BBHoss wrote:"Gaming Desktop" is a misnomer here. The AMD Radeon 5450 graphics card is puny for gaming at 1080p, they should have put at least a 5770 in it.

Everything else in it is fairly beefy, though. The 5450 will do for light gaming / HD video / etc, and folks that need more can upgrade to a 5770 or similar for around $120. My only question would be whether or not the included power supply can handle a high-end card. It's 400W, which should be enough; are Asus' pack-in PSUs generally solid?

Just this afternoon (as I was buying a power supply and graphics card from newegg) I was wondering 'when will Woot sell a good gaming PC?' Ha, almost have one here! As others have said, swap in a 5700-5800 series graphics card and a 750watt power supply and this would rock.

This is a decent desktop, but don't plan on any massive games because it only has a 2.7GHs processor. If you want a nice computer, you must build it from scratch. Or if you have money to blow, head over to alienware.com and find all the most powerful computers known to the public.

allhighruler wrote:This is a decent desktop, but don't plan on any massive games because it only has a 2.7GHs processor. If you want a nice computer, you must build it from scratch. Or if you have money to blow, head over to alienware.com and find all the most powerful computers known to the public.

Would 2.7 GHz be that limiting? My Alienware M11x only has a 1.7 GHz dual-core and I get decent framerates in games like Battlefield: BC2.

no wireless weak power supply I'll pass

For sure this is not a gaming desktop; it has a good processor but the bottleneck made by the hard drive and the videocard its big. I want to see Metro 2033 played on directx 11; I don't think it can made 2 or 3 frames per second.

"Gaming PC" is really not a fair term. What games are you trying to run?

Theres a huge difference between Crysis and Minecraft


If you are running high-resolution stuff like on a 46 inch TV, then you need to change out the video card for sure.

If you are on a 15 inch CRT then this is perfect for you.

lenzflare wrote:Would 2.7 GHz be that limiting? My Alienware M11x only has a 1.7 GHz dual-core and I get decent framerates in games like Battlefield: BC2.

I mean 2.7 is pretty good, but you must remeber, if you are going to invest money into something, you want it to be able to work well with future tech (such as Battlefield 3). My computer has a is a 3.33. THATS even a little low. IN CONCLUSION, THIS COMPUTER WILL BE GREAT for the casual gamer. With a little improvement, even better.

I think you skeptics are missing the main point: it's not a refurbished HP machine.

vladistov wrote:I think you skeptics are missing the main point: it's not a refurbished HP machine.

Heres one for ya with the same processor though (unused thought) http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/hp-pavilion-elite-hpe/4505-3118_7-34451324.html?tag=contentBody;compare

don't plan on buying this, but appreciate all the advice being given. a lot of good points being made that i'll keep in mind when in the market for a gaming pc.

And another thing, 10 2.0 USb slots, god, keep up with the times man 3.0 all the way! WOOT!

PC World survey of desktops last fall: Asus did well:

http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=211081&page=1&zoomIdx=1

Original article:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/211081/2010_reliability_and_service_survey_desktops.html

PC Magazine last summer apparently didn't have enough Asus desktops, but Asus did well in the laptops:
http://www.pcmag.com/image_popup/0,1871,iid=267328,00.asp
Original article:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368149,00.asp#

Thanks everyone, for all of your help in product advice (and humor). Like NightGhost just did recently, likely last day of posting (but unlike NightGhost, I don't think I'll be missed, and making this shorter so I don't get deleted). Take care everyone, God bless.

daguava wrote:I've owned many asus products, ranging from monitors to laptops, and I have to say, their reliability is second to none. If you want a reliable powerhouse, look no further.

Except when you need tech support/customer service. Real nightmare to deal with them.

A friendly public announcement:

It's pronounced like the Spanish/Latino, Jesus.. i.e. "Hey Zeus!", but more like "A Zeus", or what kind of doctor makes up words?.. "A Seuss" doctor.

Not like a person speaking in the second person while one card away from a four of a kind when they say to the dealer.. "Ace Us" in poker.

The More You Know...

Hmm, if you buy the squaretrade 1 year warranty policy, but add a new power supply and/or graphics card, will it void the warranty?

Ratings for users: *-*****
Hard-Core games (like BF2 or Crysis)- ***
Graphic games: **
Surfing the internet: ***
Games over the web (Runescape):*****
Movies:***
The graphics card on the is junk. The processor will be good for the average gamer.
1 tb hard drive means planty of space.
Asus is a good brand.
no 3.0 usb ports, but 10 2.0 usb ports.
Power supply is weak.
Buy this computer ONLY if you are willing to invest at least another $200 into it.

gravityisweak wrote:Hmm, if you buy the squaretrade 1 year warranty policy, but add a new power supply and/or graphics card, will it void the warranty?

I do believe so

BBHoss wrote:"Gaming Desktop" is a misnomer here. The AMD Radeon 5450 graphics card is puny for gaming at 1080p, they should have put at least a 5770 in it.

Agreed. Every truly hardcore gaming video card will require a power supply with nearly double what is provided in this desktop.

A good rule of thumb, if the power supply in a "gaming desktop" is rated below 600 - 700 watts (roughly), then it is NOT a good gaming desktop.

gravityisweak wrote:Hmm, if you buy the squaretrade 1 year warranty policy, but add a new power supply and/or graphics card, will it void the warranty?

They fixed my graphics card and let me pick the replacement card, as long as I paid the overage allowed for the replacement. The card was $349 over the $110 allowed.
I don't think it matters if you upgrade.

I purchased one of these bad boys a couple of months ago and it was DOA, due to a hard drive issue. I returned it and purchased a net-book and cheaper desktop instead after figuring out that I didn't need the full 6 core power (I stetted for a Core 2 Duo). My Asus netbook is amazing and their customer service is top notch.